Northstar, CA 3/7/24

[tseeb]

SkiTalk group was going to Diamond Peak where they had decent discount on lift tickets. I joined my wife and friend we are staying with going to Northstar. Traffic on 267 was very slow going under and past I-80 then picked up a little on bridge over Truckee River and RR tracks and disappeared after the two lights getting past the airport. Northstar’s closer parking was still available at about 9, but I was far enough away from any lift to take seat on shuttle that took a long time to load as many standees as possible. After long walk through lower Village it was about 9:30 when I loaded gondola. I skied two laps on Vista to see if my wife and friend whose 3 month trip skiing Western US and Canada ends on Sat. I rode Zephyr and skied groomed Drifter to Backside to connect with Dave from England. We skied Burnout just lookers right of chair finding it a little jarring due to small, almost bumps and scraped off snow. Northstar had only groomed Drifter and Rail Splitter on the Backside. We connected with my wife and friend we are staying with and repeated Rail Splitter with them, then skied Challenger, the furthest W run off Backside. The ungroomed, skier-packed on right of W-facing long ‘steep’ was smoother than the day-old groomed scraped off left. It was better where it flattened out and also on steep drop around corner. Surprisingly, line never developed during my 6 laps on Backside. We stopped at Zephyr Lodge to use facilities and eat our snacks before riding Lookout Link to ski Martis Peak away which had only re-opened on Wed after storm.

My wife did not like steepness of Washoe, the only blue run on Martis, as she has been suffering from a sore toe after kicking very heavy bed leg. The other guys didn’t think the ungroomed half was skiable, but I showed them it barely was, even though I was not on powder skis for only 2nd of my last 11 days skiing in Tahoe area. Dave and I skied chopped up powder under chair on Boca, with him taking a fall not very far from top. He struggled getting up due to a sore shoulder, then removed a ski to do and really struggled getting it back on.

There was a lot of 3-day old powder left unskied as Northstar was so slow re-opening lifts and terrain due to staffing shortage. Dave skied Prosser while I went much deeper than planned into Lookout Glades and found many short, lightly tracked drops.

Then after Dave left to meet friends, I skied trees on lookers left of before coming out into Stampede, Northstar’s longest steep run.

I returned to frontside and rode Comstock (locals call it Com-stop as six-pack stops a lot due to mis-loads) skiing The Plunge, then Tonini's and The Chute, before exiting on West Ridge to Upper Pioneer to Homerun. I quit about 3:30 with 28,750 and had a 10 minute walk to my car. Traffic was backed up longer by the two lights getting past airport, but it moved a little better.

 

[Sbooker]

SkiTalk group was going to Diamond Peak where they had decent discount on lift tickets. I joined my wife and friend we are staying with going to Northstar. Traffic on 267 was very slow going under and past I-80 then picked up a little on bridge over Truckee River and RR tracks and disappeared after the two lights getting past the airport. Northstar’s closer parking was still available at about 9, but I was far enough away from any lift to take seat on shuttle that took a long time to load as many standees as possible. After long walk through lower Village it was about 9:30 when I loaded gondola. I skied two laps on Vista to see if my wife and friend whose 3 month trip skiing Western US and Canada ends on Sat. I rode Zephyr and skied groomed Drifter to Backside to connect with Dave from England. We skied Burnout just lookers right of chair finding it a little jarring due to small, almost bumps and scraped off snow. Northstar had only groomed Drifter and Rail Splitter on the Backside. We connected with my wife and friend we are staying with and repeated Rail Splitter with them, then skied Challenger, the furthest W run off Backside. The ungroomed, skier-packed on right of W-facing long ‘steep’ was smoother than the day-old groomed scraped off left. It was better where it flattened out and also on steep drop around corner. Surprisingly, line never developed during my 6 laps on Backside. We stopped at Zephyr Lodge to use facilities and eat our snacks before riding Lookout Link to ski Martis Peak away which had only re-opened on Wed after storm.
View attachment 40135
My wife did not like steepness of Washoe, the only blue run on Martis, as she has been suffering from a sore toe after kicking very heavy bed leg. The other guys didn’t think the ungroomed half was skiable, but I showed them it barely was, even though I was not on powder skis for only 2nd of my last 11 days skiing in Tahoe area. Dave and I skied chopped up powder under chair on Boca, with him taking a fall not very far from top. He struggled getting up due to a sore shoulder, then removed a ski to do and really struggled getting it back on.
View attachment 40137 View attachment 40136View attachment 40138There was a lot of 3-day old powder left unskied as Northstar was so slow re-opening lifts and terrain due to staffing shortage. Dave skied Prosser while I went much deeper than planned into Lookout Glades and found many short, lightly tracked drops.
View attachment 40139
View attachment 40140
Then after Dave left to meet friends, I skied trees on lookers left of before coming out into Stampede, Northstar’s longest steep run.
View attachment 40141
I returned to frontside and rode Comstock (locals call it Com-stop as six-pack stops a lot due to mis-loads) skiing The Plunge, then Tonini's and The Chute, before exiting on West Ridge to Upper Pioneer to Homerun. I quit about 3:30 with 28,750 and had a 10 minute walk to my car. Traffic was backed up longer by the two lights getting past airport, but it moved a little better.

