tseeb
Well-known member
My friend and I went to Heavenly on 1/4 on free tickets my wife and I got from going to Warren Miller movie. Tickets were only valid M-F, before the holidays and this week and next. Since I am going to Mexico next week for my 20th anniversary, it was use them or sell or give them away.
We went up the tram about 10 AM and headed to Sky Chair which was nice to be able to ride without fighting the usual crowds. I noticed the top of Ellies, which reaches to 10,000 foot elevation, but faces partially West and gets stripped by the wind, was still not open, even though they have been making snow there all day on Sat. We cut across and dropped into it a little higher than Heavenly wanted, but that is what it took to find good snow all day. They had the top of Ellies and Meteor (in NV) and highest traverse from CA into Milky Way Bowl closed, but by dropping in a little below the closure good snow could be found between the rocks.
My friend did not like the bumps on the lower part of Ellie's which they may be afraid to groom without uncovering rocks. We found good snow in the trees by going to the right between Ellie's and the return from NV. We did a couple of more of the cruisers between Sky and Canyon chairs before going to Nevada. I traveresed high into Milky Way Bowl and found a few untracked turns before joining the main run. We went into Motts and saw someone skiing good snow in Killibrew, but we had a hard time not hitting rocks on Motts until near the bottom of the run. On the way back to CA, I took my friend into Maggies Canyon where there was good snow and coverage although we headed towards Maggie because I was concerned the gully may have been too rocky. My friend was not having a good day so he called it a day and returned to the cabin where my son took his ticket out from 12:30-2:30.
I skied a little more in CA before returning to NV for a couple of runs down Milky Way Bowl and Meteor. I returned to CA and met up with my son on Powder Bowl chair, then we went up Canyon twice before finishing with a run down advanced Roundabout and the lower Face. My son was wearing a t-shirt, but the high in So. Tahoe was only 47 so he was a little cold as he went higher on the mountain. 21 runs/23K vertical. We (or mostly I) worked on cleaning and closing the cabin until a little after 4 and made to home in San Jose in 4 hours with a couple of quick stops. Both Heavenly and Kirkwood need more snow, especially where it is steeper runs, and there is not much promising in the forecast.
We went up the tram about 10 AM and headed to Sky Chair which was nice to be able to ride without fighting the usual crowds. I noticed the top of Ellies, which reaches to 10,000 foot elevation, but faces partially West and gets stripped by the wind, was still not open, even though they have been making snow there all day on Sat. We cut across and dropped into it a little higher than Heavenly wanted, but that is what it took to find good snow all day. They had the top of Ellies and Meteor (in NV) and highest traverse from CA into Milky Way Bowl closed, but by dropping in a little below the closure good snow could be found between the rocks.
My friend did not like the bumps on the lower part of Ellie's which they may be afraid to groom without uncovering rocks. We found good snow in the trees by going to the right between Ellie's and the return from NV. We did a couple of more of the cruisers between Sky and Canyon chairs before going to Nevada. I traveresed high into Milky Way Bowl and found a few untracked turns before joining the main run. We went into Motts and saw someone skiing good snow in Killibrew, but we had a hard time not hitting rocks on Motts until near the bottom of the run. On the way back to CA, I took my friend into Maggies Canyon where there was good snow and coverage although we headed towards Maggie because I was concerned the gully may have been too rocky. My friend was not having a good day so he called it a day and returned to the cabin where my son took his ticket out from 12:30-2:30.
I skied a little more in CA before returning to NV for a couple of runs down Milky Way Bowl and Meteor. I returned to CA and met up with my son on Powder Bowl chair, then we went up Canyon twice before finishing with a run down advanced Roundabout and the lower Face. My son was wearing a t-shirt, but the high in So. Tahoe was only 47 so he was a little cold as he went higher on the mountain. 21 runs/23K vertical. We (or mostly I) worked on cleaning and closing the cabin until a little after 4 and made to home in San Jose in 4 hours with a couple of quick stops. Both Heavenly and Kirkwood need more snow, especially where it is steeper runs, and there is not much promising in the forecast.
