22 Blue - Looking ahead to the New (aka Fuck Summer (aka Tahoe Thread))

[dookeyXXX]

Met up with G2A and Vets at PTOV this morning.

First time at the hill since last April.

My takeaways:
Fools need to learn how to ski moguls.
Fools need to learn that you ski down the fall line, not traverse the entire mountain; all off the off-piste on Granite Chief and Sibo had nothing but horizontal tracks across the hills. WTF?

What snow wasn't desecrated by traversing idiots and incompetent bump skiers skied well.
10-12 is the window.

[powdork]

I stayed on the mountain at Mammoth last weekend and my son was doing a Super G training session on Saturday so I drove down to fly fish the Upper Owens. I've never seen a line of cars so long driving up the mountain at 8:45am. It was super slow bumper to bumper and backed up all the way to downtown. Is that worse that Tahoe? I don't know, I don't ski Mammoth enough to really know. Others here probably know more than me.

Definitely not worse than Tahoe. Even with the traffic backed up to the Norco Gas in mammoth the locals can still get pretty much anywhere they want via other roads unless they're trying to get to the village itself for some reason. When traffic gets bad in Tahoe locals can't get home or to work for hours. Emergency vehicles have issues getting access to areas. Plows can't get to the roads because everyone using Waze and gmaps try to get around the backed up traffic and to the front of the closure line (or whatever the bottleneck is) via side roads and clog the neighborhoods for miles

edit - fwiw the problems that used to arise on N upper Truckee with people lined up waiting for 50 to open have mostly been taken care of, but only by posting a sheriff at the corner of sawmill pond stopping turning around any non local traffic (I don't think they'll let you turn left onto sawmill even).

[TahoeJ]

Yeah, Mammoth traffic is a joke compared to Tahoe. It’s not even close and for obvious reasons.

[old goat]

Met up with G2A and Vets at PTOV this morning.

First time at the hill since last April.

My takeaways:
Fools need to learn how to ski moguls.
Fools need to learn that you ski down the fall line, not traverse the entire mountain; all off the off-piste on Granite Chief and Sibo had nothing but horizontal tracks across the hills. WTF?

What snow wasn't desecrated by traversing idiots and incompetent bump skiers skied well.
10-12 is the window.

Traversing idiots and incompetent bump skiers? You mean skiers, don't you?
I was there yesterday and the traverse lines were nothing compared to the fan of traverse lines going north from Wolverine Saddle at AM. Some of those places could use a rope line or two with a gate at the top to cut down on the multiple traverses. Not gonna happen though.

Hard to blame Alterra for the shit show on 89. It's a shit show in the summer too, and for a lot more hours. And how can anyone compare Mammoth--with a good size town spread out at the base of the mountain, with Palisades, with the great majority of skiers coming from miles away on a road in a narrow canyon, from both directions, and then up narrow windy roads to the parking? LCC is a much better comparison.

North Tahoe desperately needs much better mass transit. Palisades should certainly chip in but it's on Placer and Nevada Counties to take the lead, especially Placer. IOW, ain't happening.

[MashedPotatoes]

dang, death at PTOV today, there are ponds on Sunnyside? How does the guy end up in a pond I wonder? Vibes to the patrollers and his family and friends..

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...s-17128058.php

[TahoeJ]

Hard to blame Alterra for the shit show on 89. It's a shit show in the summer too, and for a lot more hours

Huh? Only when they're doing road work, which is often. But otherwise it's not even close. Now the west shore on the other hand...

[meter-man]

dang, death at PTOV today, there are ponds on Sunnyside? How does the guy end up in a pond I wonder? Vibes to the patrollers and his family and friends..

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...s-17128058.php

Brutal. RIP. There's a pond skim right above the bottom of Sunnyside on skier's left that patrol closes off.

Apparently, Placer County proposed a third-lane, dedicated mass transit lane on 89, during the Resort Triangle master planning process (completed 2020). It was proposed to run from Squaw to Truckee. CalTrans nixed it, saying that the road right-of-way was not wide enough to accommodate it. Placer Co planners cited studies and experiences in other resort towns in US, Canada, and Europe that have similar dedicated mass-transit lanes. CalTrans said, "sweet...but no." So, we're hosed.

