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

[climberevan]

It was windy AF on Tallac today. Snow was heavier than expected but skied ok. Definitely needed some speed & big skis. The skintrack filled completely between laps. We did 3 & left at about 1400, and it was still crazy windy. I'm not optimistic that many spots will survive this wind...

[lepistoir]

I would quit skiing if I had to wait in that line. It really makes me appreciate 395 as the road in and out of Mammoth. The 88 sucks even worse. I was three cars behind a head on a few weeks ago. There is no where for the people to go but off the bank and into the other lane. How that road doesn't just accordion shut is also beyond me. The 80 was easier but out of the way.

How much does the population grow in Tahoe over the weekends? It seems like you can still go out to eat on Saturday, whereas Mammoth is a junk show. Does Vons just get wrecked like Mammoth? I am sure there are ways around the traffic and this may have been an anomaly since it was Sunday night and snowing. I am asking in case I decide to move closer for my kid to play hockey. After last night I think living in the Valley would be a better option.

Snowing on Sunday (or Friday) and junk show is regular. Not an anomaly. Also, I'm a cynic

[gnarbro365]

There used to be ways for us to get around traffic but no more with the different map apps. Now tourist take the side streets and snafu them too so we can't get to work or home.

This. We waited it out at the bar until 8:30, and it still took over half an hour from ski run to Meyers on Pioneer. People wandering around Oneidas, Mandan, and Apache in their minivans and two wheel drive sports cars. I'm just trying to get home so I can shovel the 3ft berm the plow left in front of my driveway.

Maybe with these "time saving" up to date traffic apps, people visiting the north shore see 80 closed, and their app reroutes them through South Lake. I heard it was several hours from Stateline to chain control at the base of 50.

BUT, it's a beautiful day to be alive...AND I'm incredibly lucky to be sliding down a mountain on two planks of wood every day. FKNA Tahoe!

[TahoeJ]

You guys should see some of the crazy tourist re-routes going on in Truckee this season. Talked to a CHP last week and they are not happy with those apps as they are creating an even bigger collective shit show with people getting stuck and blocking whole sections of neighborhoods, etc. - like the other day when they had to do a soft close on Alder Creek and also High st. above downtown. It's a huge waste of resources for them.

[TahoeBC]

Been over 10 years since I hit traffic that bad, over 3 hours from Heavenly to my house which should take 20 minutes, heard reports of 4 hours just to get from the Y to the chain control.

Still debating if it was worth it, would have hung at a bar if it was not for a dinner party I was supposed to go to, which got delayed by a couple hours cause no one could get there!

One run of many over the last two days, just more endless powder day after day, this season has been something else!

[lepistoir]

POV without sound looks to me like pole plant meditation.

Early morning near Squaw today was necessitous of speed, steepness and constrained turning, but damn good. One of the ways Tahoe can have "too much of a good thing". Not sure why Utah blower was so much better. Do I need to get back my Lotus 138s or splitboard? Should I just stop trying to compare? I still say #whatawinter and #moarsnowplz but what is the difference and is it a technique issue or a timeshare in the Rockies issue?

[smallies]

my grama says you missed those trees

[mcski]

TBCs weirdo pole twitch plant is embedded in my brain now

[BGnight]

You guys should see some of the crazy tourist re-routes going on in Truckee this season. Talked to a CHP last week and they are not happy with those apps as they are creating an even bigger collective shit show with people getting stuck and blocking whole sections of neighborhoods, etc. - like the other day when they had to do a soft close on Alder Creek and also High st. above downtown. It's a huge waste of resources for them.

Earlier this season about a dozen or so people got stuck trying to drive up Dog Valley road in Verdi IN DEEP SNOW because of that app. The sheriff made the people abandon their cars and hoteled them up at Boomtown. They had to place guards at the road for a while to stop more lemmings. A fucking big rig even tried to go up that road. It's a steep ass bumpy road right when it leaves the pavement. People are so insanely stupid. I'm looking for a partner to invest in developing an app that diverts gapers off a cliff.

[Steven S. Dallas]

Homewood delivered this weekend.





I swear.

