MAKE TAHOE DEEP AGAIN ~ 2016/17 OFISHUL SNOW/FOOD/WHINE & STOKE THREAD

[gone2alpine]

Had a long night fighting off a case of food poisoning but after those drought years I've learned not to take any fresh snow for granted. Started feeling better around noon and didn't have a lot of energy but still managed to skin up Sunrise for a lap - as you can see from the tracks there's a lot of people out getting after it. I think I liked it better when the road was blocked. Snow seems better today than yesterday... and it was nice to get up above the inversion for a bit.

Good on you Jay. Was down for a second day with a flu bug today...I should get back to skiing just as the snow turns to mank...

[kb1dqh]

Thinking of a SF day trip Sunday or Monday for Castle Peak BC. Seems like the snow pack is settling down. Anyone been up there yet, or going this weekend? Central chute should be plastered.

Got up there today and did the following on Castle for those wondering about conditions:

1. North side off the back of the peak - awesome, snow still good. Skinned up a snowmobile track almost back to the saddle on lookers right
2. Main chute on south face - tons of ice everywhere, but the chute is OK. Basically 3-4 inches of glop on a hard surface. But to either side of the chute, just wind blown ice
3. Andesite - great

[StormDay]

Alpine: High T opened this morning.

Still good snow to find that had not by hammered be wind, sun or fog.



Photog: Unpossible

[Vets]

Kirkwood has a new run.

[whatsupdoc]

Good times today

[TahoeBC]

jaws, sweet!!!!

[Paul Blart]

Had a long night fighting off a case of food poisoning but after those drought years I've learned not to take any fresh snow for granted. Started feeling better around noon and didn't have a lot of energy but still managed to skin up Sunrise for a lap - as you can see from the tracks there's a lot of people out getting after it. I think I liked it better when the road was blocked. Snow seems better today than yesterday... and it was nice to get up above the inversion for a bit.

You have to be the only guy in Tahoe with those skis, which means you were at Northstar on opening day? Maybe the day after opening day? Either way I know I called you out when I saw the skis. Also sunrise looks chill, been wanting to go up there for a bit but it seems like it gets tracked out so fast.

[sfskier]

Looking south from Jake's round 4:00. Glorious light and atmospherics. Good snow in shaded and northerly-facing spots, light zipper crust on open east facing spots, rock hard avy debris on the lower apron.

[lepistoir]

Touring back between relay and ILP today, found mucho surface hoar as well as zipper crust on anything with even a hint of S or E in it

[TahoeJ]

You have to be the only guy in Tahoe with those skis, which means you were at Northstar on opening day? Maybe the day after opening day? Either way I know I called you out when I saw the skis. Also sunrise looks chill, been wanting to go up there for a bit but it seems like it gets tracked out so fast.

Yep, that was me on opening day and I remember that. Probably not a lot of custom orange ON3P's in Tahoe. Sunrise is good for a couple of quick laps if you're close by (my family's place is in TD) or if conditions are sketchy, otherwise not really something to seek out. It doesn't get tracked out as fast as you might think since half the people who park at glacier are on snow shoes or Nordic skis.

[gimpy]

strong work from valley floor! from yer pics to looks like the zipper crust was present there as well? makes me sad that those runs are in shape but in the shape they are in. the trees are locked in snowcapped status where the freezing fog hit

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Had a long night fighting off a case of food poisoning but after those drought years I've learned not to take any fresh snow for granted. Started feeling better around noon and didn't have a lot of energy but still managed to skin up Sunrise for a lap ..............

if it doesnt kill you, it only makes you stronger......

[emcee]

Missed the entire thing while at Outdoor Retailer last week. Came over Tioga pass on my flight in to SF today.

Tioga pass just below middle of image




Dana plateau, enhance

[bodywhomper]

They did that more than once last season. Seems like poor form.

OTOH, it allows them to open the Vista hike if they secure the saddle and sunny side. To open 4 they need to secure all the way to Covered Wagon.

I would not mind that kind of opening. As long as I had an idea what they were doing.

Did "they" change the rule book?

if at the top of just-opened 2 and vista is open, take a walk

Maybe the rules should not be posted online

[TahoeBC]

Check out this photo from yesterday of Ralston, need to look back at the archives but I'm not sure I've ever seen it so loaded with snow with crazy scary rollovers



Found this line to be very icy under a shallow layer of pow, we walked away, sure looks nice though, maybe someone found better snow down lower if they had the balls to drop the top rollover, there was a conga line after we left of folks checking it out.


Plenty of good pow to be skied still though

[SchralphMacchio]

Thankfully everything turned to plaster from the fog and sun before the Evil E started picking up last night. Playing in North facing today, and for the locals maybe middle of next week for low elevation lines to be settled down and in great condition.

After all these years, it's great to finally be arguing about sun-fog crusts and windfunk vs rocks grass and facets, especially below pass levels!!!!

[BGnight]

Good times today

So much stoke! I still need to do this someday. Maybe after the refresh. Couldn't believe how hammered west shore was yesterday. Most tracks I've ever seen but still found great untracked. Gimpy, zipper crust is actually fun on a snowboard!

[Ottime]

Did "they" change the rule book?


Maybe the rules should not be posted online

Correct, they should not.