[Truckee Joe]

The town of truckee should definitely look to Alterra for help solving the mouse hole problem, but they also shot themselves in the foot when they didn’t widen it properly years ago, so maybe they don’t care. Opening a little earlier on weekends might help spread the demand out. But yes transit needs help around here. I am on the gondola team for mass transit but know it would be hard to get people out of there SUV’s. Don’t worry soon they will be charging for all parking and the parking lot will make more money than ski passes.


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[old goat]

Brutal. RIP. There's a pond skim right above the bottom of Sunnyside on skier's left that patrol closes off.

Apparently, Placer County proposed a third-lane, dedicated mass transit lane on 89, during the Resort Triangle master planning process (completed 2020). It was proposed to run from Squaw to Truckee. CalTrans nixed it, saying that the road right-of-way was not wide enough to accommodate it. Placer Co planners cited studies and experiences in other resort towns in US, Canada, and Europe that have similar dedicated mass-transit lanes. CalTrans said, "sweet...but no." So, we're hosed.

Good to know about Cal Trans' role in the lack of the transit lane. You can't tell those bastards anything. The ultra short on ramp merge at the Donner Lake interchange heading east was supposed to be fixed when they rebuilt 80 but never was (and 80 is already falling apart--started falling apart the year after the rebuild.)

The town of truckee should definitely look to Alterra for help solving the mouse hole problem, but they also shot themselves in the foot when they didn’t widen it properly years ago, so maybe they don’t care. Opening a little earlier on weekends might help spread the demand out. But yes transit needs help around here. I am on the gondola team for mass transit but know it would be hard to get people out of there SUV’s. Don’t worry soon they will be charging for all parking and the parking lot will make more money than ski passes.


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How will widening the mousehole help? You have 2 lanes merging to one. If you had 2 lanes going southbound through the mousehole you'd still have to merge into one. There's no place to put a 4 lane road all the way to Palisades. As far as building a gondola from Truckee to OV--you can't really be serious. Opening earlier will just make the problem start earlier. And for the most part the traffic problem on 89 in the winter is limited to a couple hours in the morning Sat and Sunday, and afternoons, into the night, when it decides to storm Sunday and holiday Mondays. The problem is that everyone wants to ski at the same time, for obvious reasons. And no one is going spend serious dollars on major infrastructure so people can get to the mountain easier on bluebird powder Saturdays. Where they will find all the legal and illegal parking full. Where they will stand in Instagramable lift lines. The best we can hope for, if the stars align right, is that transit lane.

I grew up in Detroit. Traffic jams getting to and from downtown sports venues--4 pro teams and all of them played downtown at the time--was a part of life if you wanted to go. For that matter, getting to a hockey game in LV on the Strip on a Saturday night wasn't fun either.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Ha, that's me in the green jacket leaning on my poles.

Got a couple high quality runs down a favorite line of mine in the Enchanted Forest & took the long stroll up to KT and that was well worth it.

My kid said he post holed up KT as well with a crew of dudes. Said it was totally worth the sweaty hike.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

I stayed on the mountain at Mammoth last weekend and my son was doing a Super G training session on Saturday so I drove down to fly fish the Upper Owens. I've never seen a line of cars so long driving up the mountain at 8:45am. It was super slow bumper to bumper and backed up all the way to downtown. Is that worse that Tahoe? I don't know, I don't ski Mammoth enough to really know. Others here probably know more than me.

I must have just missed that. I came in off the scenic loop Sunday at 8:30 and it was clear sailing up to the ch 4 parking lot and onto the hill. Couple of mild pre lunch lift lines but like always on a Sunday after lunch it clears out as folks get a early start on the drive down South.

The course looked like slow with the warming snow temps. I’m sure getting the wax right was key to a faster time.


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[Truckee Joe]

Ya I am serious, a gondola could go from Regional park or the airport over to North Star and Martis then over the 06 to Olympic valley, then from Alpine to the Y in Tahoe city. The solution is in the air not using existing roads. Gondolas can move over mountains much easier than roads. Telluride uses theirs as mass transit quite well. I know we have more miles to cover but we need more radical solutions than busses.

And opening earlier would help a little, they did it when I was a kid. Move the peak traffic from 9 to 8 and it would help non skiers a lot.


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[Ottime]

Traversing idiots and incompetent bump skiers? You mean skiers, don't you?
I was there yesterday and the traverse lines were nothing compared to the fan of traverse lines going north from Wolverine Saddle at AM. Some of those places could use a rope line or two with a gate at the top to cut down on the multiple traverses. Not gonna happen though.

