Tahoe '23/'24 - Reserve Now For Best Pricing!!!

[powdork]

They spray almost all roads i the basin with magnesium chloride (a salt) prior to the onset of precipitation. This is supposed to keep the layer next to the road melts for easier plowing. Places with lots of use will have dead trees on the runoff side as the built up salt prevents them from taking on the water they need


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[caderader]

Will be at KW today - Friday. Bright blue shell, puke green pants, blue smith helmet, and the old orange and green smith poles. Holler if you're headed up and want to make a lap.

[FloridaSnow]

Is your local forecast showing the same thing as the national stuff for about 10 days from now a big heat wave? Worried what that’s going to do to conditions. Showing feeling like 57 one day.

[Truckee Joe]

Is your local forecast showing the same thing as the national stuff for about 10 days from now a big heat wave? Worried what that’s going to do to conditions. Showing feeling like 57 one day.

Don’t worry, some of the best California skiing is warm spring conditions. On those really warm days I’ll switch skis at lunch depending on how soft the snow gets. Could be Windbuff while you only need a windbreaker, could be corn cycle. But Im sure it will be good, it’s all about being on the right aspect.

[FloridaSnow]

Don’t worry, some of the best California skiing is warm spring conditions. On those really warm days I’ll switch skis at lunch depending on how soft the snow gets. Could be Windbuff while you only need a windbreaker, could be corn cycle. But Im sure it will be good, it’s all about being on the right aspect.

great to hear. The only warm skiing I’ve done was in NC. And that was just ice that turned into slippery ice lol. It sucked so much. I’ve been fortunate to always have cold weather or good snow when I’ve been in Tahoe. Even last March/April I got stupid lucky with the snow storms.

[chicken feathers]

^ Ya, a big reason of why I run snows so that I have enough control to get out of the way of bad drivers.

[mildbill.]

Post disappeared - short version: if you buy a ski pass, buy snow tires. If you buy an awd / 4wd car, buy snow tires. Spend a few hundred bucks a season to reduce the chances of fucking it up for everyone else.

Also - don't edit posts while walking a puppy.

[LongShortLong]

Post disappeared - short version: if you buy a ski pass, buy snow tires. If you buy an awd / 4wd car, buy snow tires. Spend a few hundred bucks a season to reduce the chances of fucking it up for everyone else.

Also - don't edit posts while walking a puppy.

Many are long wearing similar to non-winter tires - I run mine year round with no issues. So cost is same as running any other decent tire. The X-Ice are low rolling resistance, so I'm also destroying the planet 5% slower. Though I'm more willing to drive to the mountains in poor conditions so maybe that balances. Sorry planet. I don't notice the supposed excessive summer wear, maybe because bay area doesn't get hot enough, or maybe that only happens with oldschool snow tires.

[4matic]

There’s no use of salt-based mixtures to protect run off into both Tahoe and Donner Lake but they frequently use some kind of sandy-ish mixture. I’m sure someone in this thread knows. Not sure if we’ve adopted beet juice like much of Canada.

The resorts use salt on their access roads and so does caltrans:

“Brine (salt mixed with water) is a de-icer used before and after a storm hits to help melt the snow and prevent freezing. Sand is also applied to roadways during storms for better traction. Brine is a liquid salt solution that Caltrans has opted to use more over the years because it is easier on the environment than rock salt. Across the country officials are reviewing alternatives to using rock salt since it’s tough on vehicles, difficult to remove and studies have shown it’s detrimental to the environment.”

[old goat]

If you run snows half the year and nonsnows the other half over the life of the car you will spend no extra for tires than if you run all weathers year round. Just the cost of and extra set of wheels. (Discount Tires changes me out for free.)

I can't comprehend anyone driving anything other than a snow cat trying to get up that hill in the first video.

The only deep snow my Forester sees is in my driveway (been high centered there a couple of times.) Otherwise I'm driving on packed snow and ice at the worse. The biggest difference I notice is stopping and turning on ice (X Ices). Reminds me of when sticky soled climbing shoes first came on the market. Everyone went up a full class. Except in off width chimneys.

[TahoeJ]

Welp, I stand corrected on the no salt thing. So was that ever a thing or maybe just proposed at one point? Or just confusing the removal of rock salt in favor of brine?

[mcski]

I remember way back the no Salt was a big deal but maybe that was just around the lake. I also remember ski wise, it was always a springtime discussion about how much better Mammoth skied in spring because they salted and Tahoe didn’t. Some rules definitely seemed to have evolved over the last 25 yrs or so

[bodywhomper]

I have 40-year old scars on my elbows from mammoth’s salted ski runs. Minor inconvenience

[Dark Energy]

As Jackie Stewart said, "It's all about the rubber." Run true snow tires for the stop, not the go. M&S provide little to no confidence and are useless on ice or just after a road grader masquerades as a Zamboni on our summit roads. Been using studless snows, many different brands on different vehicles of different sizes, for years now. If believed, Tire Rack tests say the softer compound out performs studded tires for stopping distance. YMMV.

Here's some stoke from the backside of Disney to get this ski thread back on topic.

[jackstraw]

^that pic is really pleasing to the eye. Fkna!

[Goniff]

Keyholes skied well today.

