THE OFFICIAL 20/21 TAHOE SKI & SNOWBOARD THREAD. PANDEMIC SCHMANDEMIC!

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Fun Easter afternoon at Rose today. Place was empty by noon, chutes had some fun slushy snow, no lines at all.


Sun dog over Mt Rose.


Chutes were fun. Yellow Jacket.


Looking down Yellow Jacket.


Cool wave cloud forming over Washoe Valley

Fun day overall, but the snow is going fast.

[dookeyXXX]

Definitely was not filled in. On the bright side the SW slopes were holding excellent corn until around noon yesterday.

Pix?
(Still trying to ascertain which slope you are referring to)


The Star skied exceptionally well from bell-to-bell on Easter Sunday.
Sweet corn, compacted slush bumps, speed slush; almost every aspect was holding up decently, but N and NW were the post-lunch jam.

Coupla the E facing slopes are getting burnt, but they are still providing some in-bounds, resort oriented patch skiing goodness...

And similar to ESS's Rose experience, there were no crowds. Pretty much skied right onto the lift every time.

[nrob]

Presently snowing at Squaw. Will be strange conditions today

[old goat]

What the hell just happened? Ferocious west wind woke me in the night, clear skies. Still blowing this morning, clouded over, a few snowflakes, wind died and then turned east and skies clearing, all in the space of an hour. Fastest front passing through in history.

[hercule33]

What the hell just happened? Ferocious west wind woke me in the night, clear skies. Still blowing this morning, clouded over, a few snowflakes, wind died and then turned east and skies clearing, all in the space of an hour. Fastest front passing through in history.

Two words: climate change.

[old goat]

And now clear and sunny and the west wind is back.

[Ottime]

Skied AM in the morning Easter and SV in the afternoon. Got to say, that is a good combo for spring. Softened quickly but got a few hot laps in on firm groomers before a few High T laps to perfect inbounds corn. Once the slush became real, the steeps of KT were good to go. So many strong bump/slush skiers at that hill. OTOH, it was a bit more mank at SV, but that might have had more to do with time of day than elevation.

But compared to Mammoth last week, it is full on spring in Tahoe, but still mixed down south and up high.

[onehotchili]

Is there more than one "Poop Chute"?
The only one I know is the one behind the old ASI/SAB building up on Donner Pass.
And it is still looking nice as of yesterday....

Years ago, Bela was trying to get folks to start calling it "Banzai" instead of "Poop Chute." although I don't know if that ever really stuck.

[old goat]

Just like Chamonix has two Poubelle Couloirs, Truckee has two Poop Chutes. We're big time.

[GoSlowGoFar]

Pix?
(Still trying to ascertain which slope you are referring to)

Ha, the only photo I snapped during the tour was of these mountain lion tracks...

But I pulled this off the interwebz...chute in red is the potential "poop chute" in question. SWish slope in green is what we skied.

[Blaster]

Turd Mountain 3/11/19

[dookeyXXX]

Ha, the only photo I snapped during the tour was of these mountain lion tracks...

But I pulled this off the interwebz...chute in red is the potential "poop chute" in question. SWish slope in green is what we skied.

Danke gracias.

I know the collective here is too cool and too core to ski The Star, but damn it was good yesterday. Slow start with some fresh dust on crust and some mild coral reef and death cookie action, but by 10:30 all the way through 3:30 it was mondo bueno.
Managed to ski The Lookout Trifecta: "Stampede", "Gooseneck", and "Boca", plus hit "Sticks & Stones" twice cuz it was so nice.
Easter Sunday and yesterday were two of my best resort days all season (keep in mind that I spend the bulk of my season yelling at (I mean coaching) groms to get out of a death wedge...).
But I digress, full on corn action the past few days and zero crowds have made for some sweet spring serenity on the slopes.

[TahoeJ]

I know the collective here is too cool and too core to ski The Star, but damn it was good yesterday..

I haven't been to Gnarstar in a few years but I will stand by my previous statement that Sugar Pine Glade on Lookout is some of the best tree skiing anywhere. That place is definitely fun on a storm day.

[splitter]

Danke gracias.

I know the collective here is too cool and too core to ski The Star, but damn it was good yesterday.

I’ve had a lot of fun spring skiing at N*.

Problem was it was a February pow day when I got there but it took a few melt-freeze cycles to get from parking, through the village, up the gondola to the lifts and then up the lift to the top of the hill.

Which is really strange since it’s so flat

[AKbruin]

Yep. Northstar can certainly be a fun place to ski. My complaint is that it seems like the worst resort in Tahoe for convenient skiing--popping in for just an hour or two of quick laps. With parking, shuttle, stupid village to walk through, gondola, etc. it seems like it takes an hour just to go from the car to downhill skiing.

[hercule33]

I haven't been to Gnarstar in a few years but I will stand by my previous statement that Sugar Pine Glade on Lookout is some of the best tree skiing anywhere. That place is definitely fun on a storm day.

