tseeb
Well-known member
A long, quickly-written post that I will try to add pictures to by tomorrow.
Sunday afternoon, while on our way from Sugar Bowl to Truckee, our son called to report the sad news that it was somebody we all knew that had hit a tree at Sierra-at-Tahoe the previous day and was not found until Sunday. See http://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2 ... ound-Dead/ I had talked with his mother on Sat. an hour or two before it was known he was missing.
After stopping at Safeway in Truckee, we continued to our timeshare trade at the Red Wolf at Squaw. We had the first floor unit on the east side, closest to the slopes. There was plywood mounted over the outside of our bedroom window to prevent cornice from 3rd story roof falling and breaking it and the snow outside our kitchen window and living room slider were as high as the first floor. It was great to spend a week with only a flight of stairs and a snow mound to climb to get to lifts, and where I could ski to within about 20 feet of our ski locker.
Monday 3/28 was the first sunny day at Squaw in nearly two weeks and the first in a few days that more than only the Funitel was open on top. Headwall was still buried, but I think almost everything else, except for Silverado, was running by the end of the day. After picking up my wife’s 5-day pass, and since the Funitel and KT looked crowded, we started with a warm-up going up Red Dog and skiing down Squaw Creek, then went down Red Dog to KT. My wife skied the Saddle, while I took an early turn between the Saddle and Portal. Snow was a little icy on Squaw Creek and there was good wind-pack on KT, with some soft snow in wind-protected areas. We did another lap on KT before taking the Funitel up, then Gold Coast. After skiing down Shirley Lake, my wife skied that lift a few times while I moved to Granite Chief. I found some good snow lookers right of the lift, but also found a lot of avalanche debris. People were hiking all the way to the peak. I hiked up far enough to get some untracked turns in trees. We skied down to the timeshare and made lunch. After lunch she skied the Saddle a few more times while I skied the Nose (a run I hadn’t done in thirty-five years) and skied what is usually cliffs in the Fingers (which I had never skied before), Where I was coming in, the snow was very deep, partially packed powder and the steep rollover under the chair was more intimidating than the Fingers. I finished the day with a couple of runs in the sun very early on Red Dog Ridge, just past Olympic Lady’s East Face Gully and snow was great wind-pack on top and heavy powder in trees below. 15 runs/22.5 K vertical After a hot tub at our condo we cooked lamb chops with fried garlic, then went to clubhouse for smores.
Tuesday was the first day Headwall was running and my notes say I took it five time. Once I went down the Slot, a run I had never done before. You had to take off your skis and walk over rocks to come out at the top, but the east-facing, high(for Squaw)-altutude snow was still excellent. Below the Slot I was able to cut into what I think is called Classic Chute, which skied much easier than usual as it is so filled in. Cliffs under Cornice II chair were filled in and I was able to ski them by traversing from Headwall Face, which had some amazing snow sculptures made by wind previous weekend. 15 runs/22K. We went to Thai Kitchen in Tahoe City for Thai. You order on spiciness from 1 to 10 and we had a 7, 8 and a 9. The Tom Yum Gong (spicy lemon grass prawn soup) was especially good.
By Wednesday, the heat was really on in the Sierra, with the high at Squaw approaching 60. The snow was only really good until 12 or 12:30, unless very steep and north-facing, which is very available at Squaw, although there are sunny flat places that have to be endured. I went down North Bowl of Headwall at about 2 pm and found it icier than expected for the first couple of turns. We quit a little early to have time for a quick hot tub before going to Sunnyside on the West Shore of Tahoe for half-price fish taco night. 16 runs/20K The fish tacos each had 4 ounces of mahi-mahi and were excellent. We were a little surprised at the $25 cost for four beers. After dinner my wife and I went to Safeway in Tahoe City, where I was not the only one wearing shorts at sunset.
