Central California

[powdrhound]

I have always maintained that when Grizz is good, there is nothing better in the Sierra.

[~mikey b]

Griz is low tide right now. BV not currently at it's best but you kids will have teh funz

[meter-man]

Yeah, I got four month old twins...and they loved BV. Dad loved the looks of Grizz...and is looking forward to plumbing it next season. Frankly, I was stunned I had never heard of this terrain...

[~mikey b]

I'm at China Peak awaiting awards for today's race.

Krystal Kartwright reports that at Dodge "everything softened and it was a powdery wonderland."

[LegoSkier]

Had a good couple of days at China peak. Saw all the racer kids ripping it up. As usual all of the advanced terrain was untouched. Lots of boulder hopping fun.

[~mikey b]

CP was fun!

Owen was 3rd Sat and 5th Sun. And he lost his 2nd tooth.


DRSP's message to all you Harlem Shakers...

[~mikey b]

still some fantastic snow out in the world near DR today - hiked out towards Burst Rock and skied back in to Chair 8, then rolled out the back of the patrol shack and skied the PBR Forest and down to Aspen Mdw and hiked back up to Chair 2 and out - a wonderful morning tour - great cold snow on north facing sun protected slopes

[TurxSki]

Is the Grizzly Bowl as unreal as it would appear to be

How could you tell? No really?
It was hella foggy on Saturday. Ok it was patchy, and the sun poked out around lunchtime, but we were in white-out a lot. (My 1st time there too.)

It's the same lift, but we actually found "the goods" over in Snow Valley.
Drop in the gate, keep close to the boundary on your right (Hari-Kari closed) and just keep heading down, with the big rock on your left. Noice!
On Sunday, with no fog, we could see there was a whole bunch of wind-buff-blower on the right as the rope ends where you come in. Excellent!
And I went over (skiers right) past the main route down to find a nice corn shot where it starts to get too rocky.
We tried Grizzly a few times. Not as good. Way more of an open bowl so more sun affected.
Less blower, way more crusty, a lot more bumps.
On Sunday it started to soften over there. Skied one chute down by the lift, over on lookers right, fuck me was it deep and heavy where it had loaded on the edge. Nearly broke my legs shaping my turns.

We also sessioned Spyglass(?) on the Express lift. Just across the skiers left boundary there was soft Pow-Der and some truly artistic rock formations to pick your way through. Ok there wasn't much to them, a few turns, and head to the lift, but knee deep untracked baby!!

Got some nice turns around Porridge Bowl on the frontside too.

Had a bit of a mishap...managed to ski into a boundary rope at full speed in a tuck, heading into the Spyglass gate. Took my goggles off, cut/burned my eyebrows, caught under my helmet brim, made a noise like running a plectrum down a guitar string, and flipped me backwards.

If I was looking for excuses, I'd say it's a pity there wasn't a bit of dangling rope/ribbon hanging on the rope so you could spot it easily.
And if Cinders hadn't been right next to me (could see her ski-tips in my peripheral - we were all keeping our speed for the traverse) I would have gone in the same place as all the other times. But hey, I survived.

Low tide for sure (lotsa bare spots on Village Side skiing back to the condo) but good snow conditions, considering.
Thank You for the Hook Up TeleMike - You da Maggot!

( The_immaculateDeception wasn't feeling well enough to come in the end. So just us: Turxey, Cinders, Tini, Hobbit, Shade Gardener & Son of Shade )

[~mikey b]

Glad you had fun. Happy to help.

[~mikey b]

FKNowen!

[Shadam]

until I saw that shot I wood never have thought a pic of cordaroy cood b cool ...

[~mikey b]

Ridiculously good at DR today. Snowstake said 6" on top but I measured up to 18" in various places today. The Land of the Yeti was my last run. I was the only one out there all day.

Tomorrow will be good.

Powdrhound, GiBo and others: I'll be at Badger Pass for a race this weekend. I have a few free vouchers you can use if you want to get Dodgy. Can arrange for you to pick up.

Monday's plan is to hike out to Burst Rock with Krystal Kartwright and Holy Mazurkewietz for some laps.

[GiBo]

I'll be there tomorrow Mike. Could use the vouchers! I'll get in touch with you later.

[~mikey b]

Sorry. They got used today.

[GiBo]

Dang it!

[~mikey b]

Sorry. Unexpected visitors. 1st come, 1st served. I might have another option.

I'll call you later.

[~mikey b]

skiing was really good today

this video is from yesterday



we got 15 more inches after that was shot

it snowed all day today

[sftc]

A couple of left to right shots from somewhere off of the top of Sonora Pass today by a friend.

Nothing to see here, please remain calm and move on...

[~mikey b]

a really good weekend at Badger Pass for the Silver Bowl Slalom this weekend - I love Badger Pass - cool tiny area - the people there are awesome - Owen did well - bumped up an age group from U8 to U10 and got 9th Sat and 8th Sun

Dodge is doing 1/2 day price tickets ($54) and 830am-3pm operating hours M-Th this week

BV has $12 Tuesdays in March

[GiBo]

Sorry. Unexpected visitors. 1st come, 1st served. I might have another option.

I'll call you later.

No worries TM! Went to Bear. Great day, but an odd one. Bluebird pow in morning with a full on white out after lunch.

I'll catch you next time...

[SailCat]

Last Thursday at Bear Valley
A little late, but I was having computer problems.



8" or so of bottomless sierra cement, with a few pockets of deeper stuff.
Grizzly chair opened about noon, and I missed it by a few minutes, but there were only about 20 people on the chair as I was going down.
I think there were about 6 people riding the chair at a time after the first rush.
It was snowing off and on and there were intervals of fog/whiteout. No rain, but I was wet at the end of the day.
There were also a few times when I looked up from no visibility to see a wide open untracked slope for 20 turns ahead.
2 Pic’s show top and bottom of a cozy little spot at Bear.
The other is what the rest of the day was like.

[~mikey b]

Nice!

Anyone up for some touring near BV Friday? I've got the day off.

[TurxSki]

...full on white out after lunch...

Sounds like it's a common phenomena at BV then? (We got a foggy day too)

So is that in Grizzly Bowl? (Far lookers right by any chance?)
Or off the side of Spyglass? (It looks like the "artistic" rock we found over there)

[SailCat]

^It's in the trees lookers left of the Kuma/Bear chairs.
I'm never surprised when there is poor visibility in a storm,
but don't know if Bear is worse than elsewhere.
There are lots of nice short drops into Griz from the west ridge
(not open when I was there Thurs)

[~mikey b]

got to help Krystal Kartwright with one of her quadriplegic patients today out on his first day in the sit-ski

he did very well and had an excellent and fun day - I was very stoked to be part of his movie

I need to introduce him to Andy Campbell

****

took a hell of a fall and long ride going mach looney on Bobby's yesterday - came away with some road rash on my arm + badly bruised elbow, ribs, hip, knee......

lucky