tseeb
Well-known member
I got in the moderate line for Gunbarrel about 8:50. It began loading about 8:55 which was five minutes before scheduled. I waited at the top for Brian, who I was supposed to be guiding with. We met a third person who was guiding for EpicSki gathering on the Powder Bowl chair, then went up Sky Chair and skied untracked powder in Milky Way Bowl. We went up Dipper and skied the sunnier side of Milky Way Bowl, into Dipper Trees for more untracked. The new snow was not as deep as previous days at Northstar and was wind-affected, but skied well. Heavenly reported 5-7.5 inches in previous 24 hours, 16-19.5” in last 48 and storm total of 22.5-42.5”. Tom, the third guide, had skinned above lifts that were closed due to wind previous day and said it skied much better. He even took a run on Thurs. down Raley’s Bowl, some of Heavenly’s side country that ends near gondola base. He said he had to take off his skis to cross one rocky place, but otherwise coverage was good.
We met up with others for EpicSki that had come up from Stagecoach base and took them down Milky Way Bowl. When we stopped to re-group, we waited a long time for others that had stayed in the trees and got past us. We were entertained by a guy moving at high speed out of the bowl who hit a two foot tall rock that was buried in the snow. Luckily he was un-injured, but did a double-eject and barrel roll in the air. Another person also uncovered a rock and crashed in front of us, but not nearly as hard. We lost more of our group as Phil continued past turn towards Dipper/Comet base. We went up Comet and found one person with our group, but he was waiting for others. After a few minutes we headed for woods between boundary and North Bowl. Snow was deep, untracked and good, but I was finding a lot of rocks. We made four more powder runs in the trees on North Bowl, twice turning left toward exit run from North Bowl and twice continuing under the chair. We were two of the very few that skied the powder where coverage was thin.
Going up Olympic, we saw Trish, another of our group and waited for her at the top. She is an instructor at Mt. Rose and was trying to help another lady in our group improve. We took them down the east-facing liftline from removed East Peak chair where snow was challenging. It was better on CA trail that we took to 1 pm meetup at Tamarack Lodge.
After lunch, we took out a group of 5 and went up Tamarack chair, down CA trail, into little known Maggie’s Canyon, where we found some sun-affected untracked. Then we went up and skied Advanced Roundabout into West Bowl, where there was winter snow in the shade on the left and almost corn in the sun on the right. Next we took the group down the left side of Gunbarrel and went past a line of advisory closed signs to avoid run where man-made snow had become icy. We skied Pistol, then I took visitors from MA, PA and WA down Lower Gunbarrel while Tom went back to West Bowl and got a core shot.
We too the visitor up to ski Waterfall, then higher where we all skied Milky Way Bowl before splitting up as we returned to CA, while others went to where they had parked in NV. We took an easier line into Maggie’s Canyon and one visitor downloaded Gunbarrel. We did another Advanced Roundabout into West Bowl nd had to listen to a boarder tell us “don’t do it” every time steep West Bowl crossed more gentle and heavily used Roundabout. I did not get back to the car until almost 4:30 and finished with 23.3K and one ski with some scratches that affected gliding and turning.
On Saturday, the EpicSki group was going to Kirkwood. We’d heard that Motts Canyon would probably open and I decided I rather ski Heavenly for free than burn a ticket and gas driving 35 miles to Kirkwood, where they are less able to handle expected crowd. At Gunbarrel at 8:20 (they open at 8:30 on weekend), I was close to front of smaller line than previous day, but had to wait at top for about 5 minutes for Tom who experienced delay picking up repaired skis. We took a warmup on Sky chair, then another on Liz’s, a run I has not skied this year that may not last long as multiple rock bands crossing it were already hard to cross unscathed. Next, we skied Milky Way, were I found an untracked line, but Tom and Sterling, who joined us for a few runs, did not find to their liking. We next did east-facing East Peak liftline, probably a little too early as some of it was firm.
Next time up, we split up into singles line to take Milky Way Bowl to Motts Canyon, arriving a minute or two after 10 am opening. While some traverses and entries were rocky, and the snow was heavy in places, it was untracked, knee-deep and as steep as Heavenly gets. First time down, there was no line on right side and we dropped Sterling, who went on left. We took it three more times, going further right to get untracked. Only gate 1-4 were open and we were getting tired of push to get from top of lift to gate that got us to good runs so we skied down and took Dipper up. I timed the line at 9 minutes between 11 and noon on busy Saturday. We skied down Bills which still had excellent snow, but was suffering from gapers who had wandered into Motts. A kid had fallen and lost a ski. It was too steep for me to hike it up to him so, in all his wisdom, took off other ski and started a slide for life down nearly 40 degree entrance. He continued to walk up and down without skis and poles as his dad told him run was too steep for them. It’s not like there were others available that were much easier.
