California/Nevada 2017-18 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups Thread....

[oldfashoned]

Conditions a little challenging at Squaw. All the chop is firm. Some goods still to be had. Best so far is under Granite Cheif peak and Solitude.., or maybe I'm just getting better at it

 

[oldfashoned]

 

[Eric267]

Conditions a little challenging at Squaw. All the chop is firm. Some goods still to be had. Best so far is under Granite Cheif peak and Solitude.., or maybe I'm just getting better at it

Sticky mess on south face over here at alpine. Still some chalky goodness left in promised land and gentlian.

 

[skibob]

Since you haven't been in 2 decades you haven't been since lookout mountain opened. 425 acres of mostly trees and a few nice bump runs (gooseneck, stampede, Boca) Would recommend since you have an epic pass. N* gets a bad rap since the frontside is a flat mess but lookout (and backside to some extent) has the goods. Now that it's 100% open (as of Saturday) its a good time to check it out.

I'm pretty much always there on storm days since squalpine dosent really spin lifts anymore. If you make it up and want a guide hit me up and I will show you the goods. I'm always down to show people that there is some really good terrain at N* you just have to know where it is!

One caveat: Looks like N* is in the "we didn't have enough staff to begin with and now we have sent home most of our south american help" mode now. Yesterday no lookout link, no Rendezvous. No maze master most of the time at other lifts as well.

 

[Eric267]

Eric, have Northstar groomers the last few years when there has been an adequate base been leaving alone The Rapids, letting it bump up? Because of the modest slope gradient, was years ago, one of the least difficult long bump runs for someone with good technique and fitness to run top to bottom. I did ski the Lookout slopes a single run one year with a work group trip but conditions were firm. Nice slope after lower elevation cold storms much like Red Dog. On low elevation cold snow powder days loved the long long treed slopes on the backside but noticed on that last trip they had since pruned away denser trees.

in the woods,
Dave

On the backside the rapids and promised land are almost never groomed. The trees between prom land and castle peak into PL gully are allot like Olympic at the heav.



From your past posts I understand you like bumps and tight trees. For tight trees lookout glades all the way out to the boundary are a go to. There's actually a cut traverse trail at the bottom not on the map.

Boca, gooseneck, stampede are never groomed but take a lot of coverage to fill in the rocks, bushes, and trees. My go to bump runs. Just got good to go with this last storm. Prosser hasn't been groomed this year but even when it is one of the best high angle groomers in the north lake.

Sugar pine has some really nice zipper lines through nicely glades trees. White rabbit has some gates that drop you from lookout to the backside. Fun and wide open but not really lapable without a ton of effort. The camp glade is a lot like powderbowl in grade (high level intermediate)

 

[luliski]

One caveat: Looks like N* is in the "we didn't have enough staff to begin with and now we have sent home most of our south american help" mode now. Yesterday no lookout link, no Rendezvous. No maze master most of the time at other lifts as well.

The last time I was there March 7), one of their employees riding lift with us told us the poma to lookout wasn't running because of understaffing.

 

[skibob]

The last time I was there March 7), one of their employees riding lift with us told us the poma to lookout wasn't running because of understaffing.

Its been a bigger and bigger problem every year for at least 4 years running. And yet they still advertise jobs for $15/hr and shrug when nobody applies. I've had to raise wages for unskilled labor by more than 30% in the last 5 years. Its just what smart business [cough, cough] does to remain competitive.

 

[The Dad]

Lift was closed so that emergency personnel/patrol could respond to an immersion accident. 2 individuals - I don't know if they were "buddies" with terrible luck or skiing solo. Neither were breathing when pulled out.

Jesus, that's terrible. Hoping that no further news is good news.

 

[oldfashoned]

Afternoon Squaw update: so I talked with some Squaw regulars and found the goods. Some run called Toms Tumble. Olympic lady lift line(or something like that. And the winner today was West Face(I think, behind the patrol shack). Over there it’s still winter! The other runs were very good also. Next time I will start with those, and not after my legs were almost gone!!
Commute no issues today. 2:50 starting at 5:50am and 3:05 back to the east bay Hobbit hole. Just over an 11 hour cycle.

 

[JayT]

Here's some footage from last Friday / Saturday at Northstar / Squaw. Plus one of my two Summit laps at Alpine Sunday morning before I had to take off. Damn GoPro battery keeps bricking on me so missed a lot of my best runs at Squaw unfortunately. What a couple of days...