I second that. With a cold storm Lookout delivers some of the best tree skiing in Tahoe. Particularly impressive is the sustained (relatively) steep vert that it offers.

[Ottime]

I'll ski there again if I can do so cheaply. My wife is a teacher so we ski the holidays and a KW Only pass is what we get. Wish Fail would add on two days to N* and Have early and late season so I could take the kid around.

I've skied there twice only in WROD season. If we have a cold start to winter with no precipitation, the star can lay mies of cord all over the hill and operate almost every high speed lift. It was a blast to put in a but of fast laps all over the place and see the mountain. It does look like it could be pretty sweet for dry and light snowfall events.

Even in November and early December I was shocked by the distance from my car to the bottom of a skiable lift. When I was getting out of my car I missed a shuttle and being a KW skier, began to panic I'd have to wait another half hour before the next shuttle arrive. I missed the one that came 4 minutes later, but go on to the next one that arrived even quicker. But the amount of stairs I recall climbing and the shopping mall I walked through, I can agree with AKBruin - not a place for quick laps.

OTOH Sunday I parked across from the snow ramp at Treeline at 8AM. At lunch I parked in front of the snow ramp at Far East at 12:30PM. A short walk to a lift and ski right back to my fender.

[emcee]

so like, how melted out are we taking in in the BC now? I've been kept away and have lost my pulse on it all. 0" April doesn't sound great on paper.

[dookeyXXX]

so like, how melted out are we taking in in the BC now? I've been kept away and have lost my pulse on it all. 0" April doesn't sound great on paper.

The low angle stuff adjacent to SB up on Donner Pass still looks good (just did a drive-by to confirm that tomorrow's objective was still holding snow and it looks bueno).

Silver Peak still looks nice.

Road up to Barker Pass is still closed, unless you got a horse-drawn sleigh or are down for a long slog.

Front side of Castle Peak is still holding, but has bare patches (methinks the stuff on the backside and Basin Peak are still decent).

I may do a beta swing to Mt Lola end of week and am waiting to hear from my ranger buddy in Johnsville on Eureka Peak condis.

Coworkers hit Moon Crescent up on RT last Thurs and the pix I saw looked solid. They remarked that Red Lake Peak was starting to look thin, though.

[dookeyXXX]

I’ve had a lot of fun spring skiing at N*.

Problem was it was a February pow day when I got there but it took a few melt-freeze cycles to get from parking, through the village, up the gondola to the lifts and then up the lift to the top of the hill.

Which is really strange since it’s so flat

Yep. Northstar can certainly be a fun place to ski. My complaint is that it seems like the worst resort in Tahoe for convenient skiing--popping in for just an hour or two of quick laps. With parking, shuttle, stupid village to walk through, gondola, etc. it seems like it takes an hour just to go from the car to downhill skiing.

Pro Tip:
Get there by 7 am, park in Lot C right by the Highlands Gondola.
Ski "Home Run" back to your car at the end of the day.
You're welcome.

[shakyknees]

A lot of south faces have burned out, but overall, the coverage in the bc is probably better than you're expecting, Emcee. We've been getting solid refreezes every night. The trick is finding S aspects that ended up with coverage after our weak snow season. I've been finding better coverage west of the crest. Today Hope Valley looked patchy, looks like it will burn out by the weekend.

[JPaul]

Front side of Castle Peak is still holding, but has bare patches (methinks the stuff on the backside and Basin Peak are still decent).

Can confirm Castle is holding surprisingly well. Taken yesterday on a SE aspect between 8200-8400' or so:



Can ski from here pretty much to the rest area w/similar coverage, but varying gloppiness.

MiniTR: Weren't expecting much, especially since there was no refreeze Sun PM, but the surprise 1/2" of new snow in the morning lubed the skintrack, and the all day winds kept the sun's effects at bay. Snow was still supportable when we left the bowl around 3. Easy skate back to the gate. Saw 5 people all day during our circuit, 3 of them at the trailhead as we were leaving.

Expect rest of this week to be better corn (actual freezing in fcast!), but much shorter window. Tomorrow looking pretty good for wind to keep window open longer...

[Ottime]

Pro Tip:
Get there by 7 am, park in Lot C right by the Highlands Gondola.
Ski "Home Run" back to your car at the end of the day.
You're welcome.

Ya lost be at "get there by 7am"

[TurxSki]

Ya lost me at "get there by 7am"

Word.
Might as well say "buy a condo there and no problem".
(Ok is a joke, right?)
Back in the day, it was not like this at NS. Could park, head up stairs. Boot up in season pass locker area, or wee grocery/snack/coffee shop.
About the only OG thing left is the pub by the bus stops.



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[emcee]

Thanks all for the coverage report. Glad she's keeping a bit decent but damn do I worry when we worry in early April. Fingers crossed for a few more inches here and there to delay the sun cups.

Sad about the south & east facing. Had big plans for Steven's peak next week but sounds like the crater is draining.

Also has big plans for the RT backboard but that is probably turning to grass.

Praying to the refreeze gods to keep it tight overnight for the next month. warm nights are such a waste.