tseeb
Well-known member
I’m a little late posting after two roundtrips to the Sierras, 3 days skiing and 5 working in the last 8 days.
Northstar 4/14. My son and I had planned to go Mon. through Wed. since he was out of school. But none of his friends could get away and I had things to take care on my re-model so our new plan, which meant one of his friends could go was Northstar on Tues. then stay at cabin at South Tahoe and Kirkwood on Wed. 4/15. Our trip coincided with a small storm so the snow softened by the 50 degree temps on Monday was hard on Tues. even though temps were above freezing. Winds were very strong in the Bay Area, but surprisingly light in the Sierras, especially in the afternoon. We found OK snow on southeast facing Ax Handle and many of the runs on Zephyr chair that also faces SE. Powder Bowl was also good, but the backside stayed firm and Lookout Mountain, now know as Martis Camp Express, was already closed for the season. I got to make some turns with my friend who lives in Truckee and did not board much this season.
We met up with the two 17 year-old at lunch to find my son’s friend had taken a fast, hard fall on the Backside and may have sprained or broken his wrist. He did not have much swelling and did not seem to be in any pain so we took a couple of runs after lunch with them, then separated and set a time to meet so I could show them Home Run to the car. When we met, his wrist looked worse so they took the gondola down to first aid while I got the car. Northstar has a very nice clinic, but they could not tell if he had a hairline fracture or a bad sprain. Since his boarding was over, we decided to drive him back to the Bay Area, even though his parents offered to get him or meet us somewhere. It had started snowing in the early afternoon and we had about an inch on the car. 22.3K vertical. The next day Kirkwood claimed 2-4” new.
Sugar Bowl 4/18. We left San Jose at 6 am and arrived Sugar Bowl at 9:20, about 10 minutes ahead of my friends from near Nevada City. We took one warm-up on Jerome chair before moving to Mt. Lincoln. My friend’s girlfriend is now an intermediate so we took one run down east-facing Crowley’s where we went right and followed the NE boundary, then I went left down still hard Vanderbilt. We moved to Disney chair where my wife and I skied softening East Face, then next run my friend and I skied Nancy’s Coulair which was good on top and a little too soft toward’s the bottom. My wife and I skied a run or two down Bacon’s Gully (me) and Market Street (both of us), then the ladies went in for a break so the guys did another 3 or 4 runs in the chutes to skiers left of Disney Nose. The top was still firm, the middles were good, but the bottom is too flat and was getting sticky from the sun. My wife came out for one more run on Disney, then we went up Christmas Tree and skied always excellent Graydon’s Glades to Jerome Hill chair. By traversing above the jumps where a competition was taking place, my wife and I made it to Tunnel 21 which had good soft snow almost to the parking lot, where it become hard to avoid dirty snow.
We had a quick lunch and the ladies left for my friend's house near Nevada City. My friend and I went out again for two runs on the 58 side of Lincoln. The snow was still good on top, but getting across the flatter and sticky bottom to the chair was tiring. We ended with a run in the widest Sister’s Chute followed by Steilhung Gully, before heading for his house where the evening was very warm. 19.5K vertical
Squaw 4/19. The temperature did not get below freezing at Squaw base and due to a temperature inversion was even higher at 8200 feet. My friend who has worked there for more than 25 years had to work the passholder party and recommended KT-22. That was the only lift we needed as I skied it 10 times and my wife did it 7 times. We got to see the brave Squaw skiers in action as the chair had a long stoppage a little below the Fingers. We were too far to get pictures, but 7 skiers came down a chute that later in the day had water running down it and had a mandatory straight line over icy rocky humps of about forty feet. The first five made it most or less cleanly, then the last two nicked rocks and fell after exiting the chute.
My wife skied the Saddle twice, once for first run and once after a quick lunch break. Both times it had firm snow on top, good snow in the middle and got sloppy where it joined the Mountain Run. My wife whose only other skiing this year was the Kirkwood’s 3-day Women’s Expedition, also skied Women’s Downhill four times, including Schimmelpfenning Bowl three times and got to the East Face of Olympic Lady once. My extra runs were twice I went over to excellent, super steep Red Dog Ridge and my last run down Chute 75 where I started on KT West Face and cut in about 100 feet down the run. For being so warm, conditions were amazingly good. KT benefits from having many steep, north-facing runs and not a lot of flats that can get sticky. 18K vertical.
I’m still undecided about pass plans for next season. We had slow trucks on two-lane Hwy 20 between Nevada City and I-80. Then on the return, construction on I-80 made it slow between Truckee and Donner Pass. I have not experienced the bad slowdowns at Roseville, east of Sacramento where I-80 drops a lanes, but we did have slowdowns just West of Sacramento and in a couple of other places on I-80 before the turnoff for San Jose. This is the 4th time in the last three weeks I’ve done the drive down I-80 and the second Sunday, but it’s late enough in the season that skier traffic is down from mid-season peak. If I have to go to my friend’s house by Nevada City, between two days at Squaw, I ended up driving over 600 miles compared to 450 miles skiing Kirkwood two days and staying at South Lake Tahoe. If I did get a Squaw pass, I’d have to stay there a night or two.
