It doesn’t get much better than skiing and surfing in the same day. We all know California is the promise-land, and the cool thing about this adventure is you can bag the classic surf-and-ski link up anytime of the year.
Currently, there remains skiable snow off Carson Pass in the southern reaches of the Tahoe area, and there’s plenty of waves to slay within a 3.5-5 hour drive from the Basin. The most ideal time for the surf-to-ski, or ski-to-surf linkup is really during winter when the snow is at it’s best, and the waves are consistent. However, if the the snow or waves are really that good you probably don’t want to leave them, right? That’s why it’s cool that you can do this throughout the year in the right places in California, and you can choose when the time is right for the mission.
Believe it or not, you can even lock into some wave-ski action in the same day without leaving the Tahoe Basin.You’ll need a proper wind advisory in place for surfable waves to show in Tahoe, but it happens, and in the winter/spring it happens more often than you might think. It’s a unique day to be able to slide down a wave in Lake Tahoe AND have snow on the ground to ski. It’s another example of how amazing our local backyard is, but the real gift is being able to bob around in the ocean, and ski in the Sierra in the same day. It’s really cool to be in one awesome natural environment and community like Santa Cruz, then be able to check in with a different area in similar high quality like Tahoe within a few hours drive.
You can go either way depending on your schedule as the driving time is one of the major cruxes of this adventure. Especially dependent on the time of year, and condition of the ocean and snow you wish to access, you could go either way; start with a few waves on the coast in the morning, end with a few turns in the mountains before dark, or vise versa.
This past Labor Day I found it incredibly hard, even with an early paddle-out, to leave the perfectly sculpted waves of Pleasure Point. But truth be told I was gassed by the end of our session, the tide was coming up, and it was time to get back to the mountains. The surf shots in this piece are from 1st Peak and Sewers this past weekend during the beautiful south swell the graced the California Coast for several days of nonstop surf action.
It’s amazing to be able to get this link up done in the Tahoe Basin, but it’s truly a testament to our great diverse state when you can be picking off world-class waves in the morning, leave a bustling full-on beach scene early afternoon,
and be hiking up to 10k feet in the mountains, with skiable snow, well before dark. The skiing off Carson Pass right now isn’t the sexiest turns you’ve ever had, for sure, but taking into account that it’s September, it’s not that bad either. There are actually several options for turns from Round Top proper on over to the Sisters presently. For those of us who like to link up turns year-round, this September actually has more coverage than any other in the last 10 years, no question.
As I’ve mentioned in several other recent posts the wildflowers in the Sierra are a bit behind normal schedule and are still absolutely going off. Hiking via Carson Pass is exceptionally serene right now with the flowers, alpine lakes, and mountain vistas all in prime late summer/early fall condition. It’s one of those hikes that like going to climb in Shirley Canyon, is more than worth the effort just for the hike. Add in a few turns before sunset, and couple it with a bunch of perfect waves in the a.m., and there you have yourself a classic September day in California.
