Western Railroad Discussion > Flanger & Five @ Ten on Donner

After the EB freight was by I settled in to wait for the flanger to return with #5.  The wind picked up a bit and that was probably about enough for the CHP to step in-  I-80 got real quiet.   They've not been reluctant to shut things down this winter!   Eventually the flanger was on the radio chattering about slides begining to show up on the #2 Track (closest the hillside) and noting the MP locations to the dispatcher.
After the flanger went by me, followed by #5 about 15min later, I decided it was time to call it a day.  (It would take me between 1 and 2hrs to ski out)
SR

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The photos were worth the effort.

Great work, you caught the snow when it has landed on many interesting textured surfaces like the stonework in the abutments.
I hope the passengers on No 5 had a bit of awe in passing through a Sierra snowstorm.

Aye. It was a proper Sierra storm, done right!
Good to see, too- we’ve had some lean years of late.
SR

Very nice work, you done real good!

Out

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> ...  (It would take me between 1 and 2hrs to ski
> out)
> SR

We're lucky to have you up there taking these great photos!  .Isn't it sticky going in this fresh powder?  I presume you were cross country skiing.
Edit: I see your X-C skis in another post.  They kinda look like my ancient ones that clamp down the boot toe.  I don't like the newer (20 years old?) style.  I have to admit, for steep terrain, snowshoes seem easier for access than X-C.

mapboy



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/19 09:34 by mapboy.

mapboy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BoilingMan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > ...  (It would take me between 1 and 2hrs to
> ski
> > out)
> > SR
>
> We're lucky to have you up there taking these
> great photos!  .Isn't it sticky going in this
> fresh powder?  I presume you were cross country
> skiing.  
>
> mapboy

Thanks. I somewhat calculated the day to attempt this. The goal was to photograph the Shed 10 & bridge DURING a storm. Yes, fresh powder is difficult to plow through. We had a few days break in the weather, so my thinking was that the snow had had time to compact and freeze giving me a better base. This is looking like several days of snow so I chose the very first day to minimize the build up of fresh power. It worked out fairly well.
SR

Edit to your edit.
Yes, they’re the old style 3 pin clamp style bindings.
Yes, snowshoes are great for climbing, but not so great for covering distance quickly, which is what was called for here. My round trip was probably between 2-3miles.
XC skis seemed the best solution.
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/19 09:54 by BoilingMan.

Skiing 2-3 miles for a photo during a storm.  Hardcore.  SnowFoamin'!!!

Ha! And hopefully not a variation on Necrophoamin....
SR

As my daughter likes to say: Stupid ain’t just a river in Egypt

Hearty thanks for the effort and time to allow us to enjoy these photos.  In awe,  B.

Cryophoaming?

Gary

Ha! I love it!
May I?
SR

Beautiful pics,thanks for making the effort to get out there .
Regards,dK

I think Sara meant "Denial".

As opposed to de Nile...

I do believe she may well have come out of the deeper end of the gene pool!

Posted from Android

Stevo_Weimario Wrote:

> I think Sara meant "Denial".

I think she meant what she said.  Like the flyover at Applegate, it works on a couple of levels.

BoilingMan, what a super series of photos! Thank you for braving the elements. You've got to have IOTD in either of the two posts.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Awesome photos!!

The pictures are great and even if some people may not think of them as IOTD, you still should get the honor just for the effort you put into getting those pictures.  Heck, most of us wimp-out when it rains a little.

John

Excellent story and the photos are fantastic. Many thanks for your efforts getting plans developed, going in and getting out. As some of my old friends from tough mountain dwelling used to say - "You are a special kind of miracle or stupider than Hades".

Don Allender

My hero (and demi-god) has always been Dick Steinheimer.
And, I think, his forever most inspiring (and bat-shit crazy) photographic stunt was shooting a Little Joe In the winter, at speed (!!!!), from the front deck of a trailing SD40 on a moonlit night in Idaho back in 1973.
Whoa.
Stein was The Man. He had the concept of an image he wanted, and then simply did what he needed to do to get it.
Made sense to me...
SR



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/19 05:09 by BoilingMan.