Northstar, CA 11/27-29/2016

[tseeb]

I left San Jose at 5 AM on Sunday morning and after about 30 miles of chain control, turned off I-80 for Northstar just before 9 AM. After a long walk from rapidly filling parking, I was on gondola at 9:40. I went to Northstar, which reported 12" new, as it was the only Tahoe Vail resort running chairs so far this season offering more than intermediate terrain via Comstock chair. (Kirkwood opened Reut, which has better black runs, at 2:30 PM on Sunday, but it is a slow chair with under 900 vertical.) I thought the singles line looked long my first time up it so I joined a double and my wait was 10 minutes. After that I used very fast moving singles line and had 3-4 minute waits.

I was hoping line would go down around noon, but it got worse as there was a longer than usual stoppage so I took a lap on Vista which only had one beginner way down from the top. There was a terrain park option for the bottom third which had better snow and less traffic. When I went by Comstock, the line was still long so I skied to top of gondola. After eating my lunch outside as far from noisy snow guns as possible, I went into Big Springs Lodge and watched the 4th quarter where 49ers made it exciting before coming up a couple of yards short of forcing OT.

I skied the short, steep (for Northstar) pitches off East Ridge about 8 times. There is no snow making on these sheltered N-facing runs and in many place there were a lot of trees poking up. By picking my spots, I mostly got down without hitting anything and even when I did there was usually a foot or two of soft snow between my rock skis and any buried obstacles. The Comstock line went down about 2 and I finished my day about 3:30 with 3 runs off West Ridge and 17.8K. There were a lot of people ducking rope so after a run through gated entry into Springboard, I went further down ridge and got some untracked off ridge just before Luggis. I saw more untracked on the steep (for Northstar) corner where West Ridge turned in Luggis, but when I ducked rope to get into it, I found it the snow was crusted from snowmaking and hard to ski well.

First picture is short powder shot off East Ridge that I did three times. To be continued.

 

[tseeb]

On Monday, even though drive from my friend's house to Northstar was about 4 hrs. shorter than previous day's drive from my house, I got on my first lift about 15 minutes later, at a little before 10. I was surprised that parking was full not much closer than on Sunday and asked guy parked next to me if there was anything closer. He didn't think so, but returned about 10 minutes later to say there was so I drove in ski boots almost 1/2 mile closer. Apparently where I saw full parking lot was where employees parked. Northstar reported 2" new and I think they forgot to put "1/" in front of it because I did not see more than 1/2". But the day old powder had dried out and settled so it was skiable in many lower angle places where you would have gotten stuck on Sunday.

Crowds were much smaller so Comstock lift was ski-on most of the day - I rode it 15 times vs. 11 on Sunday. Groomer crew greatly improved Cascade, a high traffic area above base of the lift that had bumped up with very thin snow in troughs well before the end of the day on Sunday. On Tuesday, I shared lift with snowcat driver who said they had made snow and also pushed snow from bowl near base of not-running Rendezvous chair. He also said the temperature rose for a while Monday night and they were making rain, not snow for a while (hard to believe when temps were in low 20s at 7:30 PM where I was) which led to some icy spots on edge of Cascades.

The snowboarding friend I stayed with came out not long after me and we mostly did runs off West Ridge as he does not like flatter East Ridge.

After he left, I skied Grouse Alley, the steep face looker's left at the top of the chair that usually develops bigger bumps than I like, three times. The steep part was challenging enough that I raised some cheers from the chair when I got through it without hitting any rocks and showing some form. I enjoyed it where it flattened out as there was some new snow and it had not been skied much after being groomed. I also skied Tonini's 2-3 times and raised some more cheers from some of the boarders sitting on side of run by successfully attacking the bumps at the top and navigating through small trees that are usually covered lower on the face. The untracked next to flatter middle part of run was now supportable and skiable although radar would have been useful to know where and how deeply covered rocks under the snow were although I did not find many. I also got under the rope before Luggis a couple of more times and found snow was still good for a couple of powder turns. I quit at at 3:10 with 21K and drove to Squaw to discuss replacement liner options with my bootfitter while Cyber Monday sale I found on Intuitions was still on.