Five runs down Motts was hurting Tom’s feet so he sat one out while Sandra, a friend of his from his Heavenly ski instructor days that we ran into after second Motts run and I took a cruiser. Then, Sandra went home and Tom and I took a too thin run above Sky Lake. We finished the day with three runs down the Face, where we found some sections of good snow. The day was warm enough that we dropped shells at car after first run. I finished at 3:15 with 23K vertical and an increasingly sore left hip after 7 days of hard skiing in a row. I also found a bruise at the top of my boot on my left leg to go with the one I got in a fall at Alpine at the top of my inside left calf.
We met up with others for EpicSki that had come up from Stagecoach base and took them down Milky Way Bowl. When we stopped to re-group, we waited a long time for others that had stayed in the trees and got past us. We were entertained by a guy moving at high speed out of the bowl who hit a two foot tall rock that was buried in the snow. Luckily he was un-injured, but did a double-eject and barrel roll in the air. Another person also uncovered a rock and crashed in front of us, but not nearly as hard. We lost more of our group as Phil continued past turn towards Dipper/Comet base. We went up Comet and found one person with our group, but he was waiting for others. After a few minutes we headed for woods between boundary and North Bowl. Snow was deep, untracked and good, but I was finding a lot of rocks. We made four more powder runs in the trees on North Bowl, twice turning left toward exit run from North Bowl and twice continuing under the chair. We were two of the very few that skied the powder where coverage was thin.
Going up Olympic, we saw Trish, another of our group and waited for her at the top. She is an instructor at Mt. Rose and was trying to help another lady in our group improve. We took them down the east-facing liftline from removed East Peak chair where snow was challenging. It was better on CA trail that we took to 1 pm meetup at Tamarack Lodge.
After lunch, we took out a group of 5 and went up Tamarack chair, down CA trail, into little known Maggie’s Canyon, where we found some sun-affected untracked. Then we went up and skied Advanced Roundabout into West Bowl, where there was winter snow in the shade on the left and almost corn in the sun on the right. Next we took the group down the left side of Gunbarrel and went past a line of advisory closed signs to avoid run where man-made snow had become icy. We skied Pistol, then I took visitors from MA, PA and WA down Lower Gunbarrel while Tom went back to West Bowl and got a core shot.
We too the visitor up to ski Waterfall, then higher where we all skied Milky Way Bowl before splitting up as we returned to CA, while others went to where they had parked in NV. We took an easier line into Maggie’s Canyon and one visitor downloaded Gunbarrel. We did another Advanced Roundabout into West Bowl nd had to listen to a boarder tell us “don’t do it” every time steep West Bowl crossed more gentle and heavily used Roundabout. I did not get back to the car until almost 4:30 and finished with 23.3K and one ski with some scratches that affected gliding and turning.
On Saturday, the EpicSki group was going to Kirkwood. We’d heard that Motts Canyon would probably open and I decided I rather ski Heavenly for free than burn a ticket and gas driving 35 miles to Kirkwood, where they are less able to handle expected crowd. At Gunbarrel at 8:20 (they open at 8:30 on weekend), I was close to front of smaller line than previous day, but had to wait at top for about 5 minutes for Tom who experienced delay picking up repaired skis. We took a warmup on Sky chair, then another on Liz’s, a run I has not skied this year that may not last long as multiple rock bands crossing it were already hard to cross unscathed. Next, we skied Milky Way, were I found an untracked line, but Tom and Sterling, who joined us for a few runs, did not find to their liking. We next did east-facing East Peak liftline, probably a little too early as some of it was firm.
Next time up, we split up into singles line to take Milky Way Bowl to Motts Canyon, arriving a minute or two after 10 am opening. While some traverses and entries were rocky, and the snow was heavy in places, it was untracked, knee-deep and as steep as Heavenly gets. First time down, there was no line on right side and we dropped Sterling, who went on left. We took it three more times, going further right to get untracked. Only gate 1-4 were open and we were getting tired of push to get from top of lift to gate that got us to good runs so we skied down and took Dipper up. I timed the line at 9 minutes between 11 and noon on busy Saturday. We skied down Bills which still had excellent snow, but was suffering from gapers who had wandered into Motts. A kid had fallen and lost a ski. It was too steep for me to hike it up to him so, in all his wisdom, took off other ski and started a slide for life down nearly 40 degree entrance. He continued to walk up and down without skis and poles as his dad told him run was too steep for them. It’s not like there were others available that were much easier.
Five runs down Motts was hurting Tom’s feet so he sat one out while Sandra, a friend of his from his Heavenly ski instructor days that we ran into after second Motts run and I took a cruiser. Then, Sandra went home and Tom and I took a too thin run above Sky Lake. We finished the day with three runs down the Face, where we found some sections of good snow. The day was warm enough that we dropped shells at car after first run. I finished at 3:15 with 23K vertical and an increasingly sore left hip after 7 days of hard skiing in a row. I also found a bruise at the top of my boot on my left leg to go with the one I got in a fall at Alpine at the top of my inside left calf.
