tseeb
Well-known member
We stopped and visited family who live between Sacramento and Marysville on Sat. when it was in the low 80s in much of No. CA, then drove to North San Juan (near Nevada City) where my friend fed us steak and lobster, opened a $125 bottle of tequila he had received as a gift and put us up. He and his wife were supposed to join us skiing, but backed out so we left their house in semi-dark just before 7 and arrived Northstar 90 minutes later. We were on the gondola at 10 minutes before 9 according to EpicMix and went up Comstock 4 times. Twice we skied the sunnier West Ridge and dropped down perfectly groomed Ax Handle, then Luggis, then I skied groomed, but steeper Grouse Alley while she repeated a run.
After a quick break at the top for a coffee and to fill my water bottle, we moved to the Backside. We went out far skiers left to Challenger because I was concerned that return to lift would get sticky later. The run, which faces NW was very firm, but smooth and would hold an edge. We also skied Burnout, then Sierra Grande, then repeated Burnout and all were getting better as they softened. Next we skied Castle Peak run to Promised Land lift as it had been a few years since my wife had been to Northstar and I wanted to show her the new lift. I stopped a couple of hundred feet before the base to make sure she knew where to go, then waited longer than expected for her at lift. She had fallen, not sure how, possibly from going around large group of people blocking run, and had hurt her thumb. She stuck it out for long run to base of Martis Creek chair, but we both needed lunch and to check on dog so we returned to the car about 12:30.
My wife spent the afternoon walking our beagle around the village while I went up Vista chair a couple of times, up Comstock to ski Tonini's, then did four fast laps on Backside. I was able to lap the 1800+ vertical foot chair in about 12 minutes, ending up 10-30 chairs ahead of previous lift rides. Snow was still good almost the whole way, except for a couple spots on return to chair and growing wet spots entering lift maze. I ended my day going down East Ridge, to Chute, then cut across closed bottom half of a couple of runs to end up on Sidewinder. To save time, I skied to bottom and found snow on Village Run in better shape than some years and was able to get closer than I expected to parking lot by staying above village. I finished at 3 pm with 29K vertical.
My wife's thumb started bothering her more overnight so we decided to go home after I skied Heavenly a few hours Monday morning, even though she had scheduled Tuesday off. While the overnight low in South Lake Tahoe was 33, it was windy overnight as a front moved past to the North (and dumped a foot in UT) and much colder on mountain. I just missed a tram so I skated to Gunbarrel and was on the chair before 9:45. I went up and rode Sky chair three times, first skiing Ridge Run to warmup, but bypassed Ridge Bowl towards the bottom as it was ungroomed with frozen ruts from previous day. Next run I went down Ellie's which was very firm. From the chair I saw a ski about a quarter of the way down with nobody near it. On the run I found the other ski and carried them both down to skier who was most of the way down the steep and very firm top.
I moved to NV, skiing Milky Way Bowl and finding near-winter snow on NE facing with still firm snow on SE facing. I skied Comet run once, moving into East-facing sunny trees partway down where ungroomed snow was softening where in the sun. Next I skied to Olympic, rode chair and skied Olympic run to the Stagecoach base before coming back up to Olympic chair. The east-facing former East Peak chair line skied well, but snow was thin so I had to watch for rocks. I then rode Dipper three times, first skiing Dipper Run, then Milky Way Bowl twice. On my second time down Milky Way Bowl, where I still had to stay to the SE facing to find soft snow, I saw Mott's was open. I was too low to get to gate C to Stateline Chute in Killibrew which I had to wonder if it was too firm and required removing skis to get out. So I went into gate 5 into Mott's where snow surface was OK, but had to dodge around a lot of rocks and brush.
I returned to car via CA trail, Maggie's Canyon, riding Groove chair and skiing The Face, which was only way open to ski to CA base. At almost 1 pm it was about 1500 vertical feet of too firm bumps with rocks in some of the troughs. Definitely DFU area. The 250 vertical groomed at the bottom was very good. I met my wife for lunch at McPs pub across from base of Heavenly gondola for lunch using gift certificate I won on previous trip. Seeing the preparations for St. Patrick's Day at South Tahoe, my wife decided to stay and enjoy the festivities that evening, instead of picking up and closing cabin and driving home.
We returned to Heavenly as I realized I had kicked out a sock and found it laying where I parked. Her thumb was bothering her more so we went into clinic at base of tram where they said they could handle it and bill our medical plan. They X-rayed and found nothing broken or detached, but put a plaster cast on her arm to immobilize her thumb. While waiting, I walked the dog, read my book at table in shade while having a beer, then texted her to say I was going to ski a little more. She got out of clinic while I was on Waterfall chair. I skied down Waterfall which was good on sunny skiers right, then skied the Face again, which was still firm, but not scary firm as earlier. I quit at about 4 pm with over 19K.
From the cabin, we walked about a mile to Mont Bleu casino, arriving before 6 pm for 99 cents tacos and margaritas. On our return, we stopped at sports bar in Mont Bleu, new small Dottie's casino in part of old Bill's casino location where my wife won a couple of bucks, then walked through somewhat dead Harrah's, had a Jameson's at Cabo Wabo to get a free shot glass, shared an excellent Double IPA at Tahoe brewpub, then went to McPs where band was starting and crowd was building, but they were not using taps on trailer they had setup outside. We made a final stop at Raley's for groceries and were back to the cabin before 10. In the morning I received a text that I had won a prize from texting 5 pm Tahoe TV show previous evening and was able to get though by phone that morning so my wife could win another $25 to McPs. We picked the prizes up at 9 am and walked out on 1/4 mile long Timber Cove pier behind TV studio where water in not more than 2 feet deep and less in most places. We picked up cabin, stopped at Cork and More to use $25 gift certificate for a shared and excellent pastrami Reuben, cheeses, bread and a Double Bastard IPA and were out of So Tahoe before noon.
