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TahoeCharlie

...Major Tom...
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Dusting of snow at N* overnight, very pretty on the trees. Snow guns running all day and very windy conditions made for very cold skiing, especially as the wind was blowing up the runs - frozen faces. No lift closures because of wind. Still very good conditions considering the lack of new snow, firm packed surface everywhere. "Pinball" now has a pretty extensive terrain park, but no big jumps. Not too crowded if you avoided Comstock. Lookout side, Washoe run only, was open, but a pain to get there as the poma was not running, so an uphill hike as the Lockout Bypass road was not open either - they had to get it open due to contractual obligations with Martis Valley/Lahouten development. Power went out from mid-mountain up about 1:30(?); lifts came back on diesel in a few minutes and at Zephyr Lodge in 20 minutes. All in all, not a bad day considering Squaw never opened the upper mtn, I heard.
 

Tricia

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Early season conditions (WROD skiing) are back at Squaw. Red Dog and Squaw Creek were pretty much the only option today besides mountain run. Best snow was on the Red Dog face, which allowed for fast Far East laps, but even those got boring quite quickly.... we need more snow....
I skied Squaw on Thursday which ranged from early season frozen man made in high traffic areas, to chalky fun in areas under the the traverse lookers right of Shirley, to spring like sticky snow in the sun affected areas.
Conditions were similar on Friday at Mt Rose.
I can only imagine how conditions have changed with the cold temps and wind.
I hear that the wind and dusting of snow created a lot of sled rides.
 

Philpug

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@Tricia and I will be at BlueZone from noon till about 6 if anyone wants to stop by and say "Hi".
 

The Dad

reducing mountain town property values
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Man. Things were Vermonty today.
Well put.

Unfortunately, we're going to have more of the same today, at least judging from the NOAA remotes. Forecast says it should be warmer today, but it's colder now than it was. And winds are looking comparable.
 

va_deb

Getting on the lift
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Tony's Kwood comments last Friday.

Same story at Mammoth Mt past Wednesday and Thursday. Dave's run and Climax off top were reported good the previous Sunday.
Big surprise as 130mph winds blew any new snow off the top and these were closed. Cornice into Dropout 3 was a bit scary as it was firm windbuff and my dull rock skis did not want to grip. I was ready to quit any runs off top but got the edge file out and 20 minutes work made all the difference. Next day they worked like new skis and gripped just fine. Thursday a few top tuns with @TonyC were now fun. Never skied so much windbuff snow ever. Hope @va_deb found the good intermediate snow on chairs 11,12,14 and maybe 5 at Mammoth on Friday.

Unfortunately we didn’t make it to Mammoth after all, @John Webb. But the trade off was worth it. Got to hang out some more with @Tricia, @Philpug and @Andy Mink; Mr. Va Deb got a lesson and stance analysis / boot tweaks with @bud heishman; I got awesome new Tecnica 95 boots from Bud that are 2 mondo sizes smaller than my first ski boots. Thanks to last year’s custom footbeds from Phil and the new boots I feel like an actual skier instead of a pretender. oops, sorry to hijack this thread. Will plan to hit Mammoth for spring skiing.

Fingers crossed that Tahoe-area and CA friends get some natural snow. But if you want to feel better about what you have, come visit us in the DC area and see our “snow” any time during the three months our hills are open.
 

Mendieta

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Conditions were similar on Friday at Mt Rose.
I can only imagine how conditions have changed with the cold temps and wind.
I hear that the wind and dusting of snow created a lot of sled rides.

I wonder how it's looking for tomorrow? We'll be there, leaving early from home to ski Monday as well.

We just got season boot rentals for the kids, and left all four skis for a tune up / bindings checked at @Greg Whitehouse 's California Ski Company. First class as usual. They get plenty busy, being a real shop, which is unusual in the Bay Area. But they were extremely accommodating. Picking them up later today and loading the car. Oh yeah!

