tseeb
Well-known member
Left San Jose at 5:45 am and turned into Squaw at 10:45. They were taking everyone off I-80 at Colfax, elevation about 2,500 feet, and saying there was a 60 to 90 minute delay to clear accidents. I took a bypass that re-joins the freeway about 5 miles up (after passing at least two cars abandoned in the road and some downed trees including one that I followed people driving over). After a short wait to get my pass, I took four warm-up runs on Searchlight, which is as far up Exhibition chair as they we letting you ride. The packed run was good for warming up. Squaw was claiming 14-18 new at the 6200 foot bottom and 24-30 inches new at the closed 8200 level. I tried the powder, but found it surprising heavy and thick and nearly got stuck. I moved over to Red Dog, which had a small line and was the only other chair running, having opened for the season I later heard at 10:15 that morning. At the top, the wind was blowing out of the West at close to 30 mph. The wind was much less lower down, but the run had bumped up quickly due to heavy traffic and soft snow, plus limited skier packed areas and limited terrain available due to undergrowth not totally covered. People were venturing into the powder, but many were crashing and getting stuck. I tried the powder a couple of time and had a hard time getting up after sitting down or crashing when I sunk much faster and deeper than expected. My two friends from Truckee joined me in the afternoon, one after spending four hours clearing his 700 foot driveway.
They boarded and I skied Red Dog about four more times. We mostly took Dog Leg and I tried Red Dog Face once, but found the entrance rocky and a lot of small trees poking up down lower. My friends left early and after a quick beer and late lunch at the car, I went out for one more run on each open chair, quitting about 3:45 with 5 runs on Searchlight and 7 on Red Dog for a 10,380 foot vertical first day.
I did not get that early of a start on Monday as I did not want to drive over my friend’s driveway before it was cleared and ended up helping by shoveling his stairs and close to the house, where his blower did not get. He was still working when I left at 9:45 for the approximately 30 minute drive to Squaw where they claimed 10-14” new at the bottom and 14-17” at top. The coverage had improved a lot in a day and in addition to Red Dog, Squaw was running Far East Express 6-pack (1,000 vertical feet about 150 feet from where I parked), Squaw Creek and Exhibition (same chair as Searchlight, about 900 vertical feet instead of only 250 allowed on Sunday).
One friend from Truckee was already there, but it took a couple of lifts before we got together. I skied Red Dog Face, where a lot fewer trees were showing and found lighter powder than previous day. My other friend from Truckee joined us and we took one run down Dog Leg, where there were excellent well-spaced soft bumps. We saw a lot of nearly untracked under the chair, but the first legal entrance was more than halfway down. On skis, I could get much farther right than my boarding friends and found a narrow, nearly untracked and very steep chute for my first good powder turns. I found more, good, steep trees further down and, even where tracked, the 50” storm total skied nicely. I popped out near Far East and went to the car to pickup a couple things. I called my boarder buddy, who was still coming down the very steep, more open face where the 90 meter jump was located in the 1960 Olympics. We moved to Exhibition where I got my first face shots of the season by dropping into untracked near a huge dead tree between the chair and Schimmelpfenning Bowl. Lower down, on lower angle slopes, both my snowboarder friend and I struggled a time or two to get out of the deep snow after stopping. Our other friend joined us for a run, but I did not get as good of a line and no face shots. We all went to my SUV for lunch, then headed up Far East and down Red Dog Face. After going up Red Dog, the snowboarder friend who was there early quit for the day, while the other one and I skied Squaw Creek. He had never been there before, as everything east of Red Dog was closed when he added a Spring 2010 pass to his 2010-11 Winter pass last April. We mostly stayed on the groomed run, before cutting a corner for some low angle powder where I had to break trail traversing back to the run and he got in the way of a fast-moving snowboarder who crashed instead of trying to pass him. I cut one turn too many lower down and got stuck in powder where it was very difficult to free the second ski. From the chair, we saw more untracked that looked excellent. One the way down, we cut into medium angle, lightly-tracked, but my friend had trouble with the bumpy exit and stopped. He took off his board, but sank deeply walking back to the run. We found the entrance to the untracked spotted from the lift was marked closed so we took the main run to the bottom.
My friend left for the day and I went up Exhibition where I found the snow had set up, either due to the wind, warmer temps or sun that peaked out briefly. I saw a couple of people coming down the mountain run and noticed that it looked liked the Funitel (two-cable 28 passenger gondola to 8200 feet was running). After skiing to the car to get a beer for the ride I got into a Funitel car with 8 people sitting and one who jumped in and stood for the 10-12 minute, windy ride. I skied the Mountain Run and found from one to as much as four inches of powder on top of the groomed. I went up again, this time joined a car with three younger guys who all had skis much wider than 100mm. One of them commented that I must be pretty good if I can ski the deep and often heavy powder on my 74mm waist Vokyls (and I think he said old man) and recommended I try some wider skis. They invited me to join them and we hit some deep snow keeping left of the main run. I set off some small slabs on one steep area above a road. I was going to bail on Spring Bowl, but they talked me into following down the nearly untracked, East-facing and wind-loaded run with a foot to a foot and a half of decent snow for so late in the day. I quit at 4:15 with 16 runs and 20K vertical.
