fstopandsee

Brightly colored yellow and orange moss covers the rocks on top of Round Top in the Sierra Nevadas. Not exactly what I was expecting to find at the end of this long winter hike, but it certainly made the cold rocks more interesting.

A beautiful evergreen tree offset from the bright sky, with a nice trimming of new fallen snow.

After an overnight snowfall in Lake Tahoe these branches were overweighted with snow, creating a cool pattern.

Taken from a cold and windy resting spot during a day of back country skiing. I was hiking Round Top in the Sierras with some friends, and saw this impressive view. This spot was particularly exposed and windy, but that is what made the patterns in the drifting snow so dramatic.

The hike to Round Top starts by going through a wooded area. You eventually break out to where you can finally see the top of the peak, your destination for the day, off in the distance. From this point it felt pretty far away but we all knew it would be worth it! I really like the way the trail and string of skiers extends out toward the peak, reaching out for it.

I couldn’t just drive by this old hotel in Lake Tahoe. It caught my eye. On one hand, it looks nice and cozy and well stocked with wood for the winter. On the other, it looks old fashioned and empty. I decided to extend the old fashioned look and take some artistic liberties with the processing of the photo. Hope you like it!

I had a great weekend. I spent one day back country skiing on a peak called Round Top in the Sierras with a great group of friends. I spent the next day skiing at a resort. There wasn’t much new snow which is uncharacteristic for this time of year around here, but the hike, view and overall experience were amazing. This was one of my favorite views from the hike. It was taken from the top of Round Top just before we began our descent. The true Kirkwood fans out there will recognize the backside of the resort in the right third of the image.

This is my lucky 200th post! Why is it lucky? It is because if I’m lucky, by posting a picture of snow for such a milestone for my blog, I will get more snow in Tahoe! Happy 200th post to me!

This was taken on one of those amazing days at Squaw Valley. The cloud level kept rising and falling. Sometimes we were in the clouds, sometimes they were just above us and everything seemed perfectly clear.

This was taken on the way up Mt. Tallac in Tahoe on a day I spent backcountry skiing last season. The snow has been falling big time in California so my attention has been turning back to the mountains in Tahoe. This was a beautiful day, you can see some tracks in the center of the frame, and that is what kept us going on this long hike up!

This is the view from the hike up Granite Chief at Squaw Valley. This isn’t the typical spot at the top where you would take in the view of what you will ski down, but I liked the way these trees were windblown on the backside. The whole image has a very cold and snowy feel to it. We have been getting some fantastic early snow here the last few days and I’ve been dreaming of skiing, so I had to post a snow pic!