On Tuesday, I had planned to ski a little at Northstar, then move to Heavenly to check on family cabin at South Tahoe, then go to Kirkwood on way home on Wednesday. But my wife needed a ride to procedure at Kaiser Wed. AM and friend who lives by Truckee and is always great to stay and ride with needed a ride to Santa Clara to pick up a new to him vehicle. So I skied Northstar for the third day in a row after not leaving much in reserves the two previous days. Somehow I had missed the opening (late Sunday?) of Flying Squirrel and Jibboom that are more SE facing than most runs easily reached from Comstock. I had seen a couple of tracks on challenging Lower Jibboom on Sunday, but I thought they were poachers as it seemed like patrol was trying to talk to one of them at bottom.

After a run to the end of East Ridge to ski a groomer to try to get in synch with friend who works in the Village and was skiing in the morning, I moved to Flying Squirrel where I spotted some low angle untracked above the run. While Flying Squirrel is a blue, it was ungroomed and bumped up enough to be challenging. Next run I skied more challenging Jibboom and hit the most rocks (5, 6, 8?) of any run of my three days. Going up the chair, the guy I was riding with asked if my name was P-tex as I had a 3-4" string hanging off one edge. Good thing I was on rock skis (from mid-May 2015 Mammoth trip), but they probably should have a base weld before I go out on them again.

The weather was clearer than previous two days, but temps started and stayed cold enough the snow was not deteriorating and they continued to blow snow all day in places. I ducked rope and took almost flat road towards Zephyr chair before turning towards Flying Squirrel and was able to make the first three good tracks on slope I had spotted earlier.

Flying Squirrel also skied much easier after going down Jibboom. Eventually I moved back to Tonini's

and took a run on Grouse Alley, which someone on chair mistakenly called Grass Valley. I did notice that Northstar skiers seem to be a little more openly taking advantage of recently passed CA recreational marijuana initiative even though I don't think it provided for outdoor pot smoking.

At about 2:15, Comstock chair, which I rode about 40 times during the three days, stopped loading and had a closed sign. Staff said it would be down for an hour. Since I had to quit not much after 3 to pick up my friend in Truckee from an appt, I thought I would ride Vista

a couple of times and quit, but my 2nd time down Comstock was loading so I got to end with a top to bottom run to get 20.7K vertical.

After changing out of my ski clothes, I parked closer and walked to the Village to get a couple of the tens of thousands (annually) of free 'smores that Northstar begins passing out daily between 3 and 3:30. They are not yet doing the free Champagne Tost at 2 pm, but were sanding new bar they built above East Ridge trail for it and expect to start this weekend.

On Tuesday, I rode gondola with a guy who turned out to be a friend and former neighbor of co-worker from City where I retired almost 6 years ago and that he left about 20 years ago to move to Sierra foothills where I visited once. I had an even more 'small world' lift ride on my only time through non-singles line on Comstock on Sat. After joining a pair for long line and loading lift, I told guy on straight Kneissel skis where I was from and he said he went to high school that he named and college in same area. It turned out we were in the same high school class.

 

[Tony Crocker]

tens of thousands (annually) of free 'smores that Northstar begins passing out daily between 3 and 3:30. They are not yet doing the free Champagne Tost at 2 pm, but were sanding new bar they built above East Ridge trail for it and expect to start this weekend.

VR is trying to make Northstar the Beaver Creek of the Sierra?

 

[tseeb]

Maybe they are hoping to make you forget about how bad the parking is. Even if you take the shuttle in, you have a long hike with some stairs to gondola. I only rode one once to get back to my car on Sunday which is when they filled 'close-in' parking, probably by 10, and people had to park at Castle Peak lot at least a mile down their entrance road.