tseeb
Well-known member
It snowed Sunday afternoon and I was hoping for an inch or two for resurfacing. It kept snowing lightly into the evening and Monday morning Heavenly reported 3-4" new. We made it up the tram about 9 and went directly to Sky Chair. The top of Ellie's and entrance to Liz's were still closed, so we took swing trail. I dropped into the powder 100 feet short of Ellie's while my wife and friend continued onto the run. I found uncut snow and ended up a little closer to Ellie's than usual for the last pitch into the Canyon where coverage was much better than under Sky Chair.
My wife said she was tempted to follow me so next run I led her into some great low-to-moderate angle powder in the trees between Ridge Run and Ellies. I've skied this when it was much deeper and did not find enough pitch, but this was perfect for my wife to to get her powder legs and powder smile so we did it about five times. The two steepest pitches we took were dropping off Ridge Run into Ridge Bowl very early and staying under Canyon Express and into the trees to skiers right of Double Down. For our last run on CA, we went past Ellie's into Skyways Glades and went out far enough to find totally untracked. At 11 am, the line at Sky was finally building and we found our friend and headed for NV.
I was surprised my friend wanted to try Milky Way Bowl and he and my wife started down left of center before I got them back to far right which was untracked. I headed for Widowmaker in Mott's Canyon which had good coverage and more powder. After a quick early stop for liquids and a snack, I went up Dipper Chair and stayed high across Milky Way Bowl until the powder got too tempting. After too few turns I stayed high enough to get into Gate 3 and 40 degree Boulevard where I found untracked by staying right. The return trail was scary as usual with steep drops to Carson Valley 4000 feet below. Going up Mott's, I noticed the chute towards the chair from Rock Pile looked covered and uncut so I traversed over there under some ski patrol. The chute looked too rocky, but the very steep line to the right of the nose was skiing like a foot of powder.
I headed back up Dipper and started in the powder on skier's right of CA trail then cut across and found untracked in the Skiways before dropping back onto CA trail. More untracked was found in Maggie's Canyon but since it's lower I stayed skier's left for better coverage. I had time for one run down left side and left side trees on Waterfall before taking Groove chair to high gate into the Face. By staying on the left side, I found a lot of untracked and then I was the first one to ski the trees just left of the Face from where it splits off from Gunbarrel all the way to where Roundabout crosses. They was only about two inches new here, but it looked better to me than the bumps.
It was my best day so far this year. The crowds were not bad and dry powder could easily be found on the edges and between runs. We left the parking lot at 2 pm, made lunch, packed and cleaned the cabin and were on the road at 3:30. While driving out Pioneer Trail, a friend called to say they were in stop and go a couple miles short of US 50, so I gave him a shortcut and took two myself. Going up the pass was good, but then we had a very slow ride to Placerville due to Sierra-at-Tahoe traffic entering and people with chains holding everyone up. 17 runs/19.6K vertical, mostly powder
My wife said she was tempted to follow me so next run I led her into some great low-to-moderate angle powder in the trees between Ridge Run and Ellies. I've skied this when it was much deeper and did not find enough pitch, but this was perfect for my wife to to get her powder legs and powder smile so we did it about five times. The two steepest pitches we took were dropping off Ridge Run into Ridge Bowl very early and staying under Canyon Express and into the trees to skiers right of Double Down. For our last run on CA, we went past Ellie's into Skyways Glades and went out far enough to find totally untracked. At 11 am, the line at Sky was finally building and we found our friend and headed for NV.
I was surprised my friend wanted to try Milky Way Bowl and he and my wife started down left of center before I got them back to far right which was untracked. I headed for Widowmaker in Mott's Canyon which had good coverage and more powder. After a quick early stop for liquids and a snack, I went up Dipper Chair and stayed high across Milky Way Bowl until the powder got too tempting. After too few turns I stayed high enough to get into Gate 3 and 40 degree Boulevard where I found untracked by staying right. The return trail was scary as usual with steep drops to Carson Valley 4000 feet below. Going up Mott's, I noticed the chute towards the chair from Rock Pile looked covered and uncut so I traversed over there under some ski patrol. The chute looked too rocky, but the very steep line to the right of the nose was skiing like a foot of powder.
I headed back up Dipper and started in the powder on skier's right of CA trail then cut across and found untracked in the Skiways before dropping back onto CA trail. More untracked was found in Maggie's Canyon but since it's lower I stayed skier's left for better coverage. I had time for one run down left side and left side trees on Waterfall before taking Groove chair to high gate into the Face. By staying on the left side, I found a lot of untracked and then I was the first one to ski the trees just left of the Face from where it splits off from Gunbarrel all the way to where Roundabout crosses. They was only about two inches new here, but it looked better to me than the bumps.
It was my best day so far this year. The crowds were not bad and dry powder could easily be found on the edges and between runs. We left the parking lot at 2 pm, made lunch, packed and cleaned the cabin and were on the road at 3:30. While driving out Pioneer Trail, a friend called to say they were in stop and go a couple miles short of US 50, so I gave him a shortcut and took two myself. Going up the pass was good, but then we had a very slow ride to Placerville due to Sierra-at-Tahoe traffic entering and people with chains holding everyone up. 17 runs/19.6K vertical, mostly powder
