Thread: 11/12 Tahoe Weather, Conditions, Stoke, and What's Up Thread... IT'S BAAAAAAAACK!!!

Floaty for sure. Sunday was a good day for a hike into well protected nw trees.

Found Old Man of the Woods haunting the forested wind swept skin track. He still beat me to the top.


Then he proceeded to ski ballet down to the bottom, through cliffs and chutes.


Monday was good for finding wind deposits up high.

FranklezZ levitates and uses the K-Factor Vortex Rare Earth technique to point his skis toward powder


Broadway it is.


Max picks a sweet line.


If you can't find powder after a 2.5" dump, you might just not be trying.


Now someone go out and ski. BTW, pretty sure it won't be very good until the weekend. I'll save it till then. And Mike, I think my wife might refer to you as an enabler. I appreciate the support.

Got Thursday & Friday off, starting to think Friday & Monday would be a better call, decisions decisions...

Originally Posted by bbense

FWIW, there are orthographic reasons why both Alpine and SugarBowl get more snow than Squaw.

Would that be because Alpine's mid mountain (where snow fall measured) is closer to the crest than Squaw's? In any case there was plenty of snow today on KT--a few bump tops here and there, and the ridges were wind-raped but overall not hitting the ice layer. And visibility was good enough that for once I didn't BAFL on the cat track in the saddle area.
The conditions were better than the shockingly small line (essentially no line) on KT would have indicated--although snow was deteriorating when we left.

goat, I'm pretty sure that Squaw's upper mountain snow stake is around High Camp somewhere. And Alpine's is just off the crest in the middle part of Beaver Bowl. Alpine's gets relatively little wind and is protected by trees. Not sure about Squaw's.

On another note. FREE LIFT TICKETS: If any of you live in the Bay Area and have a little time to kill today or tomorrow, you can apparently earn a pair of tickets to Squaw/Alpine for free just for taking a tour of one of the athletic clubs owned by KSL, the people who own Squaw. I saw the link on a blog I was reading earlier. You need to go to the web page below and put your info in, and presumably go take a tour by tomorrow. Not sure what the restrictions are on the tickets, but it's worth checking out. Western Athletic Clubs are all over the Bay Area (all the Bay Clubs, plus a few others including the Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood Shores).

Here's the link:
http://www.explorewesternathleticclu...aign=PaidMedia

Expires tomorrow, so get moving.

Originally Posted by TahoeBC

Got Thursday & Friday off, starting to think Friday & Monday would be a better call, decisions decisions...

FWIW, I just pulled the trigger on Fri-Mon, so I'm sure tomorrow is going to be awesome...

Originally Posted by Sinecure

goat, I'm pretty sure that Squaw's upper mountain snow stake is around High Camp somewhere. And Alpine's is just off the crest in the middle part of Beaver Bowl. Alpine's gets relatively little wind and is protected by trees. Not sure about Squaw's.

On another note. FREE LIFT TICKETS: If any of you live in the Bay Area and have a little time to kill today or tomorrow, you can apparently earn a pair of tickets to Squaw/Alpine for free just for taking a tour of one of the athletic clubs owned by KSL, the people who own Squaw. I saw the link on a blog I was reading earlier. You need to go to the web page below and put your info in, and presumably go take a tour by tomorrow. Not sure what the restrictions are on the tickets, but it's worth checking out. Western Athletic Clubs are all over the Bay Area (all the Bay Clubs, plus a few others including the Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood Shores).

Here's the link:
http://www.explorewesternathleticclu...aign=PaidMedia

Expires tomorrow, so get moving.

Pacific Athletic Club is awesome. Makes you feel like a king.

Whats the call fro tomorrow? Kirkwood? Above the snow line? Upper mountain lifts at Squaw?

Sierra Sun article about Kirkwood

Restaurant, new lifts included in Kirkwood Master Plan
By Adam Jensen
Tahoe Daily Tribune
Wednesday, March 14, 2012

KIRKWOOD, Calif. — Vail Resorts' announcement late last month that it has agreed to purchase Kirkwood Mountain Resort inspired strong reactions from the ski area's passionate clientele.

Some people thought the purchase was great, some people felt it was the end of an era. Some skiers and snowboarders said they planned to withhold judgment until more is known about what the company envisions for the resort. Several people said they hoped Vail would bring needed investment to Kirkwood.

Following the announcement, Vail Resorts' Co-president Blaise Carrig said the company will review existing plans at the resort before making any decisions regarding on-mountain development.

Carrig noted Vail operated Northstar for more than a year before announcing any investment plans, but also gave a favorable response when asked about Kirkwood's existing master plan. The plan was approved in 2007, but has yet to make more than a few marks on the resort.

“I think I like the master plan,” Carrig said in February. “It's just a matter of what to do when.”

Approved proposals in the master plan's 442-page environmental document include building an on-mountain restaurant and bar, increasing snowmaking capacity, improving several chairlifts, constructing two new chairlifts and increasing the number of named trails at the resort from 69 to 80.

Six chairlifts would be upgraded or realigned under the plan: Caples Crest (Chair 2), Iron Horse (Chair 3), Sunrise (Chair 4), Solitude (Chair 5), Wagon Wheel (Chair 10) and Reut (Chair 11).

Chair 4, on the resort's backside, would be upgraded to a high-speed, detachable quad. Construction of a terrain park underneath the chair is also called for in the document.

A new Caples Crest lift, which currently provides access to the backside of the mountain, would start at the resort's base area and end near the top of the existing chair. Chair 2 would remain, but would be renamed “Flying Carpet,” according to the plan.

