The Official 19/20 Tahoe Ski Snowboard Thread. Plus bonus Bootfitting Recs!

[bodywhomper]

That really sucks (heavenly incident)

powdork, this is what I meant. http://www.acccalgary.ca/2015/05/human-factors-facets/

[TahoeBC]

Fuck! That fits the description of westcoastpowderhound (i think that's the user name). Nothing on his FB though. But he is 36

Not him, but tragic none the less, RIP

[climberevan]

Man, we're having a rough week.

I just got back to the car after another day of skiing low angle trees and seeing nothing move (except lots of rollerballs on aspects that got a little sun). It was 37 degrees when I left the Meadows at about 1030, and it's now 44deg. Mank has set in, even at 9000' on N facing slopes. Maybe this will help to heal our snowpack a bit.

RIP to those lost.

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[TahoeBC]

Looking at the snotel’s the higher ones all looked to be in the mid 40’s at 1:30.



Just saw a Instagram post of someone skiing a steep local line I can see from my house, no tracks on it this morning, now I see two. Skied it the day before the storm and it was a real shit sandwich pretty surprised it did not slide, still scares me enough to stay away.


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[splitter]

[2_1_3]

Vibes to all the families of the fallen, RIP. Incredible conditions this past week, but with a big asterisk.

These types of stability situations are a good reminder to think extra hard about terrain. I really like how SAC forecaster Steve Reynaud phrases it: "If avalanches are the problem, terrain is the solution."

In light of that, I was having fun with CalTopo (which I'm sure many of you use) since you can not only select general terrain that fits a certain suite of characteristics, but also create an additional layer (change the color) showing terrain to be avoided. An example shown below from the Independence Lake incident. Red is "no" (slopes > 33°, all aspects/elevs), black is "yes" (slopes < 33°, NW-NE, > 7k).

The star denotes the spot indicated on SAC where presumably the failure occurred.


Obviously, this isn't a perfect technique given the resolution of input elevation data versus the reality of complex terrain but is a nice way to generally plan when things are not a free-ski-for-all.

The Indy Lake slide is a very good reminder to also practice not just your transceiver search skills but also your rescue protocol as teams of 2+ for single and multiple burial situations. The beacon park at the wood (behind the patrol shack by 2 and 3) is oriented on a slope so would be a nice place to get some friends to do a timed multi-burial search with a start on the ramp leading to T-bar. Bring a probe since the buried beacons will register with a beep on the brain when you get a hit. Slowest time buys the round at 7800?

Today's warm-up and high cloud cover (increases longwave/thermal emissions to the surface) did quite the number on the snow quality as noted by others. Pinwheels on NE at 8600 ft (below). Ran into Powderjunkie and PuffNattie out shredding, though!



Last seven days of temps at Slide show the warming trend:


Glassy day for booze cruisin

[TahoeBC]

CalTopo a pretty cool tool, with lots of overlay features, the screenshot I posted above is from the caltopo app with the display current snotel info on it, quick way to check on temps and see exactly were there located, red circles on the above post indicate snotel sites.

[skysos]

Report of death of Patroller at HV , in Motts, from a ski related injury.
https://www.carsonnow.org/story/01/1...lated-incident

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I was there and it was heartbreaking. Somehow he ended up in Mott Creek. I was on the chair and some guy was trying to get help from other skiers saying there was someone buried in the creek bed. At the top I grabbed a lifty and shovel. By the time we got back down some skiers had pulled him out but it was too late. I have a photo of the scene but it might not be appropriate to post here. Condolences to family and friends...

[pureshred]

[powdork]

There was also a snowmobile fatality this weekend in the blue lakes area.
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/ca...wmobile-crash/

[pajamas]

what a sobering weekend.

Hey 213, great to see you again. hope the tailgunning was good Sunday on Maggie's.

echo trees on Saturday

[skier666]

Scary day on Friday after such a wicked morning...

My oldest and I got in line for KT around 8:35pm but the line was historically large so we bailed for two quick Far East laps instead for some guaranteed pow, then with no line on Red Dog, we decided to lap a few under Squaw Creek (skiing extremely well right now)...posted some scenics on Intstagram and then started getting texts and DMs to see if we were ok. Even a news reporter from Sacramento asked if I saw what happened, and at that point, I had no idea what she was talking about. Then I heard the helicopter flying around. Met up with the rest of the family and did some more Squaw Creek and then KT before heading out with the 3 year old. High point for me wasn't the powder but my 3 year old descending from atop Big Blue to the Base Area unassisted. It took what seems like forever but he did it. YEW!