I thought AM used to have ropes with gates to keep the traverses from fanning out. There used to be one at the far side of Wolverine, with a high gate and allow gate (closer to the sisters). Or at least I remember it that way.

[Creeker]

dang, death at PTOV today, there are ponds on Sunnyside? How does the guy end up in a pond I wonder? Vibes to the patrollers and his family and friends..

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...s-17128058.php

Loaded question…as an Alpine and Squaw pass holder since the epic winter of 94/95, where is Sunnyside and where are the ponds?

[bodywhomper]

Free trams and elevated rail sound like fun and worthy solutions. Need some deep pocket books and streamlined permitting without get-rich quick financing to make it happen.

[heckacali]

Loaded question…as an Alpine and Squaw pass holder since the epic winter of 94/95, where is Sunnyside and where are the ponds?

Here, for one...

[old goat]

Loaded question…as an Alpine and Squaw pass holder since the epic winter of 94/95, where is Sunnyside and where are the ponds?

Sunnyside is the branch of the Mountain Run on the N side of the creek. It's one of the many runs as OV that no one calls by its official name. Or any name. No doubt you've been on it many times--perhaps after coming down Sundance (the official name of Tower 16) It's pretty burnt out near the bottom and it's been closed. Riding the Funi yesterday I did notice a small pond at the bottom. I don't know if that is the pond in question.

[powdork]

Loaded question…as an Alpine and Squaw pass holder since the epic winter of 94/95, where is Sunnyside and where are the ponds?

when i hear pond and 94 I think of the gold coast pond expansion
https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/20...ey-ski-resort/

[Ottime]

Sunnyside is the branch of the Mountain Run on the N side of the creek. It's one of the many runs as OV that no one calls by its official name. Or any name. No doubt you've been on it many times--perhaps after coming down Sundance (the official name of Tower 16) It's pretty burnt out near the bottom and it's been closed. Riding the Funi yesterday I did notice a small pond at the bottom. I don't know if that is the pond in question.

My family has always called that Sunnyside (cause it is, the sunny side) but Sundance is a new one for me.

[mcski]

Sunnyside is the branch of the Mountain Run on the N side of the creek. It's one of the many runs as OV that no one calls by its official name. Or any name. No doubt you've been on it many times--perhaps after coming down Sundance (the official name of Tower 16) It's pretty burnt out near the bottom and it's been closed. Riding the Funi yesterday I did notice a small pond at the bottom. I don't know if that is the pond in question.

When i first started skiing the international mountain resort, the lack of names on runs bugged me. In recent years, as names and signage have been added to runs, that shit annoys me more Wrong thread I guess

[old goat]

When i first started skiing the international mountain resort, the lack of names on runs bugged me. In recent years, as names and signage have been added to runs, that shit annoys me. Wrong thread I guess

I have a patrol map. Lots of obscure names, and I'm sure patrol has more names that aren't on the map. Back in the day Squaw used to boast that it named lifts, not runs, because they were too many runs to name, but of course patrol needs names to communicate.

[duffski]

i'd love to say it got its name from hot dog the movie. "I had sunnyside up und I had sunnyside down, und I had sunnyside all zee vay around." its definitely been called sunnyside ever since i started skiing there in the late 70's. it was my preferred route down when mountain run was a cluster so i totally remember it. here is a map from 1996 that names it but i think all previous maps didn't show run names. https://skimap.org/data/538/7/1213823774.jpg

[old goat]

I told my son about the accident, who was on Squaw patrol for 2 years. He didn't know what it was either.

[Creeker]

Sunnyside is the branch of the Mountain Run on the N side of the creek. It's one of the many runs as OV that no one calls by its official name. Or any name. No doubt you've been on it many times--perhaps after coming down Sundance (the official name of Tower 16) It's pretty burnt out near the bottom and it's been closed. Riding the Funi yesterday I did notice a small pond at the bottom. I don't know if that is the pond in question.

Thanks all. Definitely my preferred route down the mountain, preferably after Tower 16 or Broken Arrow. I think we've always called it "The left side".

[mcski]

Anyone else see Gaffney’s Post on bookface/insta about his epic crash on McConkeys last storm cycle? Fucking ouch. Heal up, man!