200612BradleyHut

toto decolle !!: juin 2006

Mont Rose getting hammered. epic weekend in the sierra backcountry getting hammered by some light and fresh. Pic in full combat gear in the middle of the winter elements.

Check out the full TR on the spliboard forum

It was about time I took an avalanche class so that's what I did this weekend. BTW, I highly recommend it. Great way to get more educated about decision making in avalanche risk conditions. I thought I'd take advantage of being in the mountains for doing a bit of emergency shelter practice.

I ended up overnighting in a snow cave that I built "in a hurry" after the avy class.
Front porch and kitchen looked something like that:


Entrance to the main bedroom with direct access to private bathroom:


View of the stylish interior details. includes ice axe in-the-wall to hang your candle and probe to keep your vent from getting obstructed (main bedroom):


Unobstructed large panoramic view right from your bed (main bedroom):


Breadth-taking view of sunrises (also right from your bed, no need to move around in the bedroom, well you can't anyway):



Conlusions of the night:
it takes a really long time to dig. took me about 2 hours for a small 1 bedroom. so you'd better start early (I was tired and really hungry by the time I finished at 9pm). I need to figure out a way to dig a snow cave without getting completely wet. Warm (really warm) sleeping bag not a plus and bivy pretty much required to deal with the moisture in the room:)

was a "fun" but mostly cold and short night of fragmented sleep.

guess what I'm gonna be doing today?
(this is the view of Tallac from the cabin) 

waiting for the storm to go by.... tomorrow should be a good day on the mountain