Of note, well, for myself: one of the four ski sets prepped up are my new Head Rally's. I can't wait to try them on. Firm conditions? It seems like the perfect conditions for me to drill on those!
 

Andy Mink

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I wonder how it's looking for tomorrow? We'll be there, leaving early from home to ski Monday as well.

We just got season boot rentals for the kids, and left all four skis for a tune up / bindings checked at @Greg Whitehouse 's California Ski Company. First class as usual. They get plenty busy, being a real shop, which is unusual in the Bay Area. But they were extremely accommodating. Picking them up later today and loading the car. Oh yeah!

Of note, well, for myself: one of the four ski sets prepped up are my new Head Rally's. I can't wait to try them on. Firm conditions? It seems like the perfect conditions for me to drill on those!
Tomorrow (Monday) should be really good at Rose. They got a little from Mom Nature on Friday night and been running the guns 24/7 for the last 2 days. Yesterday was frigid but today was really nice.
 

Alexzn

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46B28658-1591-45D0-A36A-3C8BD131C1B2.jpeg Same frozen mountain on Sunday, but more variety with the top open. Sadly Sibo chair had a mechanical issue and was not running all day, so Shirley was it, which called for come creative line choices. Afternoon skiing on red dog was good as well, even on man made, but again line choice was critical.

A photo is sign in front of one of the restaurants in the village.
 
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Philpug

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We will be at Rose tomorrow AM for a couple of hours.
 

TahoeCharlie

...Major Tom...
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Much better N* ski conditions today, Sunday, same snow conditions, cold, but hardly any wind (3-5mph). Interestingly, both N* and Weather Channel forecast cloudy conditions for Sat/Sun but both days were blue sky days. Pict is "Ax Handle" run, nice little moguls, so hardly anyone skiing it; we had a ball on it. They are making snow like crazy to get more terrain open for Xmas week.
image3.jpeg
 

Tony

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Interestingly, both N* and Weather Channel forecast cloudy conditions for Sat/Sun but both days were blue sky days.
View attachment 35407
@TahoeCharlie Are you giving everyone the finger?

The So Tahoe Vail resorts did not have much blue sky on Sat. At Kirkwood, you felt lucky to get any sun through the clouds to counteract the cold and wind. Heavenly was even cloudier and colder in the PM although winds were a little lighter. Sat. night at 8:40 PM there was a wide-spread power failure, possibly from the wind. We headed to the casinos where parking lot was dark, but some lights and games were running on generator. It was interesting that escalators up were powered, but you had to walk down. Power came back on about 30 min later.

We went to Heavenly Sun AM. Winds were lighter than Sat, but stronger that TahoeCharlie reported at N*. I would have rather headed for Kirkwood, but was not sure I could get two 20-somethings who stayed out late going early enough. They rallied and we made it to Heavenly's Stagecoach base about 9:30, parking nearly at the end of the lower lot. My son and I skied all five chairs (except beginner one) open twice. Groomers were OK with recently opened Olympic probably the best. The non-groomed runs open (Upper Big Dipper, Aries and Little Dipper) were nearly wall-to-wall firm bumps.Picture is entrance to usually groomed Little Dipper run.
5098DipperRun.JPG
We skied it on Sat. in low visibility and I had a little new snow in Dipper Bowl where ropeline ended. We decided to move to Kirkwood. But we ran into more friends of his at Stagecoach lift so we took one more ride on Stagecoach with them before quitting about 11:45.

