tseeb
Well-known member
It was a great Ceasar Chavez birthday (a holiday for public schools and goverment workers in CA) at Northstar. They were claiming 18-24" new and we found about 16 in most places and I only bottomed into the hard snow underneath on about 1 turn in a 100. We left San Jose about 5:15 and turned off 267 to Northstar at 9 am. There was snow below 2000 feet and chain control at about 3500, but traffic moved very well with some cars including a CHP passing me at 45-50 even though the speed limit is 30 on I-80 in chain control. We got ready fast to catch a shuttle and both forget our cell phones in the car which we planned to use to contact our friend who lives in Truckee and was there for the rope drop. We went to the top, where the sun was breaking through and took one Backside run, to skiers left and found mostly untracked, dry snow in the trees and on the edge of the run. We found our friend at the top of the lift and took 5 more 1800 foot vertical runs of mostly lightly tracked and almost untracked powder. My boarder friend from San Jose, Lou, was getting tired fast and went into the lodge at the top to sit one out while we went far right to Promised Land and found more great snow including some steep untracked trees below a cat-track that dropped us onto another run where noone had been.
We had a good lunch at the top, skied the Backside to skiers left of the run under the chair where snow was only lightly tracked, then repeated Promised Land with Lou who also sat out a run after lunch. We headed for Lookout as I had not been there since they lengthed the chair to reach into some homes. Lou, and some other boarders, really struggled with the poma to get to Lookout. He fell off at once or twice and I waited at least five minutes at the top. The snow in the trees off Martis was not as good as the Backside. Besides being more sun-exposed, boaders had side-slipped the powder in many places. We went up Lookout and found good, steep for Northstar, untracked on either side of Prosser. Lou was really getting tired so he and Don, went up Lookout and skied Home Run to near where Don was parked.
I took one more run to the right of Prosser, which has some of Northstar's steepest and most sustained pitch. I next skied back to mid-mountain and took Vista, then skied low-angle, lightly tracked powder to Comstock and took one more Backside run. I stayed far skiers left and found a couple short untracked pitches, but the roped to Sawtooth was closed. I found a little more untacked and then took the long cat-track back. I skied the trees off West Ridge, where there was good powder, but the steep ends too soon. I went up Comstock again and skied West Ridge all the way past Vista Chair to Logger's Loop and The Woods. Even though it was after 3:30, there was still low and mid-angle powder to be found on the edge of the runs. The Woods was only packed about four feet wide in places and twice my skis got hooked on heavy frozen piles of snow, the second time one went behind me before I could pull it back.
We rode lifts with two people who have both Squaw and Northstar passes and prefer Northstar on powder days. One said Squaw doesn't open their lifts very fast, even the day after a storm, and the other said the powder gets tracked out too fast and doesn't like the sh*tshow. My Avocet counted 17 runs and 25.3K vertical which is good for the amount of time I spent waiting for Lou.
We had a good lunch at the top, skied the Backside to skiers left of the run under the chair where snow was only lightly tracked, then repeated Promised Land with Lou who also sat out a run after lunch. We headed for Lookout as I had not been there since they lengthed the chair to reach into some homes. Lou, and some other boarders, really struggled with the poma to get to Lookout. He fell off at once or twice and I waited at least five minutes at the top. The snow in the trees off Martis was not as good as the Backside. Besides being more sun-exposed, boaders had side-slipped the powder in many places. We went up Lookout and found good, steep for Northstar, untracked on either side of Prosser. Lou was really getting tired so he and Don, went up Lookout and skied Home Run to near where Don was parked.
I took one more run to the right of Prosser, which has some of Northstar's steepest and most sustained pitch. I next skied back to mid-mountain and took Vista, then skied low-angle, lightly tracked powder to Comstock and took one more Backside run. I stayed far skiers left and found a couple short untracked pitches, but the roped to Sawtooth was closed. I found a little more untacked and then took the long cat-track back. I skied the trees off West Ridge, where there was good powder, but the steep ends too soon. I went up Comstock again and skied West Ridge all the way past Vista Chair to Logger's Loop and The Woods. Even though it was after 3:30, there was still low and mid-angle powder to be found on the edge of the runs. The Woods was only packed about four feet wide in places and twice my skis got hooked on heavy frozen piles of snow, the second time one went behind me before I could pull it back.
We rode lifts with two people who have both Squaw and Northstar passes and prefer Northstar on powder days. One said Squaw doesn't open their lifts very fast, even the day after a storm, and the other said the powder gets tracked out too fast and doesn't like the sh*tshow. My Avocet counted 17 runs and 25.3K vertical which is good for the amount of time I spent waiting for Lou.