On Thursday and Friday, some friends from the Bay Area skied with us part of the day. Both days the high was over 60 and we were in line for lifts before 9 am to try to get the better snow. Squaw reported lows of were 29/42 and 30/49 on Thurs and Fri at 6200/8200 feet for a strong temperature inversion. On Thurs. we loaded Red Dog before 9 and found good snow on our warmup on Squaw Creek so we did it about five times while gathering friends. Eventually we went up KT, then the Funitel. Our friends from the Bay Area wanted to ski Shirley Lake and Granit Chief, but we thought they would be too soft and stayed with slightly higher and more shaded Siberia and Headwall. My wife’s legs were beginning to tire after her first and only four days of the season so she struggled down Headwall, including an ill-advised run in sloppy Sun Bowl with friends. My snowboarder friend from Truckee and I avoided that one. My wife went into Gold Coast lodge where she reported bikinis were out on the sundeck. I took a couple of more runs on Headwall including North Bowl, which was still firm at 1:30 before joining her.
On both Thursday (14 runs/20.2 K vertical) and Friday (20/23.6), my vertical did not include the usual Squaw padding of the Mountain Run as my wife and I took the Funitel down. The snow towards the bottom of Headwall was getting too sticky for me to want to see what it was like where flatter and lower. Both days, I (and I think my wife at least on Friday) did take more late runs on KT, where you can mostly avoid the sticky snow as it is steep and north-facing enough to stay firmer. We went to friend’s house north of Truckee for dinner Thursday and after what seemed like a long drive home, saw groomers working high on KT. While waiting for Red Dog to open, which operators said would not be before 9 am, we heard Silverado, which had been buried, was to open for first time in a couple of weeks. So we got on the 9 am tram and were one of the first 5 people into Silverado, which felt like a private ski area. But Silverado only stayed open for less than half an hour as there must have been an electrical problem, because after a 15-20 minute stop, they emptied the few people on lift using the diesel motor. Ski patrol gave us vouchers for free soft drinks and to take to special tickets, which we later exchanged for a free ticket each, which seemed more than fair. The groomers we had seen the previous night had groomed the Women’s Downhill, which is a steep bowl between KT and Olympic Lady. The snow there was very good, even until after 3 pm and without an overnight freeze. You could continue to Exhibition which also was good, fast, packed snow which allowed 1800+ vertical laps in not much over 10 minutes. Friday night we started with wine and cheese in our lobby, went by Le Chamois for a beer and a soup before running into my bootfitter, who finally resolved my problems, and who we joined for sake outside Mamasake before making it an early night.
Saturday morning my wife skied on one of our free tickets as her 5-day $299 pass was used up. They were giving free demos of Moment skis in tent (that they had to take down due to wind) between our timeshare and Red Dog. After hearing from me that snow on Women’s Downhill was still good even though inversion was gone and Squaw reported lows of 47/39 at bottom/top, my wife got a ticket and demo skis. They gave her 170 Sierras which seemed like too much ski for her as she is usually on 150s and is only 5”3”. We skied with friend from Bay Area, who had gotten there early from Reno. They also had a friend with them who has a condo at Squaw and skied 11 days straight during the recent storms. He led me down Rock Garden, which had good snow on top, but was too soft towards the bottom. I demoed some 182 Tahoes which were rockered in front and at 96mm waist not as fat as my 99mm Salomons. I nearly crossed tips and slid out until I got used to what was probably not enough ski for me. They did work well on Chute 75, where the skier’s left had some of the best snow of the day. After about 6 runs for my wife and about 3 for me, we got new demos. I’m not sure my wife had, but they had lipstick as part of the graphics, and she really liked them. I got 116mm waist, dual-rockered Bibby Pros which worked great in the soft snow and were very skiable on the groomers. I ended my day and trip with a run down East Face of Olympic Lady. On Saturday, there were some sprinkles, high winds closing lifts at top, but we only skied Red Dog and KT lifts at the bottom. 11 runs/18.6K
Did I never add pictures? I did correct the title more than 5 years layers.
