tseeb
Well-known member
This was my third day trying to ski the powder from cold and windy storm that hit CA and was only a little more successful that previous two at Squaw. Alpine reported 27" new on top of 20" from Friday when they did not open much and closed early due to wind. The snow mostly did not ski that deep, because even though it was dry, with very low snow level, there was so much wind during storm. Alpine did a great job opening the whole mountain including all hikes on Saturday. Alpine also seemed to handle the crowds much better than Squaw did.
I left my friend's house north of Truckee at 8 am and took the Central Truckee exit to West River St to 89-S to avoid the I-80 to 89-S traffic. I went by Squaw to pickup my new boots and almost new wide skis that had heels re-mounted for new boots. I re-used the custom footbeds I already had as the Boot Wooks thought they looked better than most and would work. I got to Alpine shortly after 9 and parked near the Subway chair (main lot was filled almost to turnoff). I went up Subway and skied and hiked over to and went up Roundhouse. I had a lot of untracked on Sympathy Face, then Gunnar's Knob. I went up Roundhouse again as Summit looked too crowded. I skied more untracked on runs towards Yellow chair and got in the singles line for Scott chair, which moved pretty quickly (less than 5 minutes). I skied some great untracked down Gentian Gully and came out at Subway, but had to go to the car and painfully remove my boots as I had lost circulation to my toes on both feet. I was concerned about frostbite as temperature was probably in the teens.
After warming up my toes, I did another Roundhouse run and skied lightly tracked along the edge and to the left of the runs. I made it through the long line and up Summit and thought about hiking to the backside, but had already lost circulation in my toes so I skied a lightly tracked line in Alpine's main bowl (Wolverine) and then down the Face Cliffs, where I found more untracked. I went into the lodge, bought some fries and re-filled my water before removing my boots. I made it out once more and went up Summit and, even though boots were already hurting me, hiked the High Traverse and skied the lightly tracked Backside at Alpine (South Face) to Sherwood Forest chair, where there was no line which I don't think I'd ridden since it had been upgraded to a high-speed quad about 5 years ago. I rode the chair and skied some lightly tracked on Art's Knob, then Weasel Run to Subway and back to the car at 1:30 with 7 runs and a little over 9K vertical.
I drove back to Squaw to talk to bootfitter. Cars were parked on entrance road to Squaw past the first parking lot turnoff. I heard about 45 minute lines on Headwall and KT. My bootfitter was out skiing and did not return until almost 3 pm. He found the problem was my footbeds did not fit as well as he hoped and had folded some at the toes. He fitted me for new footbeds and gave me a special price on them. Traffic was not too bad until the Sugar Bowl exit on I-80 where it came to a stop and was slow until third lane is added almost at Auburn. They was no snow on the road, but a lot of spray from cars dropping snow and some snow was falling from center divide where it had piled a foot or two deep.
I left my friend's house north of Truckee at 8 am and took the Central Truckee exit to West River St to 89-S to avoid the I-80 to 89-S traffic. I went by Squaw to pickup my new boots and almost new wide skis that had heels re-mounted for new boots. I re-used the custom footbeds I already had as the Boot Wooks thought they looked better than most and would work. I got to Alpine shortly after 9 and parked near the Subway chair (main lot was filled almost to turnoff). I went up Subway and skied and hiked over to and went up Roundhouse. I had a lot of untracked on Sympathy Face, then Gunnar's Knob. I went up Roundhouse again as Summit looked too crowded. I skied more untracked on runs towards Yellow chair and got in the singles line for Scott chair, which moved pretty quickly (less than 5 minutes). I skied some great untracked down Gentian Gully and came out at Subway, but had to go to the car and painfully remove my boots as I had lost circulation to my toes on both feet. I was concerned about frostbite as temperature was probably in the teens.
After warming up my toes, I did another Roundhouse run and skied lightly tracked along the edge and to the left of the runs. I made it through the long line and up Summit and thought about hiking to the backside, but had already lost circulation in my toes so I skied a lightly tracked line in Alpine's main bowl (Wolverine) and then down the Face Cliffs, where I found more untracked. I went into the lodge, bought some fries and re-filled my water before removing my boots. I made it out once more and went up Summit and, even though boots were already hurting me, hiked the High Traverse and skied the lightly tracked Backside at Alpine (South Face) to Sherwood Forest chair, where there was no line which I don't think I'd ridden since it had been upgraded to a high-speed quad about 5 years ago. I rode the chair and skied some lightly tracked on Art's Knob, then Weasel Run to Subway and back to the car at 1:30 with 7 runs and a little over 9K vertical.
I drove back to Squaw to talk to bootfitter. Cars were parked on entrance road to Squaw past the first parking lot turnoff. I heard about 45 minute lines on Headwall and KT. My bootfitter was out skiing and did not return until almost 3 pm. He found the problem was my footbeds did not fit as well as he hoped and had folded some at the toes. He fitted me for new footbeds and gave me a special price on them. Traffic was not too bad until the Sugar Bowl exit on I-80 where it came to a stop and was slow until third lane is added almost at Auburn. They was no snow on the road, but a lot of spray from cars dropping snow and some snow was falling from center divide where it had piled a foot or two deep.
