California/Nevada 2023-2024 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[Jim L]

Got just enough sunshine at SB today to make it good; also encountered this little critter heading over to Disney

Long-tailed weasel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sunny morning at SB today. Didn’t go looking for the critter though.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

I’ve been enjoying the spotlight interviews on Palisades Tahoe social media recently of folks I worked with, like Chip, Allby, and Kate. The new one is a bit of a surprise on Mark and a little plug for Unofficial Alpine.

100 Days Club: Mark Fisher - Palisades Tahoe at Lake Tahoe

If you ski Alpine Meadows regularly, there's a good chance that you know or have crossed paths with Mark Fisher over the years! Mark was our first pass holder to hit the 100 day mark in the Palisades Tahoe app this year, so I met Mark at Roundhouse on a gorgeous spring-like day to take a few...

blog.palisadestahoe.com

 

[Philpug]

Our own @Unmarkedobstacles

100 Days Club: Mark Fisher - Palisades Tahoe at Lake Tahoe

If you ski Alpine Meadows regularly, there's a good chance that you know or have crossed paths with Mark Fisher over the years! Mark was our first pass holder to hit the 100 day mark in the Palisades Tahoe app this year, so I met Mark at Roundhouse on a gorgeous spring-like day to take a few...

blog.palisadestahoe.com

 

[SSSdave]

Still early in storm #1. At 5:38pm the 2 Kirkwood webcams show heavy snow to start this event, #1 of two.

Mountain Webcams | Kirkwood Ski Resort

Get a glimpse of live mountain conditions, with mountain webcams updated every five minutes throughout the day from 6 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.

www.kirkwood.com

If this storm showing a latest 10 inch forecast overnight, over-delivers by say 4am tonight, this old guy may just be on my way to a great GoPro at Kirkwood fresh snow day that at least show some sunny breaks, important for better detailed video recordings, by afternoon. Nicely, the KW webcam lenses are still clear, neither fogged or wet, with no hanging icicles blocking the view and video brightness exposure levels nicely adjusted. Second storm will miss skiing but could do some cloudy intimate subject landscape work with my newish a6700 at Pacheco Pass on Easter Sunday mid day.

Then Monday through next Wednesday shows 3 days of sunny fair weather with light breezes. So instead of more sunny skiing since I've already captured plenty of excellent bump and shallow powder skiing thus winter, with my Forester packed to max with fun gear, may just drive the 270+ miles south to Carrizo Plain, disperse camp dirt road side 2 nights in massive wildflower lands, then return Wednesday night and all its green life. A trip I'm likely to repeat a week or so later given another fair weather forecast period.

Kirkwood, CA 10-Day Weather Forecast | Weather Underground

Kirkwood Weather Forecasts. Weather Underground provides local & long-range weather forecasts, weatherreports, maps & tropical weather conditions for the Kirkwood area.

www.wunderground.com

 

[Mendieta]

Went to Sierra with Mendieta Jr. He only skied like two days if you count today, this season. So we took it easy.

I did hit the only open gate (2) when he quit for the day. Only the resort side was open, but it was still fun. Quite a bit of variable snow (not just there, same in West Bowl earlier). Anyways, a day skiing with your kid is a day in heaven.

Huckleberry Gate 2:



Fun fun fun ...

 

[goaliedad]

No photos, but it was indeed a "mini-powder day" at Northstar. I arrived early, and took advantage of the 4-6" of fresh to work on my powder technique on some less steep slopes. Powder Bowl especially held up with good untracked for over an hour, as did Stump Alley, and of all places, Deerskin! As a bonus, there weren't crowds on them.

I left around noon as everything was getting tracked out to chop, and my legs were tired. A great day getting to focus on actual technique without having to manage speed quite so much!

 

[Tony]

Was also at Northstar on Thursday 3/28, skied from before 9 to 3:05. Went to Backside first thing for 5 laps, skiing a lot of untracked. Photo from chair.

Northstar has some great tree spacing. This is skiers left of The Islands.

Then did 4 laps on Comstock off the East Ridge, starting with Redezvous lift line, then before Tonini's and trees on both sides of The Chute. I moved to Vista for a couple of laps and found this just before noon by following ropeline along closed for racing run. It was good enough that I repeated it later finding not many more tracks.

I skied some glades off Lookout after a break at Zephy including Sugar Pine twice and almost to ropeline in Lookout Glades once. But there was lightly tracked available in many places along edge of narrowly groomed runs. This is next to Washoe at almost 2.

