tseeb
Well-known member
My friend from Truckee texted me Tuesday about noon to see if I had seen prediction for up to 20” of snow for that night. I had, but thought it was going to be warm and that snow would be wet. I was planning to go later in the week, but his prodding and offer of a place to stay got me going. I did not leave until Wed. at 4:15 AM, thinking that staying with my wife one more night would make her less sad or mad that I may be gone for more than a week.
There was snow on I-80 about 6,000 feet with chain control for only about 10 miles over the top of Donner Pass. That and two quick stops delayed me enough that I was not on Northstar’s gondola until 9 am. Northstar reported 9” new at the top in the last 24 hours and 13” in the last 48. I went up Zephyr chair to get to the Backside. Since the entrance at the top of Zephyr chair into The Islands was open, I made the first tracks through the trees and skied the untracked Islands. Going up Backside, I saw my snowoarding friend from Truckee who was on his second run and waited for me. We took Backside a total of seven times before going in for a break at a little before noon as I was getting hungry since I was on the road so early. The heavy snow skied well and most obstacles were well covered. We found a lot of untracked and very lightly tracked since it was mid-week.
After lunch we took one run down Comstock lift skiing untracked trees off East Ridge. My snowboarding friend was done for the day and his neighbor and I moved to Lookout. The snow in Sugar Pines Glades was mostly cut up, but the edge of Boca run had some untracked and lightly tracked. We ended up skiing Lookout six times before quitting at 3 pm and were still finding untracked through the trees. I finished with 27K according to my watch,
After skiing mostly Alpine and a little Squaw on Thursday, I returned to Northstar on Friday, My snowboarding friend started at 8:30 and quit before 9:30. He reported Backside was running slow so I went to Lookout. My first run or two, the snow on Prosser was firm enough on the top, but the groomers, probably working in rain, had left ridges and dips between passes. Even on the first run, I hit a sticky spot while going fast that almost threw me , My friend’s neighbor and two guests from Utah got there after me and quit after two or three runs. I skied until noon, when I got a hot wax, but it did not help much and I was done at 12:30 with barely 20K vertical.
My pass is blacked out on Saturday at Northstar and Kirkwood. I was thinking about driving to Heavenly, where it is valid or paying $10 with Tahoe Card punch to ski Diamond Peak, which is on way from Truckee to So. Tahoe where I was planning to stay Sat night. But my luck which started with finding $25 on ground at rest stop on way up on Wed. continued. My hosts and I went to 4 pm movie at Northstar on Fri, and walking back to the car, I picked up a three-day pass somebody had dropped in the parking lot. It turned out to have one day left which I used at Northstar on Sat, arriving at 8:45 and getting parking about 15 cars from Home Run.
It was very windy, cloudy and may have rained a little overnight, but snow had firmed up from yesterday. The places that were stickiest on Friday were the places that were not icy on Saturday morning. After riding Promised Land lift five times, I went in for an early break. I came out when the sun was partially out, but by 11:30, it started to dump. At first it was wet snow, especially down at the car, where I took another break at noon, but it got colder and lighter during the day. Their was only a little slush on my car when I went back out, but there was 6-8” when I returned a little after four.
I took one run on Comstock, where there was already enough new snow to ski untracked on edge of groomed run, but found the car too long and slow for the vertical, even though it is a high-speed quad running from 7,400 feet to Northstar’s 8,600 foot summit. The Backside, which was closed during the morning (when Alpine reported 108 mph gust at 10:30) was now running so I took a couple of runs there. I skied untracked through the trees, but was hitting bottom, so I went into Tamarack Lodge for a slice of pizza and a break to dry my gloves, warm up and wait for the snow to build some more. I went back out a little before three and skied the trees on the Backside in 6-8” of untracked new snow. I then skied more powder down one of the runs off East Ridge, then went up Zephyr for the fourth time that day. I thought I’d be able to ski to the car after making a lot of tracks on Home Run, and I did, but only after hitting barely covered rock pile just before coming into the parking lot with some speed. My watch counted 26 runs and over 38K vertical.
I got on the road at 4:30 and it took an hour and 45 minutes to cover the 37 miles to Lakeside Inn just before South Tahoe due to vehicles that could not climb Brockway Summit between Northstar and King’s Beach or the hills on the east shore of Tahoe. A Heavenly employee said it took them an hour to go the 5 miles from Boulder Lodge. When I left Lakeside, Kingsbury Grade was closed and so was Highway 50 over Echo Summit.