Added one picture for Northstar and a few from Sugar Bowl.
Northstar 4/14. My son and I had planned to go Mon. through Wed. since he was out of school. But none of his friends could get away and I had things to take care on my re-model so our new plan, which meant one of his friends could go was Northstar on Tues. then stay at cabin at South Tahoe and Kirkwood on Wed. 4/15. Our trip coincided with a small storm so the snow softened by the 50 degree temps on Monday was hard on Tues. even though temps were above freezing. Winds were very strong in the Bay Area, but surprisingly light in the Sierras, especially in the afternoon. We found OK snow on southeast facing Ax Handle and many of the runs on Zephyr chair that also faces SE. Powder Bowl was also good, but the backside stayed firm and Lookout Mountain, now know as Martis Camp Express, was already closed for the season. I got to make some turns with my friend who lives in Truckee and did not board much this season.
We met up with the two 17 year-old at lunch to find my son’s friend had taken a fast, hard fall on the Backside and may have sprained or broken his wrist. He did not have much swelling and did not seem to be in any pain so we took a couple of runs after lunch with them, then separated and set a time to meet so I could show them Home Run to the car. When we met, his wrist looked worse so they took the gondola down to first aid while I got the car. Northstar has a very nice clinic, but they could not tell if he had a hairline fracture or a bad sprain. Since his boarding was over, we decided to drive him back to the Bay Area, even though his parents offered to get him or meet us somewhere. It had started snowing in the early afternoon and we had about an inch on the car. 22.3K vertical. The next day Kirkwood claimed 2-4” new.
Sugar Bowl 4/18. We left San Jose at 6 am and arrived Sugar Bowl at 9:20, about 10 minutes ahead of my friends from near Nevada City. We took one warm-up on Jerome chair before moving to Mt. Lincoln. My friend’s girlfriend is now an intermediate so we took one run down east-facing Crowley’s where we went right and followed the NE boundary, then I went left down still hard Vanderbilt. We moved to Disney chair where my wife and I skied softening East Face, then next run my friend and I skied Nancy’s Coulair which was good on top and a little too soft toward’s the bottom. My wife and I skied a run or two down Bacon’s Gully (me) and Market Street (both of us), then the ladies went in for a break so the guys did another 3 or 4 runs in the chutes to skiers left of Disney Nose. The top was still firm, the middles were good, but the bottom is too flat and was getting sticky from the sun. My wife came out for one more run on Disney, then we went up Christmas Tree and skied always excellent Graydon’s Glades to Jerome Hill chair. By traversing above the jumps where a competition was taking place, my wife and I made it to Tunnel 21 which had good soft snow almost to the parking lot, where it become hard to avoid dirty snow.
We had a quick lunch and the ladies left for my friend's house near Nevada City. My friend and I went out again for two runs on the 58 side of Lincoln. The snow was still good on top, but getting across the flatter and sticky bottom to the chair was tiring. We ended with a run in the widest Sister’s Chute followed by Steilhung Gully, before heading for his house where the evening was very warm. 19.5K vertical
Squaw 4/19. The temperature did not get below freezing at Squaw base and due to a temperature inversion was even higher at 8200 feet. My friend who has worked there for more than 25 years had to work the passholder party and recommended KT-22. That was the only lift we needed as I skied it 10 times and my wife did it 7 times. We got to see the brave Squaw skiers in action as the chair had a long stoppage a little below the Fingers. We were too far to get pictures, but 7 skiers came down a chute that later in the day had water running down it and had a mandatory straight line over icy rocky humps of about forty feet. The first five made it most or less cleanly, then the last two nicked rocks and fell after exiting the chute.
My wife skied the Saddle twice, once for first run and once after a quick lunch break. Both times it had firm snow on top, good snow in the middle and got sloppy where it joined the Mountain Run. My wife whose only other skiing this year was the Kirkwood’s 3-day Women’s Expedition, also skied Women’s Downhill four times, including Schimmelpfenning Bowl three times and got to the East Face of Olympic Lady once. My extra runs were twice I went over to excellent, super steep Red Dog Ridge and my last run down Chute 75 where I started on KT West Face and cut in about 100 feet down the run. For being so warm, conditions were amazingly good. KT benefits from having many steep, north-facing runs and not a lot of flats that can get sticky. 18K vertical.
I’m still undecided about pass plans for next season. We had slow trucks on two-lane Hwy 20 between Nevada City and I-80. Then on the return, construction on I-80 made it slow between Truckee and Donner Pass. I have not experienced the bad slowdowns at Roseville, east of Sacramento where I-80 drops a lanes, but we did have slowdowns just West of Sacramento and in a couple of other places on I-80 before the turnoff for San Jose. This is the 4th time in the last three weeks I’ve done the drive down I-80 and the second Sunday, but it’s late enough in the season that skier traffic is down from mid-season peak. If I have to go to my friend’s house by Nevada City, between two days at Squaw, I ended up driving over 600 miles compared to 450 miles skiing Kirkwood two days and staying at South Lake Tahoe. If I did get a Squaw pass, I’d have to stay there a night or two.
Added one picture for Northstar and a few from Sugar Bowl.