Sunday afternoon, while on our way from Sugar Bowl to Truckee, our son called to report the sad news that it was somebody we all knew that had hit a tree at Sierra-at-Tahoe the previous day and was not found until Sunday. See http://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2 ... ound-Dead/ I had talked with his mother on Sat. an hour or two before it was known he was missing.
After stopping at Safeway in Truckee, we continued to our timeshare trade at the Red Wolf at Squaw. We had the first floor unit on the east side, closest to the slopes. There was plywood mounted over the outside of our bedroom window to prevent cornice from 3rd story roof falling and breaking it and the snow outside our kitchen window and living room slider were as high as the first floor. It was great to spend a week with only a flight of stairs and a snow mound to climb to get to lifts, and where I could ski to within about 20 feet of our ski locker.
Monday 3/28 was the first sunny day at Squaw in nearly two weeks and the first in a few days that more than only the Funitel was open on top. Headwall was still buried, but I think almost everything else, except for Silverado, was running by the end of the day. After picking up my wife’s 5-day pass, and since the Funitel and KT looked crowded, we started with a warm-up going up Red Dog and skiing down Squaw Creek, then went down Red Dog to KT. My wife skied the Saddle, while I took an early turn between the Saddle and Portal. Snow was a little icy on Squaw Creek and there was good wind-pack on KT, with some soft snow in wind-protected areas. We did another lap on KT before taking the Funitel up, then Gold Coast. After skiing down Shirley Lake, my wife skied that lift a few times while I moved to Granite Chief. I found some good snow lookers right of the lift, but also found a lot of avalanche debris. People were hiking all the way to the peak. I hiked up far enough to get some untracked turns in trees. We skied down to the timeshare and made lunch. After lunch she skied the Saddle a few more times while I skied the Nose (a run I hadn’t done in thirty-five years) and skied what is usually cliffs in the Fingers (which I had never skied before), Where I was coming in, the snow was very deep, partially packed powder and the steep rollover under the chair was more intimidating than the Fingers. I finished the day with a couple of runs in the sun very early on Red Dog Ridge, just past Olympic Lady’s East Face Gully and snow was great wind-pack on top and heavy powder in trees below. 15 runs/22.5 K vertical After a hot tub at our condo we cooked lamb chops with fried garlic, then went to clubhouse for smores.
Tuesday was the first day Headwall was running and my notes say I took it five time. Once I went down the Slot, a run I had never done before. You had to take off your skis and walk over rocks to come out at the top, but the east-facing, high(for Squaw)-altutude snow was still excellent. Below the Slot I was able to cut into what I think is called Classic Chute, which skied much easier than usual as it is so filled in. Cliffs under Cornice II chair were filled in and I was able to ski them by traversing from Headwall Face, which had some amazing snow sculptures made by wind previous weekend. 15 runs/22K. We went to Thai Kitchen in Tahoe City for Thai. You order on spiciness from 1 to 10 and we had a 7, 8 and a 9. The Tom Yum Gong (spicy lemon grass prawn soup) was especially good.
By Wednesday, the heat was really on in the Sierra, with the high at Squaw approaching 60. The snow was only really good until 12 or 12:30, unless very steep and north-facing, which is very available at Squaw, although there are sunny flat places that have to be endured. I went down North Bowl of Headwall at about 2 pm and found it icier than expected for the first couple of turns. We quit a little early to have time for a quick hot tub before going to Sunnyside on the West Shore of Tahoe for half-price fish taco night. 16 runs/20K The fish tacos each had 4 ounces of mahi-mahi and were excellent. We were a little surprised at the $25 cost for four beers. After dinner my wife and I went to Safeway in Tahoe City, where I was not the only one wearing shorts at sunset.
