Recessionary Recreational Radness in Ralstonia, CA – 01/16/09

*In these turbulent times, luckily large computer monitors have plummeted in price, so I am now increasing the size of the pics in my TRs to 800×600. If your using a an old RAZR to view TRs….my apologies.

Date:

January 16th, 2009

Location:

Ralstonia…somewhere near Mt. Ralston in…

Weather:

Sunny, some east wind, highs in the 40’s….corn on sunny aspects….

AT Skier & Splitboarder:

666 & Bcrider

Slaves to the Photoblog:

666 and some guy on a snowboard named Bcrider

Music: Break – Is this what you want?

Synopsis:

In this economic downturn, even the weather is connected to Bernie Madoff’s shady ways. To make matters worse, skiers and snowboarders have united to share the mountains. 2009 will be an interesting year…..

Snowless for a few weeks, the Tahoe area has been sunbathing in abnormally warm temperatures for this time of year. Surely, its not just a cornfest is it? Of course not. Time to grab a hoodie, press play on your cd walkman, and walk up a sheltered north facing aspect. We chose Ralstonia. A winter playground with plenty descent options just below Mt. Ralston.

01/16/09:

If it wasn’t for all those colors, an AMC Eagle would have t-boned him on Hwy 50…

WE HAVE TO GO UPHILL?

My skins failed, so ‘Team Tecnica Bootpack’ was happy to reach the summit…

Proof that he used his splitboard…..

Pyramid Peak….

Bodysurfin’ Sierra at Tahoe…..

I’m sorry, but Sierra’s best groomer looks firm as fuck!

Weeeeeeee! Lets Ski!

The East Wind made things way better than expected….

Now its your turn Bcrider…I’m over skiing CHALK…

View of Kirkwood….I can see people stopped on the lifts from here…

Just GO ALREADY!

Boarders like popcorn….

In this economic turmoil, he went for a free harvest….

The field had many crows…

However, as an ugly bloke…bcrider exited on a full stomach…

To work off the extra calories, he started hiking on the bootpack I set…

Any guy who just rides the backcountry is just creepy and here’s proof….

The work of the East Winds….

TEH SLaY3R rock!

666 takes a more exposed line….

Untracked firmness is what he was after…

He now has a child, so he now wears a helmet…

The snow was variable, winter to solid ice to CHALK….

It barely went…

He had fun….

We summoned the blackhole to transport us back to the summit…

We set up some gates…

Corn is overrated…

Grippy snow is better….

Bcrider slays the bootpack pow-ish pow…

3 week old Tahoe pow? YESSSSSSS!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!

He channeled Craig Kelly….

I forced him to boot-up another chute….he really didn’t want to….

I was so excited to ski, I led the charge….

I think it was worth it….

Some sheltered snow below….mmmmmmm

Look damn tasty to me….

No better ski to use in Tahoe than a pair of Moments with the same name…

In this economy, backcountry skiing can save you money….

…and get you some decent snow

Turn up your Bass!

I’m sure when you clicked this TR you expected CORN….so is this what you WANT?

No, I’m not going to start snowboarding….

Quick tip, instead of trying to make old skins make do….just throw them away….

In these challenging times, we found a place for lunch…

BEAT THE RECESSION, GO BACKCOUNTRY
SKIING!!!!!