I'm staying with a friend N of Truckee. Not sure if he is joining me at Northstar today or if I'm going to Palisades. I have Sat. parking reservation at Alpine and plan to ski the AM. I was very tired in afternoon after 4 hr. drive to Northstar and covering a lot of the mountain.


We shared a pizza in McKinney Lounge at Raley's by Truckee airport. We tried to order in advance, but they were too busy to answer phone.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Not sure why I never stopped to take a look at it, but finally checked out the memorial looking object at the top of roundhouse.

"If you seek their monument, look around you"
That got me more emotional than expected. Beautiful memorial for several of the 1982 avalanche victims.

 

[John Webb]

A lot of Tahoe areas have April closing dates per this list from on-the-snow

I don’t believe the Pali one of July 2 !
A unconfirmed rumor is Alpine may close April 28.

Closing Dates for California Ski Resorts | OnTheSnow

When do the California ski resorts close for the season? Check out the list of projected closing dates for ski resorts in California.

www.onthesnow.com

 

[Tony]

Skied Palisades today 915-315. It snowed the whole time I was there, not hard early, but was dumping before noon. Visibility was not great all day so it was best to ski where there weren't bumps, but winds were not that bad. Headwall and Siberia ran all day, and I got my first ride in a long time on Emigrant. Best visibility was on Shirley Lake. The worst I had was skiing down Saddle on KT on my 2nd run.

By end of day, there were a few new inches in most places although there was nothing on roads. Where I'm staying a couple of miles N of Truckee it started dumping between 5 and 6 PM and there now is 4-5" new. Run on the day: Sully's Knob on Resort chair. I did the hike twice.

I increased the contrast on next photo a lot. I had first tracks at 1115 and third tracks at 245.

I skied to within 100 feet of where I parked by going down where the Jumps were held during 1960 Olympics on my last run.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Snowed quite a bit in Tahoe Donner. Really light and deep. Tomorrow should be a good day
Tracks are from 34in tire

 

[Paul Lutes]

A lot of Tahoe areas have April closing dates per this list from on-the-snow

I don’t believe the Pali one of July 2 !
A unconfirmed rumor is Alpine may close April 28.

Closing Dates for California Ski Resorts | OnTheSnow

When do the California ski resorts close for the season? Check out the list of projected closing dates for ski resorts in California.

www.onthesnow.com

Maybe they reversed Mammoth and PT??

I'd rather ski Mammoth in June than PT.

 

[oldfashoned]

Maybe they reversed Mammoth and PT??

I'd rather ski Mammoth in June than PT.

My take is that PT date is a typo. June 2 is a Sunday. July 2 is a Tuesday. If they stayed open till July 2, they’d say open for the 4th…

 

[Paul Lutes]

... way to dash my Mammoth Dream.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Had a fantastic day at alpine. The snow wasn't as fluffly as the prior few weeks, but that wasn't a problem since the snow had a wind buff like consistency. Absolute blast!

We are going to check out the resort chair / red dog glades tomorrow. Not asking for any secret stashes or lines, but would anyone be willing to share areas that we should NOT go to/avoid? (Safety wise or long walk mistakes). I offer your beverage of choice

 

[raytseng]

Had a fantastic day at alpine. The snow wasn't as fluffly as the prior few week, but that wasn't a problem since the snow had a wind buff like consistency. Absolute blast!

We are going to check out the resort chair / red dog glades tomorrow. Not asking for any secret stashes or lines, but would anyone be willing to share areas that we should NOT go to/avoid? (Safety wise or long walk mistakes). I offer your beverage of choice

The snow down low at KT is kinda heavy and slushy. Especially the bouts of clearsky this morning did a number and cooked the sun facing aspect into cookies, even midmtn like tower16 is cooked.

If you do it, stay primarily on the shaded / s facing side, i.e the reddog ridge aspects into kt. Or skip it and just stay upper mtn.

 

[Tony]

Was in line for Roundhouse at Alpine for opening. Skied untracked on Yellow to Scott for an early lap into Promised Land before going to Sherwood for a couple of laps. Some of the best snow was on return in High Yellow. Was surprised how bad visibility was at top of Summit, but maybe it helped knocking long line down. My two Summit laps were early entries into Wolverine and Palisades. Some of the best untracked I found was off Gunnars Knob, first going back towards Summit, then twice skiing Chip's Face.

Finished just after noon skiing Gentian Gully from Scott chair. Got back to San Jose in 4 hours. First photo is my SUV at friend's house N of Truckee. He cleared his 800' driveway by 7 for me, but I did not leave until after 745 and had a lot of traffic getting onto 89S.

Next are a couple of photos from Sherwood before 10.


This is Chip's Face taken from TLC after 11:30. I had to hike a little to get this.

