Video: Celebrating the Sierra Snowmageddon at Squaw Valley
Squaw Valley is the kind of place where you'll be riding the chairlift and see not one, but a few bold individuals sending it huge before you reach the top. There's a good chance those audacious skiers or snowboarders aren't even pros—it was probably your bartender or barista.
That's just how it goes here, everyone wants to put on a show.
"There's a lot of airs, cliffs, and lines right where everyone can see, so it's the Hollywood of skiing," explained Trevor Semmens, who's called the resort home since he was two.
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Semmens and his crew scored all-time conditions this February after an atmospheric river graciously dumped seven feet of snow on the mountain. To their luck, the resort went bluebird the day before—meaning that the lifts would start spinning on time the next day.
When the team stepped off the Emigrant lift and headed to Granite Chief there wasn't a single soul around. This entire untracked bowl was their playground. "It was cool to have this moment of serenity on the top, to be followed with a bunch of powder," explained Xander Guldman, who skied with Semmens and Tyler Curle. The Tahoe local, despite having so many options to choose from in the Sierra Nevada, is dedicated to Squaw through and through.
"A lot of places have high-quality skiing, but at Squaw, you have a huge variety in the terrain. Plus, this place is just beautiful," Guldman said.