Northstar is the least busy Tahoe area Epic hill I assume Tony?

 

[tseeb]

No. Northstar is probably the worst for handling a crowd. It is not good getting from parking to lift without crowds unless there during week 30 min before 8:30 opening.

Heavenly, if all lifts and bases are open, is better and the only place my $415 Senior Tahoe Value pass is valid on non-holiday Saturdays, but weekend/holiday parking close to our cabin is now pay and reservation required.

Kirkwood is in-between for crowds, but you want to be early on Sat. or you can have delays the last couple of miles getting there and/or get turned around due to full parking.

All Vail Tahoe resorts have some paid parking with (pre-paid) reservation required. N* was a sh*tstar today but I was able to get 10 laps on nearly 1800’ vertical Martis Camp in 3 hrs. All other halfway decent lifts had big lines.

 

[Sbooker]

I skied Northstar at Christmas in 2010 or 2011 from memory. Great memories as we got 3 feet of snow the night we checked in. The kids were small. We were awe struck. It was the first time skiing on a ‘big’ mountain outside of Australasia. I probably will never go back there though.

There are quite a few Epic mountains that I have not visited but want to get to one day so at some point I’ll have to buy a pass. Heavenly and Kirkwood and Breckenridge and Vail would be the main targets. I would think late February or early March would be the best time to visit for those mountains?

 

[Tony Crocker]

January is best for Vail, April is best for Breckenridge. April can be OK at Vail, but Back Bowls will need to be timed for likely spring conditions. In January cold weather usually keeps Vail's Back Bowls winter snow, similar to Jackson.

late February or early March would be the best time to visit for those mountains?

I'd say yes to that for Heavenly and Kirkwood. You never know with Sierra volatility, but that's late enough to have confidence in coverage, and both of those areas preserve snow well relative to other Tahoe areas, though not as well as Mammoth. Breck is the most crowded destination resort in western North America, but has a lot of terrain at extremely high altitude, so that's why I say stick to April there. It's one data point but Lonnie was flattened by an errant snowboarder at Breck Feb. 26. 3 days later his multiple broken ribs were repaired with 7 copper plates, 80 screws and 250 stitches.

 

[Sbooker]

Breck is the most crowded destination resort in western North America

Interesting. Why do you think that is? Because it's a bit closer to Denver than Vail and Beaver Creek? Do you have a table for skier visits? I would have thought Park City may have been most crowded given SLC is very close by and it's unlimited on the Epic pass.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Because it's a bit closer to Denver than Vail and Beaver Creek?

Yes, and Summit County lodging is not as expensive. Breck has the same 1.6 million skier visits as Vail with 55% of acreage and 55% of lift capacity. That info is several years old but I doubt skier visits have declined. I believe Utah locals are much more likely to be on Ikon than Epic. I've always said that Park City is a third rate ski area in Utah regional context in terms of both snow and terrain. But Park City is the only true ski resort town in Utah. That's much more important to destination visitors than to locals IMHO. I've read that Park City visitors are 3/4 destination while the Cottonwoods are half locals.

 

[EMSC]

Interesting. Why do you think that is? Because it's a bit closer to Denver than Vail and Beaver Creek?

The old central town buildings of Breck are restored, but much of it is from original mining town days (eg super cute for eastern US skiers to gawk at). Add in cheaper/closer than Vail/Beaver Creek and reasonable distance from Denver Airport and you end up with Tons of destination visitors.

Been a couple of years since I heard as well, but I had heard that Vail and Breck were still very much in the ~1.6-1.7M visit range and neck and neck with each other.