The sun’s going down, but the fun’s just begun

I love carving big, swooping turns down steep runs at the alpine resorts that dot the Sierra. But for a change of pace, there are few things more sublime than kicking and gliding through a backcountry meadow on a crisp winter night, especially with a full moon reflecting off the snow and illuminating the surrounding trees and mountains.

A few years back, I skied with a few friends along a trail at the Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort on Donner Summit under a bright, nearly full moon.

When we finished our tour, we jumped in the resort’s hot tub for a soak before calling it a night. Then we hopped out, made snow angels and -- thoroughly chilled -- jumped back in the hot tub.

Mark Lorenzen, a San Francisco-based photographer, has skied on mountains around the globe. But he said some of his favorite winter experiences include gliding over crackling snow on a moonlight tour out of the Sierra Club’s Peter Grubb Hut, three miles north of Interstate 80 on Donner Summit and across from the Boreal Mountain Resort. It sleeps 15.

“A group of friends would book the lodge and bring great food,” he said. “After a fresh snowfall, the trees would be shrouded in snow. The whole world seemed to be a crystalline wonderland, with a slight bluish cast. It was so bright you could almost read a newspaper by the light, in the middle of the night no less.”

Joyce Lynn Coker, who runs the Hope Valley Outdoors Center on California 88 between South Lake Tahoe and the Kirkwood Mountain Resort, also is big on moonlight ski and snowshoe tours.

“We don’t go out for long skis or snowshoe walks, so it’s more about the experience rather than covering any kind of distance,” said Coker, who spent nearly 20 years off and on in Yosemite National Park, where she learned to appreciate winter under a full moon.

“A clear sky is nice,” she said. “But a partly cloudy evening is even better because it’s bright and then gets dark, and then the moon will pop out from behind a cloud again. It’s pretty exciting to be out there with the glittering, sparkling snow, and it gives you a whole different perspective.

“A while back, when we skied through a stand of burned trees, the stark shadows made it like something out of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ You almost expected one of the wicked witches to jump out and cackle at you.”

Coker said the light-colored granite walls and the white snow in Yosemite Valley seem to turn night into day with a full moon. She likes to head out on the 10-mile trail to Glacier Point and camp under the full moon. She also recommends staying at the Tioga Pass Resort off U.S. 395 and skiing in Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows, elevation 9,400 feet.

“Hope Valley is nice because it’s big [2,400 acres] and open,” she said. “It’s not a deep gorge like Yosemite Valley [elevation 4,000 feet] but several thousand feet higher, so the snow is more consistent, and it’s surrounded by high peaks in the distance.”

Coker also recommends a sunset or moonlight cross-country or snowshoe outing along the shore of South Lake Tahoe at Camp Richardson Historic Resort & Marina. For a higher-elevation tour, try the Spooner Lake Cross Country Ski Area off Highway 28 on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

Not far from Hope Valley is Kirkwood, which will offer guided full-moon snowshoe treks this winter. Participants are invited to come “hoot and howl.”

Northstar, seven miles south of Truckee, Calif., on the northern shore of Lake Tahoe, will offer moonlight snowshoe tours with a twist. These outings, for all ages, include live acoustic music, s’mores and hot cocoa. The tours cover about three miles on Northstar Mountain. Northstar also will offer snowshoe star tours on moonless nights. They will be led by Tony Berendsen, a poet and president of the Nevada Science Coalition. He has led summer stargazing tours that include a poem reading, a space quiz, a laser tour of the stars and constellations and telescopic viewing.

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travel@latimes.com

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If you go

For details on the Sierra Club’s Peter Grubb Hut at Donner Summit, call (800) 679-6775 or go to www.sierraclub.org/outings/lodges/huts/grubb.aspx. $15 per person per night.

For information on skiing and snowshoeing in Yosemite National Park, call (209) 372-8444 or go to www.yosemitepark.com/BadgerPass_CrossCountrySkiing.aspx. Rental/lesson packages from $46. For details on Tioga Pass Resort: www.tiogapassresort.com/.

Spooner Lake Cross Country Ski Area, 3709 Highway 28, Glenbrook, Nev.; (775) 749-5349, www.spoonerlake.com. Fifty miles of trails and two backcountry cabins. Adult passes, $22 for full day; $16 for half.

Tahoe Adventure Co., (530) 913-9212, www.tahoeadventurecompany.com, has full-moon ($65 a person) and starlight snowshoe tours ($75 a person).

Kirkwood Mountain Resort, 1501 Kirkwood Meadows Drive, Kirkwood, Calif.; (209) 258-7248, www.kirkwood.com/site/cross-country/xc-center, Guided snowshoe (from $15, plus $5 snowshoe rental) and cross-country ski tours.

Squaw Valley, (800) 403-0206, www.squaw.com, runs full-moon snowshoe tours from High Camp.

Royal Gorge Cross Country Ski Resort, 9411 Hillside Drive, Soda Springs, Calif.; (530) 426-3871, www.royalgorge.com. Twenty miles of trails and several lodges. Adult all-day passes from $29.

Hope Valley Outdoors Center, www.hopevalleyoutdoors.com, offers rentals, lessons and 60 miles of trails.

Camp Richardson Historic Resort & Marina, off California 89 on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe, (800) 544-1801 , www.camprichardson.com, offers snowshoe and cross-country ski rentals and lessons. Adult full-day pass, $19; children, $12.

Northstar, 5001 Northstar Drive, Truckee, Calif. Cross-country and snowshoe programs info: (800) 466-6784, www.northstarattahoe.com/info/ski/crosscountry.asp. Adult day pass, $26.