Carson Pass Snowkiting

[windstoked]

Some clips of Brian from yesterday at Carson Pass. The wind was strong and gusty, and Brian was on a 9 a me a 10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvr358zCv8c[/video]

[tomf82]

I appreciated the Allman Brothers in the background. What wind direction was this?

[windstoked]

Wind direction was southwest.
Tomorrow's forecast is looking similar, but hopefully a tad lighter and less gusty, and we're heading up. They're calling for some flurries, but less than 1" of snow expected.

[tomf82]

And one other thing....for that wind direction did you have to skin up or were you able to kite up from the road?

[windstoked]

We park at the Snopark just west of Carson Pass and skin in less than a half mile, gradually working up towards the northwest on the ridge above the parking lot until you get above the treeline.
Don't forget your parking pass, $5 for a day, and they don't sell them at the parking lot, so I print it at home before going up: https://secure.cloudwisesolutions.com/app/products.html

They patrol regularly.

[windstoked]

The wind was strong but a bit smoother yesterday than last weekend. Here's some clips of Brian on on a 10m Core GTS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUvEQd0AL4[/video]

[windstoked]

Here's a clip from last weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwT_QCx6TmM[/video]

The snow coverage was even better this time, and it's looking like the season will last until Memorial Day this year. Here's a map of the area at Carson Pass:

Carson Pass.JPG (328.15KiB)Viewed 6052 times

After traversing up to the launch, head north across the open slope and you'll cross two smaller bowls that are great for practicing, and then the third one is the southwest face of 10,063 ft Red Lake Peak where this was shot. It's about a half mile from the launch (the red squares on the map are a mile wide). Continue over the ridge to the north and you'll reach an even larger open area on the west face of Red Lake Peak.
The Fremont expedition with guide Kit Carson crossed this pass in 1844 and scaled Red Lake Peak for the first recorded view of Lake Tahoe.