[~mikey b]

I beleeves! I grew up there. Not on the crest so not the same wind holds. I love Homewood. One of the best ski areas evar!

[LightRanger]

Coworker showed me video from HW yesterday. Looked great.

Pretty sure we have Waze and Google Nav to thank for the closure between Soda and the Kingvale Maintenance Station that's been popping up a lot more. It was at-your-own-risk before. Lame.

[bobz]

Yeah, the Sugar Bowl to Big Bend sneak route was a surprisingly well kept secret (if a tad treacherous sometimes), until fairly recently.

About the Truckee detours... The one we saw unfolding, according to the cop my wife talked to, wasn't even a little rational. At least the Alder Creek detour makes a certain amount of sense (until too many people clog up Northwoods hill doing it). But what was happening a few weeks ago was that 80-west was dead closed, 40 over the pass probably closed too, and some app was sending Bay Area bound dumbasses way up behind the TD downhill area, as if the software thought it would better for them to get stuck just slightly closer (as crow flies) to their destination than they already were in Truckee. There isn't even a dirt road that goes over the ridge back there.

[TahoeJ]

Homewood delivered this weekend.

I really wish we could get back the old JMA pass with Alpine and Homewood. I only had it for a few seasons when I first got back into skiing but it was awesome.

But what was happening a few weeks ago was that 80-west was dead closed, 40 over the pass probably closed too, and some app was sending Bay Area bound dumbasses way up behind the TD downhill area, as if the software thought it would better for them to get stuck just slightly closer (as crow flies) to their destination than they already were in Truckee. There isn't even a dirt road that goes over the ridge back there.

Wow, so people were going all the way up Ski Slope Way? lol... that's particularly funny since they haven't even been plowing it all the way through for a day or two after the largest storms and it's literally a dead end. I do wonder if any of these local agencies / CHP, etc. have tried to get in touch with Waze and other app makers and tell them to fix their shit.

[mmmm...pow!]

I really wish we could get back the old JMA pass with Alpine and Homewood. I only had it for a few seasons when I first got back into skiing but it was awesome.



Wow, so people were going all the way up Ski Slope Way? lol... that's particularly funny since they haven't even been plowing it all the way through for a day or two after the largest storms and it's literally a dead end. I do wonder if any of these local agencies / CHP, etc. have tried to get in touch with Waze and other app makers and tell them to fix their shit.

Just read an article recently (can't find a link) about how these apps are giving city planners big headaches. For years they tried to make streets easy to drive, but now with people detouring through residential neighborhoods they are trying to figure out how to deter people that don't live there. Happening all over. But since most roads are open to the public, people technically have the right of way. Some local communities are trying to work with the app makers, who claim that they are helping to spread out the traffic. Glad I don't live in our neighborhood affected by this shit.

[mcski]

I really wish we could get back the old JMA pass with Alpine and Homewood.

Totally agree. Those were some of my best ever seasons. I'll usually pay for a day or two at Homewood and have had some of my best untracked days ever there on storm days. Never mind, I meant it sucks.

Who's at alpine ghetto today? Flipping a coin vs squaw

[Ottime]

Been over 10 years since I hit traffic that bad, over 3 hours from Heavenly to my house which should take 20 minutes, heard reports of 4 hours just to get from the Y to the chain control.

Still debating if it was worth it, would have hung at a bar if it was not for a dinner party I was supposed to go to, which got delayed by a couple hours cause no one could get there!

One run of many over the last two days, just more endless powder day after day, this season has been something else!

I had friends who I believe were at N*. Be kind, they are new to the sport. Took them 6.5 hours to get to SLT. The. They decided to lodge for the night.

I'm sure it must suck for the locals, but it is basically a tourism economy. Not much to do about other than lobby your congressmen to increase the budget to keep roads open and improve communication.

Looking at it from down here the problem I see is all the resorts marketing powder days, lodging that offers no refund for weather conditions, shitty drivers and poor driver education, poor communication from Caltrans, limited forecasting for road conditions and lift/mountain closures, the frenzied life of many BA peeps, and a world where people fail to educate themselves and plan ahead because they have a weather app, road app and Siri to tell them what to do next.

