Tahoe 3/24 - 4/2

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I'll be doing the Heavenly-Northstar-Kirkwood thing. Anybody else?

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Two long days of driving, 970 miles covered, 22 gallons of gas, 1 speeding ticket, and I'm in Tahoe. Last night was spent in Eureka, NV, one of the few towns on US 50. Eureka is being broken out of its sleepyness by a new Moly mine in the hills north of town. If it really starts producing ore, it could radically change the town with many jobs and lots of money.

Today there was a 4-hour remaining drive from Eureka to Heavenly. I got up here just after noon, so I had some lunch then went to ride the latter part of the afternoon. It is sunny, warm, and very spring-y. Down at the Stagecoach Base there is lots of slush and melt. I make my way up to the second set of lifts right when the Comet lift breaks down. The crowds cram onto the Dipper lift. The Big Dipper run is full of people, so I head down the Galaxy Trail in search of a refuge. Galaxy is great. Few people are on it because they don't like the slow lift. Everything on the hill has been softened by the sun, but it isn't slush except at the lowest elevations. I make a number of laps down Galaxy before it is closed at 3:30 and I head for the exits.

View of the lake from the top of Dipper, looking down on the top terminal of the broken Comet lift.

The view up the old Galaxy double.

The nice Galaxy trail from the Galaxy lift.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I haven't decided where I'm going to ride tomorrow. No new is in the immediate forecast and temps may not go below freezing overnight. I only brought two boards: Mr. Flaccid the Skwal is the primary ride, with a 4WD as backup if things get really soft. As long as it isn't icy, the best riding is sure to be from the first chair.

Mr. Flaccid snuggles up to a Bomber bag with my 4WD 159.

The Nevada side of Heavenly as viewed from my digs.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Too tired and lazy to drive any distance, I went back to Heavenly at the 9AM Monday morning open. Up Stagecoach and Dipper, down the California Trail, up the Sky Lift to hit High Five which was one of the Groomer's Picks. High Five and Ridge Run are higher up and seem to melt less. Except for a tiny bit of crushed cookieness they were working well. I stayed on High Five until 10:30 when it got annoyingly crowded with people skiing beyond their ability to not hit me.

Back to the Nevada side and I make my way down Big Dipper with tons of people. Up the unreliable Comet lift which was still having issues. The Comet run feels like crushed ice. It still carves well, but doesn't have a nice feel. Cat-track out to Olympic and back down to Stagecoach. Done for today. I saw at least one other hardbooter, but know not who they were.

Ridge Run from Canyon Express Lift.

[Gcarve]

annoyingly crowded with people skiing beyond their ability to not hit me.

Great discription of what we carvers often face. Thanks for the great pics and description of your trip. I haven't been up to Heavenly in years.

[Cuban Carving Gooding]

The snow on Olympic holds up well. Skiers right on stagecoach is great when you time it right. Less people just get on it before it gets soft.

You might see a carver on the weekends (he's not on the forum) his name is Paul.

Is this your spring break trip?

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

The snow on Olympic holds up well. Skiers right on stagecoach is great when you time it right. Less people just get on it before it gets soft.

You might see a carver on the weekends (he's not on the forum) his name is Paul.

Is this your spring break trip?

Kind of. This is my "Get away from Colorado's spring break" spring break trip. Right now it seems like the big challenge in picking a run is avoiding the thaw-freeze iciness. Higher is generally better, but if the entire mountain has thawed then frozen, it can make early morning riding less pleasant. Depending on the breaks, I might have to start going later after things have softened up a bit.

This morning I drove to Northstar to get a day in up there. From Heavenly it is a mere 25 air miles, but 38 road miles and nearly an hour's drive because of the windy roads and slower speeds. Quite frankly, it is inconvenient. Northstar had plenty of freezing going on with all kinds of conditions at open. Some spots were soft, others icy, but the overriding condition was one of crunchy, gristly crushed ice with softer stuff on top. The apex of every carve sliced down into crunchy layer, making for a weird feel.

The Drifter run on the back side from the Zephyr Lodge was pretty thin with a couple of bare spots and grass coming up through the groom. The best riding was from the top of the Comstock lift. I mostly looped down the West Ridge and took Axe Handle or Luggi's.

The old, slightly clunky gondola with tiny cars.

Upper Grouse Alley from Comstock. Too steep for me today.

I think this is Corridor, from Comstock.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Axe Handle from Below

Axe Handle from Above

[Randy T.]

It's possible that a few of us will be at Kirkwood on Friday. Mt. Rose is my home base but depending on what this storm does we will probably be going to Kirkwood.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

It's possible that a few of us will be at Kirkwood on Friday. Mt. Rose is my home base but depending on what this storm does we will probably be going to Kirkwood.

I went to Kirkwood this morning and had a great time. I could go again on Friday if the weather is ok. So today I got first chair and headed straight for the back side on a couple of Kirkwood's super old clunko lifts. When I came here last year the back was closed due to high winds so I never got to ride it. This time around I was greatly rewarded. I got on Sunrise lift 4 and went up to be greeted by the huge expanse of the Elevator Shaft run. This thing is wide, smooth, straight, and of a nice challenging intermediate pitch. Big fun. Snow conditions were near excellent, firm with no cookies, crushed or otherwise. I looped it 6 or 7 times before going to the front side. Whiskey Slide was ok, but Low Whiskey was getting thin. After taking a short break I made a couple of trips up the Solitude lift to carve down Lower Zachary. It was around 11:15 and the snow near the base area was getting pretty soft. I was already burned out tired so I bugged out.

Elevator Shaft from the Sunrise lift.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Good memories brought back! Yes, that is a great carving run, gets the sun early if I recall?

