Sugar Bowl to Squaw traverse

30 Apr 2000 - by Tim Hult

Aaron and Mike let me off at the base of now closed Sugar Bowl resort at 7:30 that morning. From there I skied up Mt Lincoln, onto the Sierra Crest, a brief stop at the Benson Hut, over Mt Anderson (carrying skis over the steep bit), back onto the ridge, dropping down to stay on the snow and make some great Tele' turns, then up to Tinker. A shout from Aaron and Mike far below. Summited with Lunch on the summit, back down onto the now snowless ridge. I was "smoking" up and down Tinker Knob, but the traverse from Tinker over to the ridge just before Shirley Lake basin was the pits as I spend nearly 3/4 of it hiking due to no or poor snow. Then the fun began. It was 2 pm or so and I was pretty well spent after having cycled around Tahoe the day before, but I'd been this close twice before and wasn't about to be left out this time.

The snow was soft now, and I was pretty tired, so the climb up Granite Chief was a tough one. I did see tracks that I took to be Dee, Arun and Rick's leading all the way to the summit. By now the snow was pretty soft and the going pretty slow. I summited just before 4, then skied down to the Granite Chief lift and up the cat road to the top of Emigrant lift by 4:20. Squaw was closing the majority of it's lifts for the season so this was the last harrah and I had the place to myself. Snow was a bit sloppy, but very skiable. The "sweep" patrol - about 10 of them, came up behind me on snowmobiles and skis and announced I was the last one on the last day and they had to see me off the mountain. The head guy asked where I had come from and I told him Sugar Bowl at 7:30 that morning. They seemed impressed - my legs certainly felt it! I finished the run at 4:40 - 20 minutes not too bad. Total elapsed time - 9 hours. I think I could have done it faster if I hadn't biked the previous day, and certainly could have taken 2 hours off the time if I hadn't skied up Granite Chief. Cleaned up and closed the ski cabin for the year and drove home, arriving around 10:45 pm. A fitting end to a great ski season!

Aaron Schuman adds:

A shout from Aaron and Mike far below.

Just about ten minutes below ... Tim let us catch up and we chatted for a bit before he continued on his way.


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