Not many pictures from these days and I’m way behind on reporting powder days at Alpine/Squaw, Kirkwood and Heavenly, so I’ll post more when I can.
There was snow on I-80 about 6,000 feet with chain control for only about 10 miles over the top of Donner Pass. That and two quick stops delayed me enough that I was not on Northstar’s gondola until 9 am. Northstar reported 9” new at the top in the last 24 hours and 13” in the last 48. I went up Zephyr chair to get to the Backside. Since the entrance at the top of Zephyr chair into The Islands was open, I made the first tracks through the trees and skied the untracked Islands. Going up Backside, I saw my snowoarding friend from Truckee who was on his second run and waited for me. We took Backside a total of seven times before going in for a break at a little before noon as I was getting hungry since I was on the road so early. The heavy snow skied well and most obstacles were well covered. We found a lot of untracked and very lightly tracked since it was mid-week.
After lunch we took one run down Comstock lift skiing untracked trees off East Ridge. My snowboarding friend was done for the day and his neighbor and I moved to Lookout. The snow in Sugar Pines Glades was mostly cut up, but the edge of Boca run had some untracked and lightly tracked. We ended up skiing Lookout six times before quitting at 3 pm and were still finding untracked through the trees. I finished with 27K according to my watch,
After skiing mostly Alpine and a little Squaw on Thursday, I returned to Northstar on Friday, My snowboarding friend started at 8:30 and quit before 9:30. He reported Backside was running slow so I went to Lookout. My first run or two, the snow on Prosser was firm enough on the top, but the groomers, probably working in rain, had left ridges and dips between passes. Even on the first run, I hit a sticky spot while going fast that almost threw me , My friend’s neighbor and two guests from Utah got there after me and quit after two or three runs. I skied until noon, when I got a hot wax, but it did not help much and I was done at 12:30 with barely 20K vertical.
My pass is blacked out on Saturday at Northstar and Kirkwood. I was thinking about driving to Heavenly, where it is valid or paying $10 with Tahoe Card punch to ski Diamond Peak, which is on way from Truckee to So. Tahoe where I was planning to stay Sat night. But my luck which started with finding $25 on ground at rest stop on way up on Wed. continued. My hosts and I went to 4 pm movie at Northstar on Fri, and walking back to the car, I picked up a three-day pass somebody had dropped in the parking lot. It turned out to have one day left which I used at Northstar on Sat, arriving at 8:45 and getting parking about 15 cars from Home Run.
It was very windy, cloudy and may have rained a little overnight, but snow had firmed up from yesterday. The places that were stickiest on Friday were the places that were not icy on Saturday morning. After riding Promised Land lift five times, I went in for an early break. I came out when the sun was partially out, but by 11:30, it started to dump. At first it was wet snow, especially down at the car, where I took another break at noon, but it got colder and lighter during the day. Their was only a little slush on my car when I went back out, but there was 6-8” when I returned a little after four.
I took one run on Comstock, where there was already enough new snow to ski untracked on edge of groomed run, but found the car too long and slow for the vertical, even though it is a high-speed quad running from 7,400 feet to Northstar’s 8,600 foot summit. The Backside, which was closed during the morning (when Alpine reported 108 mph gust at 10:30) was now running so I took a couple of runs there. I skied untracked through the trees, but was hitting bottom, so I went into Tamarack Lodge for a slice of pizza and a break to dry my gloves, warm up and wait for the snow to build some more. I went back out a little before three and skied the trees on the Backside in 6-8” of untracked new snow. I then skied more powder down one of the runs off East Ridge, then went up Zephyr for the fourth time that day. I thought I’d be able to ski to the car after making a lot of tracks on Home Run, and I did, but only after hitting barely covered rock pile just before coming into the parking lot with some speed. My watch counted 26 runs and over 38K vertical.
I got on the road at 4:30 and it took an hour and 45 minutes to cover the 37 miles to Lakeside Inn just before South Tahoe due to vehicles that could not climb Brockway Summit between Northstar and King’s Beach or the hills on the east shore of Tahoe. A Heavenly employee said it took them an hour to go the 5 miles from Boulder Lodge. When I left Lakeside, Kingsbury Grade was closed and so was Highway 50 over Echo Summit.
Not many pictures from these days and I’m way behind on reporting powder days at Alpine/Squaw, Kirkwood and Heavenly, so I’ll post more when I can.