We picked up our stuff from the cabin and got to Kirkwood about 1. We took four laps on Cornice, skiing both Zachary's and Sentinel twice each. Both had been groomed, but Zachary's was mostly scraped off while Sentinel skied better as it was getting some windsift. We moved to the Reut where we took a couple of laps on Wagon Trail, the only run that was not firmed by the wind or showing a lot of obstacles (Short Spoke under chair). Picture taken on Reut lift.
5100SeanOnReut1.JPG
The Wall started loading about 2:30 after being closed Sat. and until then on Sun. My son missed it and went to Cornice. I loaded it after assuring liftie I'd done it before and that I realized conditions would be more challenging than Cornice. I mostly regretted it as chair seemed to be running a little slow and had a couple of stoppages as I neared the top. The snow had been hammered by the wind and had some of the worst sastrugi I've ever seen. The sastrugi at top was much worse than this picture. 5101Wall@248.JPG
There were voids in snow from wind near the top that your skis if not your whole body could have fit under. I survived the top and found a little blown in snow in the middle before experiencing some of the firmest conditions of the day on nominally blue Buckboard. I rode Cornice, skied Sentinel, then came down chair 7 and was able to find enough snow to not remove skis until I was across road from where I parked.
 
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Tony

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There was also some bad news in South Tahoe this weekend. Ski patrol was performing CPR about 10 AM on somebody who was down near the base of Comet chair. From the chair we saw another patroller skiing down to them with what I assume was an AED. Our next time down, they had closed Comet chair as patrol probably did not want people going over them. They did not appear to be successful reviving person and while still performing CPR put him (I think it was a guy) on a sled that they towed with a snowmobile to Stagecoach base.

The other bad news (which does not compare to 1st item) is that Harrah's will no longer provide free parking for skiers and employees using Heavenly's gondola. "On Dec. 14, Harrah's installed signs informing drivers that the parking lots are reserved for patrons of the casino. A security firm is now patrolling the parking lots to ensure compliance."

If you want free parking for skiing in the casino area, it is available at Hard Rock, but that would require a shuttle as it is too far to walk to gondola. I have used Harrah's lot a few times when gondola is only way up. I would usually drop passengers and skis close to gondola, then walk in street shoes carrying boot bag to gondola and put on ski boots on ride up. I would also park in upper area of lot to avoid conflict with casino customers (who usually don't fill lots until evening even during busy periods)
 
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Tricia

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On the rare occasion that we ski Heavenly, we usually go to Stagecoach.
Honestly, the one time we parked at Harrahs, I was surprised that they allowed free parking that wasn't related to their patrons.
 

raytseng

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Yea, to be honest the only time where I'm already driving and would choose to park at the gondola is when you're forced to and it's your only access and that means early season. I also suspect they might not enforce it during early season, only holiday rush and afterwards; but that will be next season before we can tell.
So combined, perhaps it doesn't have as big of an effect on the experienced skier.
Even right now, with Stagecoach open and Boulder closed, parking at Boulder and shuttling to Stagecoach is a fine strategy if you were already driving.
I suppose overall, it will have an effect on free heavenly parking in general; removing those spots from the pool means those folks will go somewhere. Potentially, you will have to get out even earlier for a parking spot (or pay) when the season eventually kicks into full swing.
 

SSSdave

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Thanks Tony for that conditions update. If indeed the weak midweek storm adds a few inches, I'll likely make the long boring drive up for another single day, just for the sake of maintaining minimal ski muscle conditioning continuing to be content on lower slopes. After that, the holiday week is looking increasingly like more drought torture.
 

Tricia

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Yea, to be honest the only time where I'm already driving and would choose to park at the gondola is when you're forced to and it's your only access and that means early season. I also suspect they might not enforce it during early season, only holiday rush and afterwards; but that will be next season before we can tell.
So combined, perhaps it doesn't have as big of an effect on the experienced skier.
Even right now, with Stagecoach open and Boulder closed, parking at Boulder and shuttling to Stagecoach is a fine strategy if you were already driving.
I suppose overall, it will have an effect on free heavenly parking in general; removing those spots from the pool means those folks will go somewhere. Potentially, you will have to get out even earlier for a parking spot (or pay) when the season eventually kicks into full swing.
I was thinking the same thing, and its not terribly inconvenient compared to some other VR parking situations.
 
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