So, if we can get that short list fixed, I doubt driving around SLT on a snowy Sunday would be that bad.

[Ottime]

TBCs weirdo pole twitch plant is embedded in my brain now

I was thinking he must have had tunes going. And that was a dance move.

[spnce]

About the Truckee detours... The one we saw unfolding, according to the cop my wife talked to, wasn't even a little rational. At least the Alder Creek detour makes a certain amount of sense (until too many people clog up Northwoods hill doing it). But what was happening a few weeks ago was that 80-west was dead closed, 40 over the pass probably closed too, and some app was sending Bay Area bound dumbasses way up behind the TD downhill area, as if the software thought it would better for them to get stuck just slightly closer (as crow flies) to their destination than they already were in Truckee. There isn't even a dirt road that goes over the ridge back there.

You know that dirt road from glacier way? The one you walk your dog on? Google thinks you can drive on that: https://goo.gl/maps/pQ55K5v1RYo

[bobz]

You know that dirt road from glacier way? The one you walk your dog on? Google thinks you can drive on that: https://goo.gl/maps/pQ55K5v1RYo

Hahaha! Only 19 minutes by car, sez Google! I didn't realize that "route" connected even in the most limited sense. I guess that's what was happening with the app sending people up the hill.

[spnce]

Hahaha! Only 19 minutes by car, sez Google! I didn't realize that "route" connected even in the most limited sense. I guess that's what was happening with the app sending people up the hill.

I think it actually does connect. I rode my bike pretty far down there once a long time ago, not all the way to the freeway though. Dusty, hot bitch of a climb back up iirc

[mtnjam]

Well, I gotta say that the Tahoe area is pretty damn fun. I haven't been down in the area since 2005 when Mrs. Mtnjam and I got married. Skied Heavenly for about 2 hours on a coral reef kinda day back then.

We were just at Squaw last week, hit the storm at Squaw last Sunday/Monday, woke to bluebird on KT22. Fun riding that lift and Headwall most of the day. Cool mountain, cool people, fun terrain. Fun steeps and it stayed cold and soft. Good accommodations at SVL and some pretty damn good food at Plumpjacks (BTW, thanks for the free meal if any of you are Joe), 22 Bistro and Fireside Pizza. Cool little breakfast shop and Dave's Deli for mid ski fuel-up. I pretty much explored around the mountain solo, but chairlift rides were friendly and chocolaty (thanks cute snowboard chick).
Skied Tahoe North XC trails midweek during the warm up, battled treebombs on the trail and sticky snow, but beautiful views up there.

Headed down to Kirkwood on Thursday morning thinking we were going to see a buddy in S.Lake, but the timing didn't work out. Sorry Jason. Got to Kirkwood, looks like a fun mountain. Got checked into our "hotel" room at the Meadow's Lodge (why didn't anyone tell me that place is a "project"). FFS, the lodging at that place could use a little help along with their food service, let's just leave it at that. Kinda dumpy. The mountain on the other hand is a really fun ski, started off on Friday morning skiing the ice skating rink and then moved on over to 2 and 3. I can see why people like skiing that place, fun steeps all over that mountain too.

I'd love to come back to Squaw and Kirkwood sometime during a good storm cycle or when the corn is good to see how those mountains rally, just so happened we caught skiing those two mountains right between storms.

[mmmm...pow!]

I'm sure it must suck for the locals, but it is basically a tourism economy. Not much to do about other than lobby your congressmen to increase the budget to keep roads over the pass closed all winter.

You mean this. We could do it Trump style and build a wall and have the bay area pay for it.

[Ottime]

Well. You could try that.

[teledad]

Yeah, the Sugar Bowl to Big Bend sneak route was a surprisingly well kept secret (if a tad treacherous sometimes), until fairly recently.

That road used to get traffic on storm days but it was generally people who knew what they were doing and were prepared to deal with a little extra snow on the road, knew how to get out of the way of the plows, etc.. Now it's just a shitshow with cars sliding all over the place.

That Glacier Way route is pretty funny. It's not like it would have helped anyway, I'm sure they were stopping cars westbound at DLI.