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

[Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer]

thats there's some funny shit right there. i'll join you for the current beer at least.
eastside get any more outa this?

Good question - I was watching the radar to see, but it didn't appear they got much down South. Here are the snow sensors I usually check for a variety of points:

Mammoth Pass (9,300 ft) -

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?MHP

Bishop Pass (11,200 ft) -

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?BSH

Sonora Pass (8,750 ft) -

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/q...1&span=12hours

Rock Creek (9,700 ft) -

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?RCK

South Lake (9,600 ft) -

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/queryF?SLK

Based on all of the above, looks like a dusting at best...

[4matic]

My tahoe trip 2 years ago

Is that an old Bimmer or Saab?

[parkmeister]

Thanks to everbuddy for the comments!

Thanks for the kid stoke Parkmeister. Just got my 3 year old daughter on skis for the first time last week so we've got a lot of work to do - that made me jealous.

Here's my 4 year old, Edie. It was her first session on skis. With an amateur JONG ski instructor



Saturday, February 4, 2012, Kirkwood

The magic carpet was for paid lessons only so we headed straight for the chairlift instead. Edie really enjoyed the chairlift rides.

She was able to move around flat ground with her skis on. She skied downhill in a straight line but couldn't turn or stop. Just like Frankie and her first lesson.

I ended up mostly skiing down the hill holding Edie between my legs. Edie was not really skiing so much as being taken for a ride but I figured having some fun was more important than learning skills. I think (and hope) she had a good time.

This weekend skiing with my kids pegged the stoke meter just like skiing on powder days. I can't wait 'til we're all slaying pow together...

[The Dad]

Is that an old Bimmer or Saab?

Assuming that my visual cues are accurate, that's a Saab 900 4-door sedan (not hatch), non-turbo, probably 1985.

[Sinecure]

Parkmeister:

Good job on the first lesson. Some suggestions:

You might want to call it 'pizza' - everyone else does so she'll be confused by 'pie wedge' in class. Although pie wedge is a good one too. Especially if you can distract her in times like at the end of the video by asking whether it is apple, lemon, banana, cherry, etc pie.

When you show her pizza, be sure to demonstrate that the knees tilt in and the skis are on edge, not flat. She'll get much better speed control with opposed edges. Similarly, be sure to show her how french fries means flat skis so she can go fast and ultimately start to move from edge to edge.

"Lean forward" and other physically descriptive suggestions often don't mean much to kids. Your other suggestion of putting hands on knees - or hands out front like she's going to catch a basketball - are usually much more helpful.

When it comes to turning, remember that kids (and adults) often want to lean in to the inside of the turn. This will put pressure on the inside ski and if she's in her pizza, will cause her to turn the other way - or just go straight. The airplane drill where she raises the inside hand and touches her knee or boot top with the outside hand will work better to get her weight over the outside ski and make the turn happen. You can also progress to stomping on bugs with the inside ski during the turn when you start to move toward a more parallel/stem turn.

Turning it all into a game makes the learning progression much easier for most kids. They're very visual and can usually mimic you, but if you give them something to think about (bugs, pressing the outside ski to shoot monsters on the side of the hill with the pressure-activated gun in her heel), it can make it easier. Also, once you develop some mental/aural cues, you can get to the point where one or two shouted words communicates what you want her to do. For instance, I frequently (with both kids and adults) put my finger inside the front of their boot and ask them to pinch my finger with their shin. Sometimes with kids I'll tell them I'm putting a gummi bear in there. Then when I see them in the back seat, I'll just shout "pinch my finger" or "squish the gummi bear" and they can (hopefully) quickly correct.

You're exactly correct that the single most important thing for her is having fun. The only thing that really matters right now is that she wants to do it again. If that means between your legs, so be it. Although you'll find it less back-breaking if you hold your pole near the tip, angle it slight down and to the side, and have her hold that for security. If you barely hold it, and don't give her much support, she'll learn not to lean back against you/the pole, and should be able to ski without it after a few runs. But it is nice to have once in a while if you need to pull her up or stop her quickly.

Have fun out there.

[skier666]

What I have learned about teaching a kid that is now 3.5 years old.

1) They don't listen to their parents.

2) Put them in a lesson

3) Buy them whatever they want at the cafeteria regardless of how wasteful. Repeat when necessary.

[f2f]

What I have learned about teaching a kid that is now 3.5 years old.

1) They don't listen to their parents.

2) Put them in a lesson

3) Buy them whatever they want at the cafeteria regardless of how wasteful. Repeat when necessary.

i was all gung-ho about getting my soon to be 2.5yo on skis this winter but i now see there is exactly zero point in doing so. she can play around my skis and be happy when daddy goes skiing and drops her and mom at daycare/work in the morning, but there's no point in pushing it -- the concept will be lost on her. she can become a good skier if she starts at 3 or 4 or 5 too.

swimming on the other hand i will insist on even earlier than this age. we shouldn't reach a point when she has any fear of water...

