tseeb
Well-known member
Northstar 4/21/2011
I left San Jose 5 AM at Thurs. morning after checking weather and finding chain control on I-80 at 4 AM. By 6:30 AM, I learned Northstar claimed 4 inches new, while Sugar Bowl reported 5 and Boreal and Soda Springs 6. My friend only had a trace at his house north of Truckee and would not have come out if I had not come up. Chains were not required although road did get slick. 40 mph was advised and I saw a Lexus sedan that had spun into the deep snow in the median. I turned into Northstar’s road about 8:45, met up with my snowboarding friend and we were on the gondola by 9:30. Northstar was only showing about an inch new at the base, but we found 3-4 inches almost everywhere above 7,000 feet and 5-6 in a few spots.
We took Zephyr to the poma to Lookout Mt. We got separated before the Poma as my friend ducked behind a building to add face protection as it was cold and windy early and I took a high track and got on the poma in the middle. We got together again at the top and he took Washoe, which I’m not sure I have ever followed to the end. I always turn into the steep trees where today the snow was mostly untracked. There were a few spots where the new snow was thin, but coverage was great and the 3-4 inches untracked skied great. We took Boca twice, the second time cutting in from under the chair. There were only a couple of previous tracks on the long moderate angle wide run. We then went over to Stamped and found untracked coming off a knoll into the steepest sustained pitch on Lookout. We did that again and were going to go back for more when we saw White Rabbit was open. When it’s open, it’s always a good day at Northstar.
If you went right, snow was thin to non-existent where facing west, but to the left, into very open trees called The Golf Course, snow was untracked. I had no trouble getting to Backside chair and my friend on a snowboard was already there unlike previous time down in Feb. when I got 10 or 15 minutes ahead of him. Next, I was supposed to follow him down a Backside run, but found powder at the top and lost him so I skied the mostly untracked 1800+ vertical by myself. I started skier’s right of the chair, then crossed under and finished with many moderate to low angle untracked turns. We did Backside a few more times, often finding more untracked at the edges of runs lower down than in some more open areas between runs. At 12:30 we went into the restaurant at the top and split a Burrito.
After lunch we did Backside one more time, before taking two runs on Comstock chair. More untracked was found between Tonini’s and The Chute and beyond The Chute all the way to the bottom of rarely running Rendezvous chair. In places the new snow seemed more like 5-6”. We finished by going up Zephyr and skiing some untracked on the left side of Home Run to the parking lot where we quit about 2:30. My friend said that we had the closest parking he has experienced all season. If you have a pass and can park new Home Run, you can take new pulse gondola to the Ritz-Carlton. This avoids the shuttle and long walk through the village to the other gondola. For a day where starting out we only hoped we would not get rained on, the new snow - although not light - provided many hundreds of untracked turns. 14 runs and over 24K of mostly powder vertical.
I left San Jose 5 AM at Thurs. morning after checking weather and finding chain control on I-80 at 4 AM. By 6:30 AM, I learned Northstar claimed 4 inches new, while Sugar Bowl reported 5 and Boreal and Soda Springs 6. My friend only had a trace at his house north of Truckee and would not have come out if I had not come up. Chains were not required although road did get slick. 40 mph was advised and I saw a Lexus sedan that had spun into the deep snow in the median. I turned into Northstar’s road about 8:45, met up with my snowboarding friend and we were on the gondola by 9:30. Northstar was only showing about an inch new at the base, but we found 3-4 inches almost everywhere above 7,000 feet and 5-6 in a few spots.
We took Zephyr to the poma to Lookout Mt. We got separated before the Poma as my friend ducked behind a building to add face protection as it was cold and windy early and I took a high track and got on the poma in the middle. We got together again at the top and he took Washoe, which I’m not sure I have ever followed to the end. I always turn into the steep trees where today the snow was mostly untracked. There were a few spots where the new snow was thin, but coverage was great and the 3-4 inches untracked skied great. We took Boca twice, the second time cutting in from under the chair. There were only a couple of previous tracks on the long moderate angle wide run. We then went over to Stamped and found untracked coming off a knoll into the steepest sustained pitch on Lookout. We did that again and were going to go back for more when we saw White Rabbit was open. When it’s open, it’s always a good day at Northstar.
If you went right, snow was thin to non-existent where facing west, but to the left, into very open trees called The Golf Course, snow was untracked. I had no trouble getting to Backside chair and my friend on a snowboard was already there unlike previous time down in Feb. when I got 10 or 15 minutes ahead of him. Next, I was supposed to follow him down a Backside run, but found powder at the top and lost him so I skied the mostly untracked 1800+ vertical by myself. I started skier’s right of the chair, then crossed under and finished with many moderate to low angle untracked turns. We did Backside a few more times, often finding more untracked at the edges of runs lower down than in some more open areas between runs. At 12:30 we went into the restaurant at the top and split a Burrito.
After lunch we did Backside one more time, before taking two runs on Comstock chair. More untracked was found between Tonini’s and The Chute and beyond The Chute all the way to the bottom of rarely running Rendezvous chair. In places the new snow seemed more like 5-6”. We finished by going up Zephyr and skiing some untracked on the left side of Home Run to the parking lot where we quit about 2:30. My friend said that we had the closest parking he has experienced all season. If you have a pass and can park new Home Run, you can take new pulse gondola to the Ritz-Carlton. This avoids the shuttle and long walk through the village to the other gondola. For a day where starting out we only hoped we would not get rained on, the new snow - although not light - provided many hundreds of untracked turns. 14 runs and over 24K of mostly powder vertical.
