[steeleman]

Saturday = incredible, but everyone and their sister was there and lines were long.

Sunday = even better than saturday. sleeper storm day. minimal lines and free refills all day with constant snowfall and just windy enough to move snow but not so much to ruin yer day. skiing got better as the day progressed. last two runs were bluebird in a sucker hole.

Monday = heh heh heh. sorry if you weren't there.

[Eric O]

Awesome, TahoeBC!

Yesterday I made it out to Janine's Ridge and skied a ramp down to Azure Lake. Had a couple of impromptu partners I ran into a Eagle Lake along the way, Chad and Allison from King's Beach.

The powder was magnificent, deep. Later on, returning via Maggie's Peaks, it remained as light if you kept to north facing slopes and areas that didn't get sun over the day. But everything sunny and east facing crusted up already.

Emerald Bay did not open; we hiked that extra mile in both directions to get the goods.

[hdiddy]

[thornton]

[Eric O]

Don't get me wrong, thornton, I like going deep, but I also like rising at least halfway to the surface between turns too! Porpoise vs. submarine, I guess.

[agtucker]

[thornton]

[dark energy!]

Yes, the high gate to Crow's Nest was open on Saturday. There was evidence of bombing of the ridge/cornice area just to the west and below the crow's summit.

Further out to the west, we saw a very large and impressive slide. Best description of the location is if you descend west from Crow's Nest on the ridge towards Rowton/Serene Lakes, the ridge levels off just after crossing the top point of a slight gully/drainage. At that point, dropping to the north (towards Old 40/same aspect as Strawberry Fields) there is a meadow that rolls over below tree line into a steep open bowl. I have been skiing in this area for over 10 years, and am always leery and avoid the bowl itself as it is at least 35+ degrees to 45 degrees. Never seen a slide here before, but not surprised as it is not only steep, but it gets wind loading out of the meadow above. While we always stay to the far skier's right, I have occasionally (not this year though) seen tracks center punching the bowl as it is pretty close to SB. A skier from SB would, w/o skins, have a difficult but not impossible hike back to the area from here.

Didn't go too close to inspect, but our guess from looking at it from below, was the fracture was probably 400 yds across or the entirety of the bowl, crown was from 5 to 8 feet, and the staunch wall (at least on the skiers' right that we could see) was also of similar depth. It ran approx. 350 vt. feet, and well through the trees and across a bench which I would have previously described as a safe area. Didn't inspect the bed surface, but this will be a great candidate for a repeater, now.

Further to the skiers' right (and on a slight ridge up from the other side of a gully) about 120 yards to the right of the staunch wall, there were sympathetic cracks on the snow surface very similar to the photos which SAC posted on the 3.16 or 3.17 Silver Peak slides. Guess is that the slide ran either late Friday night or early Sat. morning as there was a slight dusting of snow on the debris, and this was before it started to snow again late afternoon/early evening on the 17th.

We were out there at about 4:30 p.m., and experienced no collapsing, whomping, cracks or sloughing. We saw no other tracks going further out from SB, so we did not perform any type of hasty beacon search. We really couldn't see the meadow or roll-over from below, though, for tracks. Didn't measure the depth of the debris, as we didn't want to hang out too long as the crown and staunch wall up through the trees looked menacing.

I have some fair phone photos, but not sure how to post.

[B]

Crusts formed on southerly aspects yesterday evening, but north facing slopes were still holding pole-swallowingly deep pow. Spent some time at the resort too over an extended weekend and experienced three consecutive best-conditions-of-the-year days on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Snow hidden beneath trees on N to E aspects should be good for a while despite the warm up.

[seki]

[Big Tim]

[soulskier]

It was raining and beat to the top of Squaw today. So much for yesterday's blower pow.

[mr. toad]

Got woken up all night from snow bombs falling onto the roof from the trees. Mustered enough energy to get out for a lap but decided a storm like that shouldn't end with stem christy turns on spackle. Unplowed driveway was already melting off when I got back. But it was so good. Time to let my body recover, do some laundry and eat something other than pb&j all day. At least I don't have to plow the driveway.

[bergbryce]

Drive/lawn should be clear by this time tomorrow. 60 degrees here we come

[Eric O]

On Monday I had the pleasure of accidentally meeting up with Chad Wiles and Allison Ansley as I toured up Eagle Creek on the way into Desolation.

The outlook has improved quite a bit thanks to this storm system!



Obligatory Tallac beta pic from Janine's


And all of this looking as good as ever:


We didn't ski the steepest stuff because most of it had partially slid with a lot of hangfire left over. One of these big ramps was just right:


Allison above Azure Lake:


Click here for a huge pano view of our descent from Janine's to Azure, if your screen is big. Then zoom in on it!

And I never get tired of this shot:


Finally, FYI this is getting there but isn't exactly deluxe yet:

_________________
Eight miles high, and when you touch down
You'll find that it's stranger than known