After a quick break at the top for a coffee and to fill my water bottle, we moved to the Backside. We went out far skiers left to Challenger because I was concerned that return to lift would get sticky later. The run, which faces NW was very firm, but smooth and would hold an edge. We also skied Burnout, then Sierra Grande, then repeated Burnout and all were getting better as they softened. Next we skied Castle Peak run to Promised Land lift as it had been a few years since my wife had been to Northstar and I wanted to show her the new lift. I stopped a couple of hundred feet before the base to make sure she knew where to go, then waited longer than expected for her at lift. She had fallen, not sure how, possibly from going around large group of people blocking run, and had hurt her thumb. She stuck it out for long run to base of Martis Creek chair, but we both needed lunch and to check on dog so we returned to the car about 12:30.
My wife spent the afternoon walking our beagle around the village while I went up Vista chair a couple of times, up Comstock to ski Tonini's, then did four fast laps on Backside. I was able to lap the 1800+ vertical foot chair in about 12 minutes, ending up 10-30 chairs ahead of previous lift rides. Snow was still good almost the whole way, except for a couple spots on return to chair and growing wet spots entering lift maze. I ended my day going down East Ridge, to Chute, then cut across closed bottom half of a couple of runs to end up on Sidewinder. To save time, I skied to bottom and found snow on Village Run in better shape than some years and was able to get closer than I expected to parking lot by staying above village. I finished at 3 pm with 29K vertical.
My wife's thumb started bothering her more overnight so we decided to go home after I skied Heavenly a few hours Monday morning, even though she had scheduled Tuesday off. While the overnight low in South Lake Tahoe was 33, it was windy overnight as a front moved past to the North (and dumped a foot in UT) and much colder on mountain. I just missed a tram so I skated to Gunbarrel and was on the chair before 9:45. I went up and rode Sky chair three times, first skiing Ridge Run to warmup, but bypassed Ridge Bowl towards the bottom as it was ungroomed with frozen ruts from previous day. Next run I went down Ellie's which was very firm. From the chair I saw a ski about a quarter of the way down with nobody near it. On the run I found the other ski and carried them both down to skier who was most of the way down the steep and very firm top.
I moved to NV, skiing Milky Way Bowl and finding near-winter snow on NE facing with still firm snow on SE facing. I skied Comet run once, moving into East-facing sunny trees partway down where ungroomed snow was softening where in the sun. Next I skied to Olympic, rode chair and skied Olympic run to the Stagecoach base before coming back up to Olympic chair. The east-facing former East Peak chair line skied well, but snow was thin so I had to watch for rocks. I then rode Dipper three times, first skiing Dipper Run, then Milky Way Bowl twice. On my second time down Milky Way Bowl, where I still had to stay to the SE facing to find soft snow, I saw Mott's was open. I was too low to get to gate C to Stateline Chute in Killibrew which I had to wonder if it was too firm and required removing skis to get out. So I went into gate 5 into Mott's where snow surface was OK, but had to dodge around a lot of rocks and brush.
I returned to car via CA trail, Maggie's Canyon, riding Groove chair and skiing The Face, which was only way open to ski to CA base. At almost 1 pm it was about 1500 vertical feet of too firm bumps with rocks in some of the troughs. Definitely DFU area. The 250 vertical groomed at the bottom was very good. I met my wife for lunch at McPs pub across from base of Heavenly gondola for lunch using gift certificate I won on previous trip. Seeing the preparations for St. Patrick's Day at South Tahoe, my wife decided to stay and enjoy the festivities that evening, instead of picking up and closing cabin and driving home.
We returned to Heavenly as I realized I had kicked out a sock and found it laying where I parked. Her thumb was bothering her more so we went into clinic at base of tram where they said they could handle it and bill our medical plan. They X-rayed and found nothing broken or detached, but put a plaster cast on her arm to immobilize her thumb. While waiting, I walked the dog, read my book at table in shade while having a beer, then texted her to say I was going to ski a little more. She got out of clinic while I was on Waterfall chair. I skied down Waterfall which was good on sunny skiers right, then skied the Face again, which was still firm, but not scary firm as earlier. I quit at about 4 pm with over 19K.
From the cabin, we walked about a mile to Mont Bleu casino, arriving before 6 pm for 99 cents tacos and margaritas. On our return, we stopped at sports bar in Mont Bleu, new small Dottie's casino in part of old Bill's casino location where my wife won a couple of bucks, then walked through somewhat dead Harrah's, had a Jameson's at Cabo Wabo to get a free shot glass, shared an excellent Double IPA at Tahoe brewpub, then went to McPs where band was starting and crowd was building, but they were not using taps on trailer they had setup outside. We made a final stop at Raley's for groceries and were back to the cabin before 10. In the morning I received a text that I had won a prize from texting 5 pm Tahoe TV show previous evening and was able to get though by phone that morning so my wife could win another $25 to McPs. We picked the prizes up at 9 am and walked out on 1/4 mile long Timber Cove pier behind TV studio where water in not more than 2 feet deep and less in most places. We picked up cabin, stopped at Cork and More to use $25 gift certificate for a shared and excellent pastrami Reuben, cheeses, bread and a Double Bastard IPA and were out of So Tahoe before noon.
