tseeb
Well-known member
Northstar had $35 ticket on Friday for their 35th anniversary which brought me and thousands of other in. We arrived about a little after 9 after 4 hour drive from San Jose and parked between G and H which is near top of stairs leading to old parking lot which is now being covered with condos. If you go to Northstar on a busy day, get there early or you will be parking a mile down the hill, behind the gas station, and shuttling in.
There were a lot of people at the first ticket windows, but inside line not bad and the upper ticket windows and gondola had short lines. We went up Vista chair and were surprised to find Magic Moguls ungroomed with some of the foot plus of new snow from previous day uncut. Coverage was very good even in the trees and all runs were open except for Lookout Mountain which I see is open today (12/23). Temperature started in single digits and never got past the mid 20s so they were making snow all day.
Due to the $35 tickets and recent snow, Northstar got crowded fast. We got one run on Comstock before returning to the top and skiing the Backside 4 or 5 runs before heading in for a lunch. As long as you took Down Under, which takes you to skiers left of the chair at the bottom, the Backside lift line was not too bad. The other side was much worse.
After lunch we took one more Backside run, then moved down to Tahoe Zephyr, which is a six-pack installed for last year which I had never ridden. We met up with a co-worker and skiied some runs with her and her friends. Then we moved back to Vista which had better light and lighter crowds in the afternoon. Picture is from Moonshine which, like most of Northstar, still had uncut powder on the edges.
I was supposed to meet my friend (and ride) at Tahoe Zephyr to take Home Run but did not see him so I went up once and skiied Boondocks which still had corduroy after 3 pm. I looked for him once more at 3:30 and then went up again and took Home Run which had good coverage, except for one place near the top. Home Run ends by the parking lot we were in, but it still was probably close to a half mile to the truck were I waited for nearly a half hour for my friend. I was able to get into the back and get a beer and, but my shoes we locked in the cab so I did not walk to to the lodge to see their anniversary drink specials. 18 runs/26.5K vertical
There were a lot of people at the first ticket windows, but inside line not bad and the upper ticket windows and gondola had short lines. We went up Vista chair and were surprised to find Magic Moguls ungroomed with some of the foot plus of new snow from previous day uncut. Coverage was very good even in the trees and all runs were open except for Lookout Mountain which I see is open today (12/23). Temperature started in single digits and never got past the mid 20s so they were making snow all day.
Due to the $35 tickets and recent snow, Northstar got crowded fast. We got one run on Comstock before returning to the top and skiing the Backside 4 or 5 runs before heading in for a lunch. As long as you took Down Under, which takes you to skiers left of the chair at the bottom, the Backside lift line was not too bad. The other side was much worse.
After lunch we took one more Backside run, then moved down to Tahoe Zephyr, which is a six-pack installed for last year which I had never ridden. We met up with a co-worker and skiied some runs with her and her friends. Then we moved back to Vista which had better light and lighter crowds in the afternoon. Picture is from Moonshine which, like most of Northstar, still had uncut powder on the edges.
I was supposed to meet my friend (and ride) at Tahoe Zephyr to take Home Run but did not see him so I went up once and skiied Boondocks which still had corduroy after 3 pm. I looked for him once more at 3:30 and then went up again and took Home Run which had good coverage, except for one place near the top. Home Run ends by the parking lot we were in, but it still was probably close to a half mile to the truck were I waited for nearly a half hour for my friend. I was able to get into the back and get a beer and, but my shoes we locked in the cab so I did not walk to to the lodge to see their anniversary drink specials. 18 runs/26.5K vertical
