Distance: 7.0 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2350 ft.
Three short years ago I was brand new to backcountry skiing, and Craig thought that Tronsen Head would be a nice choice for a newbie like me. Beta for the tour said that the skin track was easy to follow and that the ski slopes were mellow. And stoke was high because there was a new layer of fresh powder.
We left from Forest Road 7240 at 10 AM. I was using new boots with borrowed skis from circa the 1990s. They were heavy and way too narrow for a powder day, but I was more or less able to get into the groove of skinning. We followed Upper Tronsen Rd for 30 minutes before continuing into the forest along “Tronsen Meadow Ski Trails”.
After following the skin track through dense forest, we entered a wide basin called Tronsen Meadow at about 11:30 AM. We took a look at our map and the time and decided that the best destination would be to Tronsen Head and back down. We continued straight to cross the meadow, heading south. As the terrain became steeper we turned left (east) in order to circumnavigate a small bump to our left (called Windy Knob, if you’re curious). We continued counter-clockwise to the northeast through a steeper and heavily treed slope. We had skin tracks to follow through this tricky maze of trees. Finally we reached the domed clearing of Tronsen Head, which had lovely views to the north. We reached our high point (6000 ft) at 2 PM.
We picked a spot to begin skiing back down into the meadow, and the entry chute was short and fairly narrow. This is where my troubles began, because it was my first day of backcountry skiing and I had never skied in powder before. I kept trying to make hard turns because I had originally learned to ski on firm, icy slopes, but would immediately plop over and bury myself in the deep powder. My companions were loving the snow conditions, but I could barely pick my way down the gentle, rolling hills. Kaeli and Kendra eventually skied ahead because they were getting dangerously cold.
Craig and I followed the drainage back across Tronsen Meadow and found our earlier skin tracks to meet up with the trail. The ski back down the forested portion of the skin track was slick and firm. Finally I was in familiar skiing territory, and we made it out in a flash. Luckily there wasn’t much scooching required to get back out to the car. And soon after, I bought myself some powder skis 🙂
(Download the free Gaia GPS app on your phone to view tracks and then get a Gaia GPS membership if you want offline access. Discount below!)
Recommended brew: Firestone Walker Brewing Anniversary Ale
Gear Used:
- Avalanche beacon/shovel/probe
- Backcountry boots/skis/skins
- Glacier glasses
- GPS
- Helmet
- Trekking poles
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