Thanks for the photos and continuing updates Art.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I suppose that it must be on the morning side of the hill, given that the lift is called "Sunrise", but I don't know what direction is which. Today I went to nearby Heavenly at open. 2nd chair on Stagecoach, first chair on Dipper. A little colder than previous days, snowing lightly with the top half of the hill in clouds. I got over to the CA side and went up Canyon Express. At the top of High Five it is completely socked in. Two skiers seem to recognize me and ask if I was at Kirkwood yesterday. Apparently they saw me carving there. The cloud deck lightens up about halfway down the run. The snow is good but not great; it's a little glazed on top. I do a few loops here then go back to the NV side which is mostly below the clouds. Down Big Dipper which is ok up high, but crushed cookieish down near the lifts. Over to Olympic which was pretty darn firm and fast but not crunchy. Off the hill at 10:30, an abbreviated day. All kinds of weather is blowing through.

[Randy T.]

We are going to stay at Mt. Rose tomorrow because of the weather. Kirkwood might be getting rain right now and Rose is 8200' at the base so they are normally above the rain line.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Yesterday and overnight saw all kinds of weather, including a little rain at my 7400' condo. Up on the hill, however, I think it was nearly all snow. Heavenly reports 3" of new, so I'll stay local today to see how it is. I get to the Stagecoach parking lot at 8:30 and it is filling up fast. At the lodge one of the ticket booth guys says that there is some kind of freestyle event taking place all weekend on the CA side. I think they are using those steep runs just above the CA lodge, and I was told that they are trying to make snow there because the spring conditions aren't good that low.

So I decide to just stay on the Nevada side this morning. From the top of Dipper I make two runs each down Orion and Big Dipper, also making one run down Galaxy. Conditions are pretty darn not bad. The small amount of new helped. The groom feels a little new-chunky with the glazed hardpack below, but at least high up it is mostly consistent. Down lower like on Galaxy and Stagecoach the sunny areas were rapidly softening while the shaded areas were almost icy.

One hint for people on Big Dipper is to stay right where the trail cuts over to Orion. Almost everybody takes this route on the way back to the lifts, but there are two Dipper return trails below the top terminal of the Galaxy lift. Few people take this right-side route, and there is some decent uncrowded cruising there.

Today I saw glidergirl.com soaring above Heavenly. It didn't look like she was getting any thermals or good ridge lift, however.

Mid-Orion from Dipper

Upper Orion from Dipper

Yet another view of the lake, today filled with fog, from the top of Dipper

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Saturday morning at Heavenly. I arrive at Stagecoach stupid early to make sure I get a good parking spot. Because I want to avoid the weekend crowds, my strategy is to head directly for Olympic and just loop it until I burn out, avoiding the busier runs. This worked out fine, as the snow was firm, fast, smooth and consistent. Only in the shadows was it a little too firmy-firm.

The day was great until on the way out on lower Stagecoach, right in the middle of the run between towers 12 and 13, I hit a rock. It was the top of a hunk of granite that was fortunately smooth, like an inverted frying pan. I had carved right over the thing. There was no base damage, but a 1-foot section of one edge was dulled out pretty good. More insult and injury for Mr. Flaccid. I went down to the lodge to make sure that ski patrol went up and marked it, and talked my way into getting a free tune at the shop. I wonder if the tune will cause more damage than the rock? On the bright side, the customer service manager at Stagecoach has a serious Mila Kunis thing going on, and the manager of the shop might have a Minnie Driver thing happening. Mr. Flaccid is in good hands, I hope, as nobody had ever seen a Skwal before.

A couple of views looking up Olympic from the Olympic chair

Looking down Olympic, the Carson Valley in the background

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

For reference purposes. So you don't have to .

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Minnie Driver maybe, perhaps even probably, but what guy needs a reference photo of Mila Kunis? In the Minnie case, I had the Grosse Point Blank curly hair in mind. Everybody should watch GPB.

Heavenly Sunday was completely socked in with clouds and snow in the morning, so I stayed in. Around noon I went up during some sun breaks. and farted around the Nevada side. Noontime conditions were pretty good, with the snow slightly softened up. But down low it was a melt-o-rama. The lower part of Stagecoach was a mine field of brown spots with exposed rocks. The rock I hit was just sitting there like a manhole cover. Apparently there is no policy of marking these hazards or giving any warning whatsoever. After closing the clouds came in again and produced 2" of new overnight.

So on Monday morning I went up at open. Big Dipper is the groomer's choice on the Nevada side, but from the lift I can tell that it was groomed early and had 2" or more of new on top. Orion had been groomed later with no new on top, so I went that way. It was pretty good, but the uphill side of the run was pretty soft because the wind collects the snow on that side. The top of the hill is in clouds today, and it is a little cold and windy. After a couple of Orion runs I did one on Comet then went down to Olympic in time to see red-jacket softboot guy making some good turns. Olympic was pretty good, firmer without soft spots.

I'll do a few turns at open on Tuesday morning before I hit the road in the direction of Targhee.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

Tuesday morning Heavenly at open was pretty good. Orion and Olympic were firm, tight and fast on a beautiful sunny morning. Nice. I only did a few runs so I could get on the road and drive down I-80 for hours and hours and hours.

[davekempmeister]

how many days now (season), e the f ? thanks for refreshing the memory. kirkwood is special.

[ExcelsiorTheFathead]

I think the next day is 164, but the data needs a good scrubbing.

[Dan]

Hey NoCal folks, your northern neighbors on Mt. Hood are trying to put together a small session to cap off the 2013 season. See details here: <a href="http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?39976-2013-Last-Licks-at-Timberline-Mt-Hood-May-18-21">http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?39976-2013-Last-Licks-at-Timberline-Mt-Hood-May-18-21</a> Hope some of you can make it!