March 22, 2006, Mt. Tallac, CA

Many guide books refer to Tallac as the best ski descent in the Lake Tahoe area. Mt. Tallac at 9735 feet is visible from most locations in the Lake Tahoe region and the views from the summit into Desolation Wilderness, Pyramid, Jacks, Freel and the numerous lakes are impressive.  This year the approach begins right at the junction of highway 89 and Spring Creek road due to the large snow pack and the snow-covered, gated road. We spent the night at the nearby Sno Park and awoke to a slightly overcast sky with Mt. Tallac in clear view from our van windows.  The forecast was for warming temps in the 30s and light winds. We parked at 6300 feet and as we were starting to walk around the gate a young guy pulled in and quickly unloaded his gear. After a brief conversation, JT offered us a snowmobile tow to the trailhead.  Yes, yes ,yes. Jill jumped on the snowmobile behind him and I grabbed the tow strap for a pleasant ride about one mile up the road to the Northeast Bowl trailhead.  JT provided the necessary beta about the route and headed back to the trailhead for another approach named CORKSCREW. We began the climb at 6500 feet and followed a beautiful skin track, initially through a lightly treed slope and then along the ridge where the track steepened.  The track was slightly glazed and we put on our ski crampons which luckily we had remembered to bring.  The snow on the north slopes was powder even though it had been 6 days since the last major storm north of highway 50.

The views of the descent route were clearly visible for most of the climb.  The up track was relentlessly steep.  We stopped for a couple of breaks and 2 skiers and 2 boarders on snowshoes passed us.  Unfortunately the snowshoes made a mess of the track in places.  As we were climbing, I noticed JT swiftly climbing Corkscrew which is climbers right of the Northeast ridge.  Paul Richins describes the ascent in his guide book; the Backcountry stores website also has a good description and map.  It amazed me how few tracks were in the upper bowl and lower chute and trees for an area so close to civilization and 6 days since new snow.  At 9200 feet, we joined the main ridge and climbed a gradually ascending track above the large North Bowl.  I then wrapped around the backside to reach the summit of Tallac at 9735 feet (Jill decided to wait on the upper ridge).  The ski crampons were ideal for the entire ascent route. The views from the summit were superb.  The Desolation Wilderness area is enormous and there are days of tours available.  The North Bowl had 8 inches of powder and I laid down my signature among the other 12 lines in the bowl.  We traversed skiers left just before the bowl drops into a chute and skied just above our skin track back to the top of Corkscrew.  The slope is in the 30 degree range and was a wonderful mix of widely spaced trees.  We barked and yipped our way down in boot deep powder along the northeast facing slope.  All too soon we were at the bottom of Corkscrew in an open meadow.  We turned and looked back with enormous grins at the descent route and our ski lines. WOW, that was great.  Just as JT had described, we followed a couple of ski tracks and returned to the place where we had started.  A short mile descent down the snow covered road and we were back to the van.  Mt. Tallac is a wonderful tour and its north facing descent holds powder long after the storms.

Zap & Jill    

Mt. Tallac with Corkscrew on far right


Mt. Tallac's North Bowl and summit



Jill at the top of Corkscrew with Lake Tahoe in backgrond