Elevation: 9183 feet
Trailhead: Highland Drive
Route: North Glades
Difficulty: Beginner Skiing
Finding ourselves in Tahoe with feet of new powder but with a "considerable" avalanche rating from the Sierra Avalanche Center, RM and I were looking for a low angle peak to ski. We decided to try Rubicon expecting shallow glade skiing. We found stable slopes and excellent powder, so much so that we climbed and skied this peak twice!
After a promising start to the 2019/2020 season, the Sierra snowpack had suffered from rain and then freezing temperatures that turned the surface into an ice layer. I'd been wary to go out because I dislike skiing on ice even more than I dislike climbing up ice slopes. Around mid-January however storms returned and buried the ice layer under light powder. Predictably, this created a terrible avalanche problem. A skier died in-bounds at Alpine Resort. A backcountry skier was buried after triggering an avalanche with a 4 foot crown near Independence Lake.
RM and I had three days off and traveled to Truckee with the hope that the avalanche forecast would settle over the course of the weekend, as is typical for the generally stable Sierra snowpack. However we began to realize that this nasty buried ice interface was going to cause persistent problems. Knowing that the overwhelming majority of avalanches occur on terrain with slope angles > 30 degrees, we brandished our Caltopo maps and inclinometer apps and went looking for the shallowest slopes in Tahoe.
The north side of Rubicon is essentially a long treed 27 degree slope. After a very Califonian discussion about when to ski powder (CR: Is powder better in the morning? Or do you have to wait for it to warm up?) we decided to get up early. We parked in the Highview neighborhood near Meeks Bay, considered briefly the possibility that we could be ticketed, and then started up Rubicon peak. We followed an easy skin track to the top and scrambled up the 3rd class summit pinnacle in our ski boots (well, to the lower of two summit pinnacles - i generally dislike 3rd class in my ski boots and this day was no exception). From the top we had excellent views of the lake and Desolation wilderness. We skied unusually light powder down the old growth glades. The quality of the powder was so high that we didn't even notice the low angle nature of the skiing. Upon reaching the bottom, we decided on a second lap. At this point, the rest of the Tahoe backcountry ski community had woken up and started skiing to the top of Rubicon. At the top of our second ascent, I estimated a few dozen skiers and snowboarders loitering around and pulling their skins. I would recommend getting up early for Rubicon, unless you enjoy feeling like you are at a ski resort.
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