Old KW had a pretty systematic way of opening terrain. The more you skied there the more you knew what to expect. It quite as systematic these days. Seems like they keep trying different methods. I was there one day as they waited until almost 11 to pop the top, but they also popped the entire frontside at the same time from Eagle to Pali. Kind of sucked sitting in line for hours when they could have opened 6, then Sentinel, the wagon wheel, then 10 and Pali and finally Eagle.

First world problems, but it is nice when there is a method you can learn from usage.

I'm back inbounds a lot these days, for annum we of reasons, but openings for so shitty at one point I did not even bother with the resort on powder days. Too much chaos.

I do think they have gotten better the past two seasons. And this is by no means a complaint about waiting for terrain to be controlled. Just about how they open and (lack of) communication.

[TahoeJ]

Can we get a definition of zipper crust? The snow I was skiing on this past Saturday made me comment that it felt kind of like Velcro. Still fun once you get moving but just enough surface drag to keep you honest and punish your mistakes. Same thing?

[whatsupdoc]

strong work from valley floor! from yer pics to looks like the zipper crust was present there as well? makes me sad that those runs are in shape but in the shape they are in. the trees are locked in snowcapped status where the freezing fog hit

Yeah the crust was present below about 9K. It was thin and wasn't actually too bad. Despite the rad day, it's hard not to imagine what could've been without the crust. Would've been all time.

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

Nice AKB and Whatsup. We debated that too, and actually I was the one in our group opposed as I was worried about conditions being wind jacked. Glad you guys skied to car to car -> awesome job.

[gimpy]

bg - this carson range zipper is even fun on skis. but its nowhere near as good as the snow around west shore and meyers. when yer faced with skiing all-time pow or pretty fun zipper, the choice isn't too hard.

[reid]

spur scheduled to open at 7am, I'll be one of the first one's through.. today I will kiss KW's backside hahaha!

Drove around; turned off onto 49 around 10pm friday night and went 49->50->89->88. It was fine at that hour. Traffic on 50 but moving along nicely.

Everything was great; completely bare pavement until about 10 mi from Kirkwood and my pace dropped from about 65-70 to 12mph as 10+ cars were stuck behind some jackhole crawling up the hill. Due to the high snowbanks there was too little visibility to pass all of the cars stacked nose-to-tail (and didn't want to be the bigger jackhole cutting in and out of traffic but not making it to the front). Took 30min to cover the last handful of miles.

Had to swim in to the house and was utterly soaked and frozen by the time we got in the door at 1:45am.

kirkwood so good today. that was the backside bluebird day I've been craving.
and no crowds, the blackout effect was in effect!

Damn. I thought it would be junk show with holiday and pent up demand. Blew it

It's all a matter of perspective. Spoke to regular weekend warriors and they said the frontside was completely skied out and the line on 2 was the biggest they've seen in a while, so they didn't even head to 4.

I imagine Mashed is spot on, but it would depend on your perspective.

Yep, we totally blew it on Saturday. Got out late (thanks to the late arrival). Took 7 then decided to go straight to the backside as ETO was listed at 45min from the time we got on 7. Thought we'd "take it easy" so we took 1 to 2. Huge mistake. Short line at 1 but the usual family disaster; the chair was stopped more than it was running, and it took easily 20min to get to the top even though the line was only about 15 deep when we rolled up.

Then the line for chair 2 was an utter disaster. 20+ minutes.

Made it to the backside and SURPRISE, 4 was already open! And all of California and half of Nevada was there already. We made the mistake of hopping on the right side of the line right by the singles line which went up the hill, and stood in line for 15 mins and went all of about 5 feet. Coming in from the side, I think the crowds were just cutting in front, although the lines just didn't seem to move at all.

We just turned around and took 3 the fuck out of there. It was feeling like my worst day at KW ever because it was about 60-70 mins of standing and 0 fun.

Once we made it back to the front, though, there were NO crowds. Ski right up to every single chair. Place felt empty.

Hit the backside around 3pm and everything was chopped all to fuck but was still fun. Made me wish we had just stuck with the original plan and stood in line for another, whatever, 30 minutes. Based on how empty the rest of the mountain was, I think we were just in the backlog on 4 and it would have been fine once things got spread out.

The biggest miracle of the weekend -- NO wind, even late in the day, even on the backside.

Sunday was massively crowded, but still fun.

[Dhelihiker]

Here is Akbruin not having any fun

[AKbruin]

Nice shots, Dheli.

BG- Jobs Peak feels like an Eastside line. 6k of descent, including suburban backcountry:


FYI, although SAC rated yesterday's avy danger as "low," I was still able to kick off a windslab off the peak (maybe 40 degrees) that propagated downhill and traveled maybe 1,200 vertical feet. It was on a ski cut and not totally surprising. The initial crown was maybe 6". It wasn't particularly frightening, but had I simply charged into the line (which was awesome), it's possible I could have went for a long ride, lost some gear, and been at least partially buried. No regrets in skiing that line, but it did require some terrain management. Anyhow, as others have frequently said, don't let the general avy rating trump specific avy issues.

This is me doing a second ski cut just half a second before the windslab went:


In this photo you can see the slide path and a bigger crown that broke after the smaller windslab: