Squaw Valley Opens the earliest in Years

Last Sunday the 15th of November I strapped in for my first run of the season, since then (as I feared) I haven't been able to stop. I had tried to hold off as long as I could knowing that once I start, snowboarding dominates my life. First day was a backcountry day with dust on crust. Short runs with limited coverage was fun and it was a good warm up to a season that I know will be filled with miles and miles of hiking, skinning, and busting ass to get up and down lines. Miraculously with the low tide I managed to come away scott free without a scratch.

Fake snow built up to a reasonable level kept my board in its pristine unscarred condition all week, but when Squaw Valley opened on Saturday the 21st that all changed. The day before a storm had come in fast and hard depositing around a foot of snow in about 9 hours. I don't think Squaw had been making much manmade snow and with only the foot or so on dirt no amount of grooming was going to keep the rocks covered  for a whole day of hard riding.

My first two runs  were fun fast and there was even some decent powder to be had. After that the tide was on the ebb. Each run a halfdozen more rocks peaked out from each corner of the run, and as the day wore on they became unavoidable. My board felt the wrath.

Deep Storm Shot

I can't complain though, riding Squaw 10 days earlier than I ever have before was awesome, especially since it didn't open full time until the 13th of December last year. This time of year is a bonus, anything is better than nothing.