I'm quite spoiled by Mammoth's spring skiing, but we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of Squaw skiing Friday June 2. The report is late because FTO was down June 3-5 and we had to get ready for our Cuba trip June 7-20.
We arrived at Gold Coast about 10AM with this overview of Siberia.
We started with 3 Siberia runs, first near the liftline, steep on top than some bumps between 2 flatter sections already getting heavy by 10:15.
Our next two runs were along Siberia Ridge dropping into Gold Coast groomers near/below the terrain park.
We particularly liked Granite Chief, skied 7 runs there between 10:45 and 12:45. View from top:
Everything skier's right up there had good supportable corn snow from the open bowls (right) to the tighter lines through rocks and trees (left).
This interesting traverse led to more good skiing.
Arete was Liz’ favorite; she skied it 3x.
I went with her once and poked around some tighter lines at right the other 2x.
After the first run we learned to finish all Granite Chief runs via Shirley Access because Bottleneck Gully under the lower part of the lift was a slog. I went into the office at the end of the day and learned that Granite Chief's days were numbered. The snow was breaking up into a stream near the bottom.
They should just rope off Bottleneck Gully and make everyone use Shirley Access, but I don't think that was the plan.
As I expected Squaw is far inferior to Mammoth for late season groomers. Shirley Lake was decent for its steep pitches but a bit heavy on the flatter run outs. The mellow skiing area between top of Shirley and Gold Coast/High Camp all faces south and I question whether the snow there will last into July.
While Squaw does not salt all its groomers like Mammoth, they did salt the terrain park runs served by the Gold Coast lift and Racers Run off Siberia, which was roped off for racing all morning. The best groomed skiing all day was Racers Run after they were done with the gates and opened to the public. I skied that at 1:30 and 2:30.
I had a memorable finish, hiking the Palisades for the first time.
The hike was only 10 minutes, but it’s steep and surely trickier on scree than on a snowy bootpack.
The top of Palisades is flat with no snow left at all.
I looked over the edge of Main Chute.
I was not tempted as I had seen from below that it was deeply rutted.
There’s a panoramic view to Squaw’s base and Lake Tahoe from the top of National.
View toward Siberia from where I dropped into skier’s right of National.
I then traversed right, leaving a short walk to top of Headwall. Looking back at Palisades from there:
This area is accessible with about 5 minutes of easy hiking after the Reverse Traverse. But the top of Headwall is burned off.
Fortunately the snow resumed just around the corner to left ahead.
I skied a few turns in North Bowl, then traversed to Hogsback. View down to Siberia base from there.
I rode the Funitel down from Gold Coast about 2:45PM after 16,000 vertical of high quality skiing. I spotted two skiers who had schlepped much farther than I did so they could ski 75 Chute.
June 4 was probably the end for Granite Chief, but the big issue for later weekends is the bizarre decision to push the opening hour to 10AM. The natives are already restless at Squaw.
The summer hours of 10AM-2PM will add to the controversies regarding lift operations at Squaw. But, as tseeb has noted, Squaw is the only Tahoe area open since Memorial Day, and along with Mt. Rose, the only Tahoe area open since April 23.
We arrived at Gold Coast about 10AM with this overview of Siberia.
We started with 3 Siberia runs, first near the liftline, steep on top than some bumps between 2 flatter sections already getting heavy by 10:15.
Our next two runs were along Siberia Ridge dropping into Gold Coast groomers near/below the terrain park.
We particularly liked Granite Chief, skied 7 runs there between 10:45 and 12:45. View from top:
Everything skier's right up there had good supportable corn snow from the open bowls (right) to the tighter lines through rocks and trees (left).
This interesting traverse led to more good skiing.
Arete was Liz’ favorite; she skied it 3x.
I went with her once and poked around some tighter lines at right the other 2x.
After the first run we learned to finish all Granite Chief runs via Shirley Access because Bottleneck Gully under the lower part of the lift was a slog. I went into the office at the end of the day and learned that Granite Chief's days were numbered. The snow was breaking up into a stream near the bottom.
They should just rope off Bottleneck Gully and make everyone use Shirley Access, but I don't think that was the plan.
As I expected Squaw is far inferior to Mammoth for late season groomers. Shirley Lake was decent for its steep pitches but a bit heavy on the flatter run outs. The mellow skiing area between top of Shirley and Gold Coast/High Camp all faces south and I question whether the snow there will last into July.
While Squaw does not salt all its groomers like Mammoth, they did salt the terrain park runs served by the Gold Coast lift and Racers Run off Siberia, which was roped off for racing all morning. The best groomed skiing all day was Racers Run after they were done with the gates and opened to the public. I skied that at 1:30 and 2:30.
I had a memorable finish, hiking the Palisades for the first time.
The hike was only 10 minutes, but it’s steep and surely trickier on scree than on a snowy bootpack.
The top of Palisades is flat with no snow left at all.
I looked over the edge of Main Chute.
I was not tempted as I had seen from below that it was deeply rutted.
There’s a panoramic view to Squaw’s base and Lake Tahoe from the top of National.
View toward Siberia from where I dropped into skier’s right of National.
I then traversed right, leaving a short walk to top of Headwall. Looking back at Palisades from there:
This area is accessible with about 5 minutes of easy hiking after the Reverse Traverse. But the top of Headwall is burned off.
Fortunately the snow resumed just around the corner to left ahead.
I skied a few turns in North Bowl, then traversed to Hogsback. View down to Siberia base from there.
I rode the Funitel down from Gold Coast about 2:45PM after 16,000 vertical of high quality skiing. I spotted two skiers who had schlepped much farther than I did so they could ski 75 Chute.
June 4 was probably the end for Granite Chief, but the big issue for later weekends is the bizarre decision to push the opening hour to 10AM. The natives are already restless at Squaw.
The summer hours of 10AM-2PM will add to the controversies regarding lift operations at Squaw. But, as tseeb has noted, Squaw is the only Tahoe area open since Memorial Day, and along with Mt. Rose, the only Tahoe area open since April 23.