Sent this to my friend Art. There is a Lake visible out there. Lakeview runs that I didn't get to in left background.

 

[SpeedyKevin]

We farmed Lakeview at the start, you didn't miss anything

 

[Eleeski]

We are going to check out the resort chair / red dog glades tomorrow. Not asking for any secret stashes or lines, but would anyone be willing to share areas that we should NOT go to/avoid? (Safety wise or long walk mistakes). I offer your beverage of choice

Start at Far East at 9:00 sharp! It's a high speed six but shorter than Red Dog so you can get on the powder on the main runs of Dog Leg and Dog Face before the hordes get there.
Lap 2: either Red Dog or Far East depending on the line - the traverse to Far East takes a while so it's a tradeoff. Ski the nose off Far East which should not be too tracked out. Dog face will be cut up but fun.
Lap 3: repeat but ski the trees off Far East where you should find untracked turns. Dog Face might be soft bumps by now. Note: don't ski the Far East Trees first as the return road is often not groomed. If nobody has skied it before you you will waste your prime time breaking trail.
Now take Red Dog to the Resort run. Avoid the temptation to drop left on the Resort run as it is already gone (fun if you are early enough and it can be fun later but I always miss the best stuff). Stay on the groomer (often there's some fun snow to the right up against the closed signs) until you see fields off to the left. There's a lot of acreage for good low angle pow. Don't get greedy as if you get too low the return can take a while. Back on the groomer, there is a cutoff that is steep and bumpy. It's either horrible or great - if it's not too cut up give it a try.
You might get another quality lap - maybe in the trees.
By now everything is done - it's after 10. But the marquis powder run of the lower mountain (Poulsen's Gully) might be still fun. From the top of Red Dog, enter at the double black diamonds (in the Squaw days they didn't have double diamonds - they didn't want to scare you - or entice you). The gully might be wonderful soft bumps but staying left might yield some stashes in the trees. You will end up at Far East.
It's time to head up top and hope you get lucky with some late opening or enjoy the soft bumps. KT will still have a line - but your quads will be spent so the rest might help?

That was today's routine (except my shoulder pain kept me out of the Poulsen's Gulley). Hope you get a chance to enjoy the low pressure powder at Palisades.
If the powder doesn't deliver, these are still fun uncrowded runs. Challenging but not too scary with an easy groomer out everywhere. See you tomorrow?

Eric

 

[SpeedyKevin]

Start at Far East at 9:00 sharp! It's a high speed six but shorter than Red Dog so you can get on the powder on the main runs of Dog Leg and Dog Face before the hordes get there.
Lap 2: either Red Dog or Far East depending on the line - the traverse to Far East takes a while so it's a tradeoff. Ski the nose off Far East which should not be too tracked out. Dog face will be cut up but fun.
Lap 3: repeat but ski the trees off Far East where you should find untracked turns. Dog Face might be soft bumps by now. Note: don't ski the Far East Trees first as the return road is often not groomed. If nobody has skied it before you you will waste your prime time breaking trail.
Now take Red Dog to the Resort run. Avoid the temptation to drop left on the Resort run as it is already gone (fun if you are early enough and it can be fun later but I always miss the best stuff). Stay on the groomer (often there's some fun snow to the right up against the closed signs) until you see fields off to the left. There's a lot of acreage for good low angle pow. Don't get greedy as if you get too low the return can take a while. Back on the groomer, there is a cutoff that is steep and bumpy. It's either horrible or great - if it's not too cut up give it a try.
You might get another quality lap - maybe in the trees.
By now everything is done - it's after 10. But the marquis powder run of the lower mountain (Poulsen's Gully) might be still fun. From the top of Red Dog, enter at the double black diamonds (in the Squaw days they didn't have double diamonds - they didn't want to scare you - or entice you). The gully might be wonderful soft bumps but staying left might yield some stashes in the trees. You will end up at Far East.
It's time to head up top and hope you get lucky with some late opening or enjoy the soft bumps. KT will still have a line - but your quads will be spent so the rest might help?

That was today's routine (except my shoulder pain kept me out of the Poulsen's Gulley). Hope you get a chance to enjoy the low pressure powder at Palisades.
If the powder doesn't deliver, these are still fun uncrowded runs. Challenging but not too scary with an easy groomer out everywhere. See you tomorrow?

Eric

Good stuff! Much appreciated! We are weighing this^ or doing our routine at Alpine (Lakeview to Scotts). If we do go for it, we will be parked at Far East! Silly question, is there a bathroom near Far East? I am always walking over to the coffee shop bathroom