This past weekend I ventured out with Jared on an alpine touring ski trip in the Sierras. They’ve had the largest snow fall in record and there is still plenty of skiing to do in the back country this late in the season.

Alpine touring skis have removable furry ‘skins’ on the bottoms that give you grip so you can climb up. The heels release as well for added movement. Then skins come off and heels lock down when it’s time to go downhill. Jared did a huge trip across the Swiss Alps doing alpine touring here.

After hiking for a few hours, we set up camp at the base of the mountain protected from the wind between some rocks and enjoyed the most beautiful sunset. We spent a lot of time staring at the mountain behind us and planning our route we’d take up the next morning. Jared has given me permission to call it our base camp so we spent way too long thinking up our base camp name: high quarry base camp 4 extreme.

When we woke up the next morning we make hot cocoa and oatmeal and started up the peak.