-- Tom's Trip Reports --: Current Creek Lakes 010212

A nice warm day provided a bittersweet opportunity to enjoy the slopes on Naoki's last ski trip before his flight back to Japan.

Naoki and Richard head up from the sunny shores of Current Creek Lakes.

Our hopes of pleasant skiing improved with reports of warmer weather as we gathered at WM HH. The cast included Cheryl, Cathy, Dave, Richard, and Phil from Denver, as well as Wendy and Diane from Boulder, and our honored guest Naoki from Japan via Boulder. After the usual stop at Downieville, we headed to the Current Creek trailhead. We were the only ones at the immaculately plowed parking area.

Phil, Dave, and Diane at the trail head.

Cheryl, Naoki, and Phil get ready to climb.

Naoki catches me stealing a picture.

Eventually we get it together and head up the hill. Snow conditions are a mix of deep powder in the shade and thin coverage with a touch of crust in areas that get some sun. We stay to the climbers right of the drainage, following an old track consisting of toboggan and boot tracks. At regular intervals, we note a deposit of pre-split firewood, probably too heavy to lug through the powder when you don't even have snowshoes.

We reach the elevation of the aqueduct below the Upper 110s, and decide to continue to follow the track where the snow is packed, rather than wallow in the bottomless powder. The track lead us into unexplored territory, through several drainages and past the lovely Current Creek Lakes at the headwaters of Current Creek.

Heading up over hill and dale.

Climbing up the steep valley.

Climbing over another ridge in search of the glades.

Lakeshore property available at Current Creek lakes.

Finally we were at the top and it was time to de-skin.

Phil takes the skins off.

Richard and Cathy are ready.

Naoki carefully de-skins.

Wendy preps for the descent.

The lineup waits for their turns.

Without new snow, we were tempted to leave the well-groomed slopes in the center of the glades. It only took a few face plants in the bottomless powder off the groomed hardpack to discourage all but the most determined.

Dave pauses on the slope.

Naoki is ready for another climb.

Lineup at the bottom of the glades slope.

A lot of standing around before the next climb.

We did another climb and another run down the same slopes. Two runs was all we could convince everyone to do, so we made our way down to the trailhead. Even on the out trail, we had to carefully stick to the previously skiied slopes, or fall prey to the deep slow powder. Finally we made it out and packed up the cars for a trip to Tommyknockers, where we toasted Naoki bon voyage for his trip back to Japan.