[SnowMachine]

Put some fun turns into mainline today. Sun was shining, snow was chalky fun!!

[enginerd]

Keyholes skied well today.

Sho ‘nuf! Chalky styrofoam goodness. Your pic isn’t showing up for me but here’s mine (testing out the new kvws):





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[SnowMachine]

I've been on all seasons for over two decades. In 99.5% of Tahoe snow conditions, and all season, with decent driving technique is all you needs. Nerds.

Snow was fun at KW yesterday. Got up and spun laps with Mashed Potatoes. Had plenty of fun. The wind transport machine was in effect. Spent the afternoon playing around chair 4 but took our final lap on 10 and skied the wind buff to finish the day.

Covergae is interesting. Some things are totally buried with the new snow The Funnel is basically gone. Other area you could see the ski tracks from before the storm - so literally no new snow. Its kind of crazy how this storm distributed there.

I guess so. My wife's car gets all season tires during the summer. Last October we got snow early. My wife went to get the kids from school and got caught when it started dumping. She made it about 1/2 way up our road. I went down and traded cars with her. She took the Jeep back to the house. I was able to turn traction control off, get a running start, full rally mode. I made it 1/2 way up my driveway. I towed it the rest of the way with the tractor. Changed to Blizzak's and never had another problem.

My truck has K02'S, Duratrac's or AT3w's. It's always fine, but they get replaced every season.

I got away with all season for years. I definitely got lucky several times. Some of it depends where you live. My first house, no way. Last house, yeah. Current house, not a fucking chance....

[SnowMachine]

Is your local forecast showing the same thing as the national stuff for about 10 days from now a big heat wave? Worried what that’s going to do to conditions. Showing feeling like 57 one day.

Gonna be good. Could be refreeze in the AM, but fun afternoon soft snow. Chase the sun. Way fun.

[powdork]

Welp, I stand corrected on the no salt thing. So was that ever a thing or maybe just proposed at one point? Or just confusing the removal of rock salt in favor of brine?

Brine requires much less to be effective because of the way it's used. I don't know if it plays into it around here but Magnesium Chloride is also used for dust control on unpaved roads and road dust emissions is thought to be one of the leading contributors to declining clarity of the lake. I don't know if the way it is used for deicing would have any effect whasoever on dust levels.

[SnowMachine]

Welp, I stand corrected on the no salt thing. So was that ever a thing or maybe just proposed at one point? Or just confusing the removal of rock salt in favor of brine?

You're definitely correct. No salt for decades (as far as I recall). Lots of rocks on the road. That probably changed 7-8 years ago. The saline solution isn't as hard on the environment and vehicles, but the change is noticeable. I think they're still not using it in the basin.

Personally, I'll take the saline over rocks. I try to wash down the undercarriage each time I wash the cars. Some cars get it worse than others (Toyota's sheesh....).

[powdork]

You're definitely correct. No salt for decades (as far as I recall). Lots of rocks on the road. That probably changed 7-8 years ago. The saline solution isn't as hard on the environment and vehicles, but the change is noticeable. I think they're still not using it in the basin.

Personally, I'll take the saline over rocks. I try to wash down the undercarriage each time I was the cars. Some cars get it worse than otherers (Toyota's sheesh....).

They 100% use it in the basin. Haven't you seen the striped roads before every storm? They also use rock salt within the basin. They were using it here on the flat roads within the grid of Tahoma over Christmas Holiday and I went all Karen on them.

[SnowMachine]

They 100% use it in the basin. Haven't you seen the striped roads before every storm? They also use rock salt within the basin. They were using it here on the flat roads within the grid of Tahoma over Christmas Holiday and I went all Karen on them.

Oh, wow.... I thought they were staying away from it for the reasons you mentioned. Hate to admit it, but I'm hardly ever in the basin anymore. More often during the summer.

[Ottime]

Here's some stoke from the backside of Disney to get this ski thread back on topic.

Yes, Thank You.

I guess so.

I got away with all season for years. I definitely got lucky several times. Some of it depends where you live. My first house, no way. Last house, yeah. Current house, not a fucking chance....

Sure. It depends on where you live and drive. I live in Santa Cruz. I ski about 30-50 days a winter, maybe broken into 20 trips. Most of those trips see dry roads 97%or more of the mileage. I usually stay at Kirkwood, in the meadow. No Ski Run Blvd to deal with. Or like roads. If my buddy's place was at the top of Danberg I might feel a need to invest in snow tires. But for the driving I do, the Coopers I have are plenty. And I carry chains as I'm supposed to, so in case the roads actually get icy enough that snow tires make a significant difference, I'll chain up and be in way better shape than if I had snows. I've done that exactly once with this car, when I got stopped half way up the Spur, because there had been a spin out (2WD, no chains) and CHP decided it was a good idea to do 4WD or Chain check mid slope. It was just enough ice there, I put one chain on the rear right wheel to get me started up and over the Spur. It was the combination of full stop on an iced relatively steep slope.

Slush is really the only challenge, and from my experience in snows, slush is slush and the rubber makes little difference. Tho, that was some 30 years ago.

I don't think putting snow tires on most vehicles coming up from he BA will make much of a difference. Driving technique is way too important and most BA drivers have little experience in the snow and are terrible at it. Combined with the typical impatience breed into a BA resident.