Not much snow free in Tahoe yet this season. Blue Lakes Road was open to the 7mi point- which was just enough to head up to Markleeville.

Quick outing- 4mi round trip and about 1600ft of gain.
This was my 2nd ascent of Markleeville- the first in 2009.

The closure point of Blue Lakes Road- just past Charity Valley.
Not sure what "Snow Removal Operations" were taking place- it didn't look like the road beyond the gate had seen any form of plow activity.

A guy on roller skis came down the road as I was heading out.

Markleeville Peak from the road. Thats Charity Creek running through the meadow.

Headed about 50 yards up the road before turning right and starting upslope. Still quite a bit of snow on the road.

Circled around to the back of Charity Valley- hoping to take a much more direct approach than I ended up taking. This was one of the many snow bridges that I managed to avoid on the lower slopes.

Would have had an abrupt end to my outing had I tried to walk across that.

I had wanted to climb the slope opposite this runoff creek- but I couldn't find a safe place to descend into the gully and cross. Scouted up and down a bit before giving up and looked for more southern options.

The "Nipple" was visible across the road for much of the outing.

Followed this break in the snowfield until it ended then headed out onto the snowpack