A 10,000-square-foot lodge is also proposed for the area at the top of chairs 2 and 3. The new facility would include a bar, restaurant, restrooms, retail space, ski patrol operations and about 1,200 indoor and outdoor seats.

The plan also calls for the creation of a Thimble Peak chairlift, which would run from midway up the backside of the resort to the top of the eastern edge of The Cirque, according to the document.

“The proposed Thimble Peak chairlift would be constructed to provide round-trip utilization of expert terrain in Thimble Bowl and expedited, round-trip skiing opportunities for expert-level guests in the Thunder Saddle area,” according to the plan's environmental document. “This lift would allow advanced/expert level guests to avoid the flatter run-out area toward the bottom of Chair 4, and would eliminate the northwest traverse that is currently necessary to access Thimble Bowl from the top of Chair 4.”

Four surface lifts are also included under the master plan. Two of the lifts —Covered Wagon and Look Out Vista — have already been built.

A similar surface lift would be constructed under the plan to give guests about 400 feet of elevation gain in the Red Cliffs area on the eastern side of the resort.

The combined carrying capacity, defined as the number of guests that can be comfortably accommodated by the ski area at any one point in time, would increase by about 44 percent, from 6,460 to 9,300 guests if all the lift improvements in the master plan are completed.

Snowmaking would also expand by about 50 acres under the proposal and would focus on low elevation trails and those that return people to the base area.

Vail's purchase of Kirkwood is still pending approval from the Forest Service, and any on-mountain improvements are speculative at this point, said Kirkwood spokesman Michael Dalzell. He directed comments to Carrig, who was not immediately available Tuesday afternoon.

^^^^CPSSR. Their lifts never shut down.

From the looks of it, tomorrow is supposed to be a tad windy.

How windy is the question, kirkwood ran 6 all day, is it going to be worse than today?

today wasn't bad at all. started with a couple dangberg laps which were excellent then some lift accessed. dangberg kept me dry but the extra 300' vertical of lift accessed made it soggy quick.

Squaw lower mtn was decent for the upper 1/2 but super thick gluey cement for the bottom 1/2. It rained most of the time with fairly poor viz due to the rain on the goggles effect. I think ever time I got off KT I heard someone say "fuck I can't see a thing."

If there's no upper mountain Squaw skiing tomorrow then go high: Rose etc.

No rain at alpine today... I also had my little park poles and the snow was deeper than they are long (44") in the usual wind loaded spots, that wind was really keeping it fresh today!

So Vails just gonna finish the master plan Cohee wrote for KWood... sounds good to me!

this year


last year now ish

Originally Posted by NatEE

FWIW, I just pulled the trigger on Fri-Mon, so I'm sure tomorrow is going to be awesome...

I think you made the right call. Doubt upper mountain is going at Squaw until Sunday, but maybe they will pull a rabbit out of their hats and it will go Saturday some time. Winds are going to be blowing pretty good.

It was soggy and like someone said, funky on the lower half of KT, visibility was an issue.

No kidding. The toughest part of the mountain at Squaw today was the last 200 feet or so to the lifts. Some of the stickiest cement I've ever skied on, although seeing tons of people double eject right at the bottom was entertaining. Considering that, the snow on the upper portions of the lower mountain - particularly over on Red Dog / Squaw Creek - was surprisingly good before it soaked up too much of the rain.

Went over to Alpine after lunch and the extra elevation made a huge difference in snow quality, and yes, they did get more than Squaw (like normal, right?)

Originally Posted by Jim S

Squaw lower mtn was decent for the upper 1/2 but super thick gluey cement for the bottom 1/2. It rained most of the time with fairly poor viz due to the rain on the goggles effect. I think ever time I got off KT I heard someone say "fuck I can't see a thing."

If there's no upper mountain Squaw skiing tomorrow then go high: Rose etc.

My boss told me not to come in friday... so whats the sleeping in your car situation like at Alpine, or Kirkwood? Especially Kirkwood cause im thinking roundhouse will be the only thing spinning on friday at alpine.

Originally Posted by tahoearmada

So Vails just gonna finish the master plan Cohee wrote for KWood... sounds good to me!

I think Cohee was a Mag at heart...he had a sweet micro-mullet

How is Rose looking for tomorrow? Will it even open?

Saturday is looking stupid after the latest updates. I guess I'll brave the insanity...

Yep. Bottom of the mountain esp Red Dog you'd go 60 to 0 in a heartbeat.
It was UHG LEE!

Originally Posted by TahoeJ

No kidding. The toughest part of the mountain at Squaw today was the last 200 feet or so to the lifts. Some of the stickiest cement I've ever skied on, although seeing tons of people double eject right at the bottom was entertaining. Considering that, the snow on the upper portions of the lower mountain - particularly over on Red Dog / Squaw Creek - was surprisingly good before it soaked up too much of the rain.

Went over to Alpine after lunch and the extra elevation made a huge difference in snow quality, and yes, they did get more than Squaw (like normal, right?)

Wtf is with the prices at Trokay cafe in truckee?
$14 for a sandwich?At lunch time? And not that great either?
Who eats there?
Not even a matter of affording it or not, but I hate to encourage them to charge those prices.

??

Keeping in mind that I am an old man with bad knees that does not do air...
I had a blast today.



Let it Snow!

Originally Posted by californiagrown

My boss told me not to come in friday... so whats the sleeping in your car situation like at Alpine, or Kirkwood? Especially Kirkwood cause im thinking roundhouse will be the only thing spinning on friday at alpine.

Just park in one of the garages at Kirkwood. You'll be fine.. Especially if it's blizzard. Drive to the 6 lot early in the morning.