 

[Eleeski]

Thanks, @oldfashoned . West Face was a good call for us today. Despite a temperature above freezing, it was snowing on us. Visibility wasn't great but next to the West Face trees I could see the bumps pretty well. Didn't help much - I'm pretty rusty at big steep bumps. Those were big steep bumps! Nice snow made them possible.

It only took a couple runs to tire me out. Couple that with the visibility dropping and the big wet snowflakes and it was a short day for us. Maybe a tactical error. It's raining now. We'll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Eric

 

[Jenny]

So, quick question . . . We're supposed to be driving from Mammoth to Squaw on Thursday. Is this storm that's supposed to hit here going to hit Squaw, too? If we can leave here, will we be able to get into there?

 

[Tony]

So, quick question . . . We're supposed to be driving from Mammoth to Squaw on Thursday. Is this storm that's supposed to hit here going to hit Squaw, too? If we can leave here, will we be able to get into there?

The short answers are YES and YES, although doing the driving early would be best . The good news for driving is that snow levels will start high so you should not get much snow on 395 and should be able to get there. The bad news is that "Winds may gust to 90+ mph on the mountain tops Thursday." See http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe for some details.

 

[Jenny]

Ok, leave early, duly noted. Thanks for the info and link.

 

[Mendieta]

The short answers are YES and YES, although doing the driving early would be best . The good news for driving is that snow levels will start high so you should not get much snow on 395 and should be able to get there. The bad news is that "Winds may gust to 90+ mph on the mountain tops Thursday." See http://opensnow.com/dailysnow/tahoe for some details.

To elaborate a little more, for @Jenny : there will very likely be chain controls active. This is why very early or very late works best: it helps you drive at a time there are few cars on the road, and the delays are more tolerable, Rush hour delays can be of about four hours, just to go through the stupid control. Also, roads will get tricky unless you have 4wds, AWD or, well, chains Best luck!

http://www.dot.ca.gov/cttravel/chain-controls.html

 

[Jenny]

Well, we do have 4wd, so there's that. All part of the adventure, I guess.

Tricia and Phil already told us to go up to 80 and come at it from the north.

 

[Eric267]

Well, we do have 4wd, so there's that. All part of the adventure, I guess.

Tricia and Phil already told us to go up to 80 and come at it from the north.

I would second that (80) especially if snow levels are low. If you've never driven around here east shore and rose are both fairly intimidating when it's snowing. Then when you get to Incline it could be an 1+ hour to squaw around the north lake. Try not to hit the spaghetti bowl at rush hour and should be smooth sailing until the ag checkpoint.

IN&OUT off 395 in either Carson or
S Reno a must while on the west coast!

 

[John Webb]

So, quick question . . . We're supposed to be driving from Mammoth to Squaw on Thursday. Is this storm that's supposed to hit here going to hit Squaw, too? If we can leave here, will we be able to get into there?

395 is usualy not bad but the pass between Lee Vining and Bridgeport can be 4x4 or chains frequently.

 

[SSSdave]

According to this forecast at this weather site:
https://www.windy.com/39.101/-119.910?800h,39.132,-119.891,11

Conditions atop Spooner Summit on US50 between Carson City and Incline Village at Lake Tahoe, will be marginally above freezing even at late afternoon on Thursday. Of course what actually occurs may vary and just being a bit cooler than forecast may mean some areas of slush. The other location of some concern would be Conway Summit at elevation 8k on US395 between Mono Lake and Bridgeport. Again that shows a similar late afternoon temperature just above freezing. Generally dark road surfaces during day time hours tend to be a bit warmer than air temperatures thus melt falling snow at air freezing point 32F temperatures until air temperatures lower somewhat. Thus unlike the cold storms last week, road surfaces are more likely not to be as treacherous as last week and chains may not even be required until the wee hours of Friday morning during which a colder pool of air will move over the region.

 

[raytseng]

For this weekday Thursday storm, it's a little tough to call the optimal window.
The storm is heaviest during the day Thursday, and is showing as calming at Night, but visibility and ice-over is much more likely once night sets in; so these two somewhat cancel out in my book.
Weekend Warrior ski traffic is less of an issue because it's Thurs not Friday, so it's just traditional rush hour.
I'd still vote for daytime or to arrive earlier, just so you can stop or look around Reno or Truckee as you like.
Another option, if you haven't seen the lake, you could also cut over to the lake via Kingsbury (207) or 50, to go around the lake and stop at various scenic pullouts around sunset for some views (the aspect as you get close to Incline Village is amazing). Even if it's raining it's spectacular.