Current Creek Chutes 011611

On our monthly Sunday trip, we found some decent powder in the Current Creek Chutes on the southwest side of the valley.

Dave swooshes through the powder.

I led a CMC trip to Current Creek on a Sunday with Cheryl, Kashia, Scott, and Dave.  We met at 7:00 at Woolly Mammoth, loaded up the cars, and hit the highway.  There was quite a bit of volume, but only minor slow downs on the way to Downieville.  From there, we avoided slow traffic by sneaking up the frontage road to the Empire turnoff, then on to the Current Creek trailhead.  We were on the snow before 9:00!  Several vehicles at the lot sported a couple inches of snow, leading us to expect some campers in the valley.  We headed up the drainage past the cabin, where a variety of boards for tele, AT, and snowboarding were stacked by the door.  


Past the cabin, we made the steepish climb to the aqueduct road, then continued our climb up to the Chutes.  A well-established up-track switched back and forth up the widest chute, then leveled off a bit when we hit the bottom of the yo-yo runs.  We continued climbing up a nicely powdered slope into an open bowl, then veered to the climber's left to ascend on the ridge through the trees.  We could only take so many tempting views of the untracked powder in the chute until we ripped the skins off and dropped into the powder.  We found light powder closer to the trees, with a mix of heavier powder in the middle with a few old tracks buried just beneath the surface.  

Scott glides down the lower chute.

Kashia swoops onto the lower slopes.

Cheryl joins the crowd at the skin-up spot.

After a pleasant run, we yo-yo'd the bowl a couple more times.  Except for a few crusty spots, the runs were very enjoyable.

Kashia cruises through the powder.

Kashia's chocolate covered coffee beans must have been having their effect on everyone, because we ended up back at the cars before 1:00.  We quickly departed to beat the Sunday traffic, only to find that there was none.  After a refreshing stop at Tommyknockers, we rolled back down to the park and ride.


3 runs / 3.0 miles / 1700'

The track for this trip is red with a yellow highlight

in the southwest corner of the bowl.  

The Peter Rabbit cabin is flagged with a waypoint.

The map and GPX track are also available on the EveryTrail web site.