[Quadzilla]

We toured above the Tahoe Meadows today off Chick a dee ridge and found pretty interesting snow conditions. The new snow must have come in heavy and with a lot of wind as there was a foot and in some places foot and a half of fairly thick snow over a very unconsolidated base. So breaking trail was a lot of falling thru the new pack and pretty tough going even so our skin track wasn't that aggressive. Uphill pole plants were weird as you would break thru and it felt hollow in the base layer. Wind was stout but not too bad in the trees and leeside of the ridge. We didn't decend or try a lap on the windward side as it was wind jacked and the decent on the leeside was doable but rocks everywhere and breaking thru the fresh layer to the stuff underneath was a treat and I got treated to two full on face plants Anyway, another day in the BC so putting some $$ in the bank. We drove down and looked at the trailhead to Incline Lake and it was very boney and driving by the Hourglas trailhead looked the same. I hope that the unconsolidated base was maybe only around where we were at but if it is in the steeper terrain like above Incline Lake or maybe the Hourglas bowls and we get a good snow tomorrow, there could be potential for a slide and there will be a lot of skiers pounding the Mt. Rose area off hwy 431 this weekend. So something to think about if you are going to try it. The area really needs atleast a couple of feet for good safe coverage.
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Just Say No To Groomed Snow

[Paul Lutes]

[SanFrantastico]

[bbense]

Well, the 'bowl on wednesday was definitely better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but was mostly pretty thin. There was definitely 2-3 feet in the places the wind always dumps it into the trees, but coverage was thin where the wind could get to it. I found a few rocks and stumps.

Best bet this weekend would be wherever your secret stash in the trees is, I would be really careful about anything that gets a lot of wind. It's
a pretty heavy consistent layer of snow over nothing but junk.... More
like Utah or CO than our usually safe after 3 days snowpack.

_ Booker C. Bense

[Baaahb]

...somebody please tell Paul my excursion has been delayed a day...

nice report, QZ. no turns here, but lots of sweat in the gym.

the steady rain turned to snow here around 5 am...but the weather channel still shows rain at SLT?????

looks like some good dumpage all around at elevation
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Other vegetables have a hard time competing with potatoes.

[Jenn]

Heavenly's posted an 'extreme weather event', and while it's made the roads in South Lake Tahoe a mess (who in their right mind would try to get a 2WD vehicle with no snow tires over a 14 inch snow median berm?), it bodes very nicely for this weekend.
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Cougar On!™

[bbense]

If the Sugar Bowl ski cams are to be believed, they got a lot of snow last night. When I left yesterday afternoon, there were still a lot of exposed rocks and trees that all seem to be buried now. Oh well,...

_ Booker C. Bense

[joesnow]

Heavenly was rockin' today! Easily over 1' on East Bowl, and 18"-24" in the Powderbowl trees - didn't exactly cover everthing up, but the first pow day of the year is under my belt! I'll get some pics up later. Hell yea!
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Viva La Nina

[Quadzilla]

Word is that the Chutes at Mt. Rose slide today naturally, not all of them but some of the steeper ones on the West end. I guess they slid all the way to the bottom so about 1,200vf and all the way down to the dirt. So, I would assume that the steeper aspects in the local BC would be suspect as well.
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Just Say No To Groomed Snow

[Sherpa 1]

Great first day of the year today at Sugar Bowl. They claim 24"-34" in 24 hours but that seems suspect. Hard to tell exactly because almost everything was quite wind affected. Coverage was pretty good but I suffered one very large core shot on the first run of the day. Still need one more good storm.

[seki]

I concur, Sherpa1. Fun day with good snow, although the Disney conditions seemed much thicker than Lincoln. Made a few runs with SCUTSKI in the afternoon, then bailed about 2:30 due to failing quads. Think I saw Mr. Lutes once, but never connected. Maybe see a few of you out there tomorrow, quads permitting?

[Dave (aka Banker)]

8-10 inches of windbuff up at Shasta Ski and Board yesterday with some nice shots in the trees. Still some snaggers poking up here and there. Few people with most lifts empty; fresh tracks each run. Serious thigh burn. Good start to the year.


Side Note:
Snow was very touchy with cracks whoomphing and some serious wind loading. Be careful out there in the BC!
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Whatever was just posted should be taken with a grain of salt, perhaps with a shot of tequila and a lime, and basically ignored in most regard.

[Paul Lutes]

[Kara]

Hey did anyone go to A.McLean last night? Was it fun???? I just got out of surgery so I couldn't go. Was it a good turnout? Who won the cat=skiing trip? Thanks for keepin me posted. It looks pretty outside.
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Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day.

[Quadzilla]

We decided to forgo the Heave today even so Stagecoach acess is open now and a much easier drive and park for us. Just too crowded skiing the groomers with the masses until after the holidays so we decided to get back up and tour a bit more and see how things might have improved since Wed. with the new snow and all. Doing a bit of gear testing too as I decided to use my T1's and see what the difference is skinning with O1's as compared to what I usually use which is T2's. Ive got some Verdicts/O1's on order and I know that they won't ski well with T2's so I need to step up and learn to deal with the extra heft climbing. Our plan was to look at Hourglas on the way up 431 and see if it looks fatter than Wed. and maybe ski that or plan "B" ski the "Pimple" off the summit of 431 down to Price Lake or plan "C" ski Chick a dee ridge again. Well we noticed right away that Prolotariate Bowl which is just to the west of Hourglas slid and that one hasn't slid in a long time. Not the whole bowl but big piece of it and went maybe 80% of the way down so 5-600vf. So we decided to bail on Hourglas for obvious reasons. Interestingly, on the way driving out a few hours later, skiers had still skied the remainder of that bowl right next to the slide. We drove up the summit and looked at plan"B" and the wind was howling from the East up the canyon from Price lake so we bailed on that too and did "C". Stopped and pretty cold at the trailhead like 8 degrees so we gearup quickly and were off skinning on 2' fresh over the heavier snow from Wed. and that snow made a nice base. No skin tracks so I was able to really test my T1's climbing and breaking trail and to be honest, with the O1's they didn't feel any heavier than my T2's and I had used my T2's on Wed. with the same skis setup. We had stepped up our packs too with all our safety gear that we hadn't been carrying because it was not needed low angling so there was added resistance. Anyway, at the top we found great redeposited snow on the West face going down toward Incline and did two strong laps on windbuff 20-25 degree slopes and some fun lower angle tree skiing back to the car. a Nice three hour tour, as far as pics, we took some but on low angle more like portraits than skiing but I will post a couple. We still need a lot more snow to open up the BC around here.

Nice View


Low angle fun

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Just Say No To Groomed Snow