On Thursday and Friday, some friends from the Bay Area skied with us part of the day. Both days the high was over 60 and we were in line for lifts before 9 am to try to get the better snow. Squaw reported lows of were 29/42 and 30/49 on Thurs and Fri at 6200/8200 feet for a strong temperature inversion. On Thurs. we loaded Red Dog before 9 and found good snow on our warmup on Squaw Creek so we did it about five times while gathering friends. Eventually we went up KT, then the Funitel. Our friends from the Bay Area wanted to ski Shirley Lake and Granit Chief, but we thought they would be too soft and stayed with slightly higher and more shaded Siberia and Headwall. My wife’s legs were beginning to tire after her first and only four days of the season so she struggled down Headwall, including an ill-advised run in sloppy Sun Bowl with friends. My snowboarder friend from Truckee and I avoided that one. My wife went into Gold Coast lodge where she reported bikinis were out on the sundeck. I took a couple of more runs on Headwall including North Bowl, which was still firm at 1:30 before joining her.
On both Thursday (14 runs/20.2 K vertical) and Friday (20/23.6), my vertical did not include the usual Squaw padding of the Mountain Run as my wife and I took the Funitel down. The snow towards the bottom of Headwall was getting too sticky for me to want to see what it was like where flatter and lower. Both days, I (and I think my wife at least on Friday) did take more late runs on KT, where you can mostly avoid the sticky snow as it is steep and north-facing enough to stay firmer. We went to friend’s house north of Truckee for dinner Thursday and after what seemed like a long drive home, saw groomers working high on KT. While waiting for Red Dog to open, which operators said would not be before 9 am, we heard Silverado, which had been buried, was to open for first time in a couple of weeks. So we got on the 9 am tram and were one of the first 5 people into Silverado, which felt like a private ski area. But Silverado only stayed open for less than half an hour as there must have been an electrical problem, because after a 15-20 minute stop, they emptied the few people on lift using the diesel motor. Ski patrol gave us vouchers for free soft drinks and to take to special tickets, which we later exchanged for a free ticket each, which seemed more than fair. The groomers we had seen the previous night had groomed the Women’s Downhill, which is a steep bowl between KT and Olympic Lady. The snow there was very good, even until after 3 pm and without an overnight freeze. You could continue to Exhibition which also was good, fast, packed snow which allowed 1800+ vertical laps in not much over 10 minutes. Friday night we started with wine and cheese in our lobby, went by Le Chamois for a beer and a soup before running into my bootfitter, who finally resolved my problems, and who we joined for sake outside Mamasake before making it an early night.
Saturday morning my wife skied on one of our free tickets as her 5-day $299 pass was used up. They were giving free demos of Moment skis in tent (that they had to take down due to wind) between our timeshare and Red Dog. After hearing from me that snow on Women’s Downhill was still good even though inversion was gone and Squaw reported lows of 47/39 at bottom/top, my wife got a ticket and demo skis. They gave her 170 Sierras which seemed like too much ski for her as she is usually on 150s and is only 5”3”. We skied with friend from Bay Area, who had gotten there early from Reno. They also had a friend with them who has a condo at Squaw and skied 11 days straight during the recent storms. He led me down Rock Garden, which had good snow on top, but was too soft towards the bottom. I demoed some 182 Tahoes which were rockered in front and at 96mm waist not as fat as my 99mm Salomons. I nearly crossed tips and slid out until I got used to what was probably not enough ski for me. They did work well on Chute 75, where the skier’s left had some of the best snow of the day. After about 6 runs for my wife and about 3 for me, we got new demos. I’m not sure my wife had, but they had lipstick as part of the graphics, and she really liked them. I got 116mm waist, dual-rockered Bibby Pros which worked great in the soft snow and were very skiable on the groomers. I ended my day and trip with a run down East Face of Olympic Lady. On Saturday, there were some sprinkles, high winds closing lifts at top, but we only skied Red Dog and KT lifts at the bottom. 11 runs/18.6K
Did I never add pictures? I did correct the title more than 5 years layers.