[powfiend]

anyone happen to pick up a pair of hestra mits from snow crest and and alpine meadows road? i left em there for 5 minutes when i was grabbing the shuttle back to the car after a munchkins lap. when i realized and went back to check they were gone! seriously not even 5 minutes! Im hoping someone grabbed em to turn em in but I'm pretty much loosing any faith in humanity i had left.
ON a more positive note, decent skiing in muchkins and the bowling alley today! still holding up strong in the shade

[harpo-the-skier]

Peter and I skied the north east chute on Waterhouse proper today, theory being the coverage would be good till we hit the dirt road going into hope valley. We were wrong. Although the snow was OK in the top 1/4, the rest was mank. We approached from the east end of Luther pass, which worked well.

[schuss]

I'm out this weekend, as I'll be enjoying SF beer week instead. Not writing the season off yet, but it's close...

[neednsnow]

@ Parkmeister. That video is AwesomE! Just the "Daddy!!!" cry for help is precious, enough! When she's 11 you'll be saying "Honey, hold up a minute." Haha. Good stuff, man.

[SchralphMacchio]

FWIW, I didn't really learn how to turn skis until I got the whole isosceles / equidistant thing nailed down, so to each their own.


That Frankie video is pretty amazing BTW. Knowing she's not hurt at the end of it, I can watch that spill over and over again. Classic! No I finally know why they named it the Ditch of Doom

[otto parts]

I'm out this weekend, as I'll be enjoying SF beer week instead. Not writing the season off yet, but it's close...

It's the 2012 Pliny the Younger debut in Dublin tomorrow. Not writing off the season, but hoping a 10.5% abv buzz will make it temporarily more enjoyable. Schralph?

[gimpy]

little bit of pain involved to find the pleasure but there is still good snow to be had high, north and open. and the new snow was like edge deep man. for reals.

when the topic of this season comes up i have been saying its been a good year to get out skiing w/ the kids. and here we have this thread talkin bout kids and drinkin beer. if i wasnt busy w/ work i'd be trying my best to leave. been getting text pics from rogers pass this last week and................we have inches to look forward to. oh well. everything happens for a reason.

[powdrhound]

Parkmeister, thanks - those made me smile.

Let it Snow!

1" @ Mt Spokane.

[TahoeJ]

I'm going to have to agree on all accounts.

On that note - Dookey, nice meeting you last week while I was checking my daughter into ski school.

What I have learned about teaching a kid that is now 3.5 years old.

1) They don't listen to their parents.

2) Put them in a lesson

3) Buy them whatever they want at the cafeteria regardless of how wasteful. Repeat when necessary.

[El Chupacabra]

FYI: the annual telemark & A/T demo day at Mt. Rose is this Sunday, Feb. 12, on the slide side. Free demo. Usually Black Diamond has the largest pile of stuff, but Scarpa and Dynafit come too. Boots + gear to demo.

Edit: Sunday is correct, not Saturday as I initially wrote.

[Sinecure]

/\/\ And there's the Alpenglow demo day at Alpine on Saturday as well. Vendors include: Black Diamond, Dynafit, G3, Scarpa, Garmont, Rossignol, Volkl, Marker, Moment, Ski Logic, and DPS.

[El Chupacabra]

Unfortunately, my Squalpine pass is blacked out on Saturday, so I'm going to Rose.

[BGnight]

Squaw groomers have been fun and east bowl on KT was actually good the one run I did around 10:30. It was frickin' warm when I left!!!
Groomers just seem like the logical choice over the backcountry at the moment. I forget it's actually fun to work on a proper turn. Please snow :/

[skier666]

There's skiing out there guys

[unpossible]

^^^ How do you like the new skis?

I shall be at KW this weekend, anyone else gonna be around?

[mogul5480]

^^^<Raises Hand> ^^^^

[julesrules]

It was actually pretty fun at Kirkwood today. Snow was corn-ish, the ungroomed parts were far from hard packed/frozen. Hope those 20% / 50% chance of precip pan out in the next few days though.

[Sinecure]

I just got an internal Squaw/Alpine email about some new benefits to passholders. Not sure if this has been emailed to people yet, but from what I can tell, it goes into effect immediately. Edit: confirmed that these are effective immediately.

New:
50% off lift tickets for Friends/Family - any day your pass is valid, you can buy one ticket at 1/2 off.

50% off blackout days - if you want to ski on one of the few remaining blackout days on your pass, you can buy a day ticket for 50% off.

30% off all Squaw/Alpine owned retail outfits. Excludes sunglasses and GoPro. FWIW, the TNF and Salomon stores are both owned by Squaw. So is Starbucks (it isn't clear from the email I got if this includes Starbucks, but it would be worth asking - thinking about it, this probably falls under the next category).

10% off food at Squaw and Alpine. This has been ongoing at Alpine, but now it is good at Squaw too. Keep in mind that Rocker is owned by Squaw, I'm guessing it's good there too. It's definitely good at Funi's, Last Chair, The Arc, Ice Bar, Oly House food courts.