Last weekend I tried once again to make it to the Benson hut and once again I got shut out. The hut is located midway between Sugarbowl and Squaw Valley on the pacific crest trail. With such a dismal Tahoe snow season we were worried that we wouldn’t have enough snow up there this late in the year. Instead the weather forecast called for 60 mph gusts along the ridges and 6-12″ inches of snow. When my buddies and I met at Sugarbowl’s Mount Judah parking lot, it was dumping and the visibility was horrible. The hut’s hard to find in the summer on a clear day, so with a storm like this one we decided cancel the trip.

We went to our buddy Nate’s place in Tahoe Donner and hung out for a few hours before noticing that the storm outside had subsided. A quick check of the online forecast showed that we might actually have a window of relatively clear weather. We ran out of the place like firemen from a firehouse to give it a go.

By the time we made it back to the lot it was snowing again, this time with a little better visibility. We geared up and hitched a ride part way up the mountain on one of the lifts. After a few hours we were at the summit on Mount Lincoln. At around 2:00 we headed out onto the ridge.

It was cold and slow moving, due to the poor visibility. We knew we could hike for a while and still make it back to the parking lot by dark if need be so we pushed on. After going about a mile down the ridge we lost the trail and went a few hundred yards before realizing it. With another mile and a half to go and with the day getting late, we realized that we no longer had room for mistakes like that one. Plus my buddy Patrick had just lost one of his skins. We decided to turn and head back. At least we had about 5″ of fresh powder on the ride down Sugarbowl.

A few years ago we reserved the hut and had to cancel the trip at the last minute when a 14″ snow storm rolled in. Next year we’ll get it…

Here are a few shots taken on the ridge on our way back to Sugarbowl.