I was supposed to head home Monday night, but the prediction for more dry snow (and hopefully not too much wind) is keeping me in Truckee for one more night. Not too many pictures as it has been snowing most of the time since I went above 2000 feet.
They boarded and I skied Red Dog about four more times. We mostly took Dog Leg and I tried Red Dog Face once, but found the entrance rocky and a lot of small trees poking up down lower. My friends left early and after a quick beer and late lunch at the car, I went out for one more run on each open chair, quitting about 3:45 with 5 runs on Searchlight and 7 on Red Dog for a 10,380 foot vertical first day.
I did not get that early of a start on Monday as I did not want to drive over my friend’s driveway before it was cleared and ended up helping by shoveling his stairs and close to the house, where his blower did not get. He was still working when I left at 9:45 for the approximately 30 minute drive to Squaw where they claimed 10-14” new at the bottom and 14-17” at top. The coverage had improved a lot in a day and in addition to Red Dog, Squaw was running Far East Express 6-pack (1,000 vertical feet about 150 feet from where I parked), Squaw Creek and Exhibition (same chair as Searchlight, about 900 vertical feet instead of only 250 allowed on Sunday).
One friend from Truckee was already there, but it took a couple of lifts before we got together. I skied Red Dog Face, where a lot fewer trees were showing and found lighter powder than previous day. My other friend from Truckee joined us and we took one run down Dog Leg, where there were excellent well-spaced soft bumps. We saw a lot of nearly untracked under the chair, but the first legal entrance was more than halfway down. On skis, I could get much farther right than my boarding friends and found a narrow, nearly untracked and very steep chute for my first good powder turns. I found more, good, steep trees further down and, even where tracked, the 50” storm total skied nicely. I popped out near Far East and went to the car to pickup a couple things. I called my boarder buddy, who was still coming down the very steep, more open face where the 90 meter jump was located in the 1960 Olympics. We moved to Exhibition where I got my first face shots of the season by dropping into untracked near a huge dead tree between the chair and Schimmelpfenning Bowl. Lower down, on lower angle slopes, both my snowboarder friend and I struggled a time or two to get out of the deep snow after stopping. Our other friend joined us for a run, but I did not get as good of a line and no face shots. We all went to my SUV for lunch, then headed up Far East and down Red Dog Face. After going up Red Dog, the snowboarder friend who was there early quit for the day, while the other one and I skied Squaw Creek. He had never been there before, as everything east of Red Dog was closed when he added a Spring 2010 pass to his 2010-11 Winter pass last April. We mostly stayed on the groomed run, before cutting a corner for some low angle powder where I had to break trail traversing back to the run and he got in the way of a fast-moving snowboarder who crashed instead of trying to pass him. I cut one turn too many lower down and got stuck in powder where it was very difficult to free the second ski. From the chair, we saw more untracked that looked excellent. One the way down, we cut into medium angle, lightly-tracked, but my friend had trouble with the bumpy exit and stopped. He took off his board, but sank deeply walking back to the run. We found the entrance to the untracked spotted from the lift was marked closed so we took the main run to the bottom.
My friend left for the day and I went up Exhibition where I found the snow had set up, either due to the wind, warmer temps or sun that peaked out briefly. I saw a couple of people coming down the mountain run and noticed that it looked liked the Funitel (two-cable 28 passenger gondola to 8200 feet was running). After skiing to the car to get a beer for the ride I got into a Funitel car with 8 people sitting and one who jumped in and stood for the 10-12 minute, windy ride. I skied the Mountain Run and found from one to as much as four inches of powder on top of the groomed. I went up again, this time joined a car with three younger guys who all had skis much wider than 100mm. One of them commented that I must be pretty good if I can ski the deep and often heavy powder on my 74mm waist Vokyls (and I think he said old man) and recommended I try some wider skis. They invited me to join them and we hit some deep snow keeping left of the main run. I set off some small slabs on one steep area above a road. I was going to bail on Spring Bowl, but they talked me into following down the nearly untracked, East-facing and wind-loaded run with a foot to a foot and a half of decent snow for so late in the day. I quit at 4:15 with 16 runs and 20K vertical.
I was supposed to head home Monday night, but the prediction for more dry snow (and hopefully not too much wind) is keeping me in Truckee for one more night. Not too many pictures as it has been snowing most of the time since I went above 2000 feet.
