TR: A weekend in the Sierra Nevada

No, not that one.
This one:

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7359/...0fbde8b5_b.jpg

Music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dyrahwo2d_0

Welcome to Andalucía, southern most region of Spain.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1661/...8a6cc069_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1690/...5b49407e_b.jpg

There are mountains here. There are also ibex, oranges, some snow, flamenco, tapas, and a ski resort.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1542/...45e05da4_b.jpg

It wasn’t the greatest season in the Sierra and by mid April snow was a little thin. The Virgen de las Nieves made sure we still had a nice starting point.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1698/...a73f8e4c_b.jpg

Easy access.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1696/...622d6fbb_b.jpg

Getting whiter.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1712/...4232c1ea_b.jpg

My friend who lives here had a project she’d been wanting to ski. Apparently there aren’t a lot of people around who like this sort of thing, so we had to visit and make sure her proyecto got done. Bonus points for anyone who knows the sticker on the red skis.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1697/...6cb0da57_b.jpg

3, 2, 1…..

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1690/...d1c7a4e6_b.jpg

Here we go.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1459/...0aaca138_b.jpg

The typical strategy for ski touring here is to take the lift up or start skinning somewhere near the resort, ski down some other valley till the snow runs out and climb back up to the resort. Like this you avoid walking out on dirt for many hours.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1681/...2847ec54_b.jpg

Back up.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1530/...4e83f71a_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1694/...f002a4fe_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1691/...608fb69b_b.jpg

This mountain is called Veleta (Weather Vane). It has a lot of weather. Walking with crampons is a much more popular sport than ski touring, because of what the weather does to the snow. Most people don’t even bother bringing skis. Everyone always has an axe and crampons, avy gear is farily exotic and optional.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1590/...ee80b190_b.jpg

The white things are the green houses in Almeria, a region also known as Costa del Polythene, where Europe’s cheap vegetables come from.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1653/...e57127d7_b.jpg

Ship traffic 3000m below the ski resort.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1531/...12f8a2e4_b.jpg

The next day was a little cloudy and we had spent most of the night in Granada’s tapas bars so we decided touring wasn’t mandatory and spent the day cruising. Granada is a really cool city. It smells like weed and orange blossoms.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1477/...51f1f471_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1682/...988be301_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1700/...0b3fae94_b.jpg

This is one of the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes for wavelengths of a few mm.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1487/...8d09f78d_b.jpg

This is an aprés ski dip in the ocean and a sunset.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1657/...ca03d53a_b.jpg

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1535/...97279e5f_b.jpg

And this was the flight back home.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7344/...5434ed8f_b.jpg

Nice. I rode that resort a few decades ago while on a trip through Spain. Granada was one of my favorite towns. Can not recall how the skiing was at all except that there was a few inches of fresh.

It looked like a fun trip in a unique alpine setting. That part of Spain is usually the hottest spot.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. No! Stop! Wait! I mean, Shit! I knocked the bong over! I love the smell of weed and orange blossoms.
You've piqued my curiosity. A couple of questions: (1) What's the sticker on the red skis? (2) How were the temperatures when you were touring? It looked damn hot, but if you were between 2000m and 3000m, I guess it would have been bearable. As opposed to the flight home mountain range with plenty of excellent coverage. It looks like your timing was a little off, I just had a look and they're supposed to get 18cm tomorrow with 71cm in the next week. Isn't that the way it always works? Global warming and unpredictable weather patterns the world over.
(3) How did the road crossing work for the base grinds?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bigasshair

(1) What's the sticker on the red skis?

---

Ah, no. If you have to ask.... Interesting user name.

Quote:

---

(2) How were the temperatures when you were touring? It looked damn hot, but if you were between 2000m and 3000m, I guess it would have been bearable. As opposed to the flight home mountain range with plenty of excellent coverage. It looks like your timing was a little off, I just had a look and they're supposed to get 18cm tomorrow with 71cm in the next week.

---

In the higher sections it was 'I'm not taking my goretex off for skinning' degrees, mostly because of the wind. Out of the wind and in the sun it was warmer but also not terrible. Actual temperature during the day at altitude I'd guess maybe 0-5°C if that. Timing: yeah, a couple of weeks earlier would have been better. Apparently it was a pretty bad year snow-wise, so I figure it could still be pretty nice mid-april in a good year. Generally late-ish spring is probably not a bad time because imo you want to be gambling on corn there, not powder. I suspect the current and coming precip will not be falling as snow. The flight home mountains were and are much less well covered than it may appear in the picture.

Quote:

---

Isn't that the way it always works? Global warming and unpredictable weather patterns the world over.

---

Isn't that how you find ski travel zen? Global warming and weather patterns: fascinating topic, poorly understood, too many variables. This is why regional climate predictions have way larger uncertainties than global ones.

Quote:

---

(3) How did the road crossing work for the base grinds?

---

Didn't hurt the skins. If you are going to ski on roads I recommend going straight and keeping up some speed, that way scratches will be lengthwise and parallel, i.e. a free base grind.




Ottime: yes, love Granada. can understand how the town might be more memorable than the skiing.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by klar

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1535/...97279e5f_b.jpg]

---

The colors in this pic are just ridiculously good.

So was the rest of the TR.

Thanks for sharing! Exotic!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hutash

The colors in this pic are just ridiculously good.

---

The sunset was just that good, this is pretty much out of camera, did not screw with the colours.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1566/...c4d46aaf_b.jpg

Something beautiful :) I really want to see something like that once in my life :)