Saturday was a bit less stressful, more sun and great skiing all over the place. West Face, Oly Lady, Red Dog, Squaw Creek, CII bowl all skied great with a hint of the ice layer in a few prone locations. Daughter had a ski race and did well. Hot tub, smores and beers to end the day.

Sunday yielded the best Dogleg/Red Dog Face groomer laps I can ever remember. I got first (groomer) tracks down Dogleg using Far East as my starting point and it skied great until the end of the day. Snow was still good on West Face but with moguls getting larger. I played around the steeps of Red Dog and was happy as a clam.

Left Squaw at 3pm on Sunday and arrived in SF at 6:05pm...no complaints.

[MashedPotatoes]

I was there and it was heartbreaking. Somehow he ended up in Mott Creek. I was on the chair and some guy was trying to get help from other skiers saying there was someone buried in the creek bed. At the top I grabbed a lifty and shovel. By the time we got back down some skiers had pulled him out but it was too late. I have a photo of the scene but it might not be appropriate to post here. Condolences to family and friends...

Thanks for doing what you could and for not posting the photo.

I rode up Mott with my kids for the first time ever yesterday and there was a dude sitting by the creek under the chair sobbing uncontrollably. At first we thought he was hurt then realized he was grieving for his friend. A patroller showed up to comfort him as we passed over. We were deeply shaken by it and can't imagine how hard this must be for the Heavenly Patrol crew. Our hearts go out to all affected by the tragic events of this past weekend.

[~mikey b]

yeah a friend of mine is on that crew and was there

shitty

[paulster2626]

Friend of mine had "the best day of his life" on Saturday the 18th. Said some drone was following him on Red Dog, so if anyone comes across said footage of the clown in this photo, he'd like to see it please. I said if anyone would come across it, it'd be my internet friends.

[Ottime]

I’ve got friends headed to Squaw in a few weeks and they want to get a private
Lesson for their 8 year old snowboarder. Anyone here know of a name I could give them? Someone who works well with kids. Figure if they are going to drop the cash, I’d try to get them a recommendation.

[~mikey b]

Mick Connolly

[NorCalNomad]

Also has been a gnarly weekend out in CO as well with an ice climber dying from an avy, and someone getting recovered out of the trees at Winterpark and being declared dead at bottom. :/

[TahoeJ]

An inbounds drone at Squaw was almost certainly the resort marketing team. Someone else flying one around would get noticed and shut down very quickly.

Hard to get a grasp on the next several days and when will be THE day since it keeps fluctuating quite a bit. Sunday looks promising, and temps are projecting colder than they were.

[pajamas]

almost forgot my annual spam. I hope some bay area mags can attend.

[Bozo T. Clown]

Kara Strehle is cool, grew up skiing in Minnesota, "a Level 3 snowboard instructor and staff trainer." And through the magic of the Internet, I was able to avoid the embarrassment of not remembering her last name.

[TahoeBC]

North facing still holding fun snow today




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[Lindahl]

The forum is down on the web so I can't do a Google search and the forum search in Tapatalk sucks. So... any bootfitter reqs in San Fran or San Jose area? Need some work done while I'm here on business

[~mikey b]

my friend Mike at Helm of Sun Valley in SF does good work

also California Ski Company in Berkeley

[MashedPotatoes]

this was a fun read - art, skiing, improvisation and the Grateful Dead.

https://freeskier.com/stories/every-...HFb1IZBAX61F-A

What we do, visualizing or making artwork or skiing a line, whatever we do, even imagining “outside our dimensional reach,” actually changes the neuronal circuitry of our brains, according to leading neuroscientist Andrew Newberg (Thomas Jefferson University). The more we do something, the more our brain changes in line with the requirements, aesthetics and beliefs of that practice. This adaptive dynamic, as a chief factor, is crucially important to understanding the skier’s mind in light of the newest, digital-technology-driven research on functional connectivity in the brain during episodes of creativity, as pioneered by cognitive neuroscientists Roger Beaty (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), Mathias Benedek (University of Graz) and Daniel Schacter (Harvard University). Their findings, which are consistent with the accounts of the relationship between skiing and artistic production articulated by professional skier-artists themselves, suggests not only that all skiers demonstrate better-than-normal capacity for creativity and improvisation in other domains (off the hill), but also that designing and making art in any media will make you a better skier.