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Also, mad props to Alpine Ski Patrol.
2nd hand info: there was a serious skier/boarder injury at Alpine on Saturday afternoon that required rescue and air transport to Reno. Word I got was midline femur fracture - serious business.
A few things we can all take home:
1) It's early season, no need to push things beyond reason. I'll admit I stared at some rock band rollovers ... but better judgement is to not commit my partners to saving my ass if I get messed up doing something stupid.
2) Wilderness first aid training is a gooood thing to have. If ski patrol had not been onsite doing training, I don't know what resources would have been available for rescue. Could you imagine how many more hours it would have taken had the rescue been handled only by Placer County (not knocking them, just saying it's not like they have sleds at the bottom of the hill ready to go) ... combine that with a serious injury where you have internal bleeding, high chance for circulatory shock, hypothermia, and an extraction from 2 feet of fresh pow high up on a mountain ... even some basic training could buy a lot of time and be the difference maker
3) Hiking in a ski resort before it's open for business is "backcountry!" Respect it as such!
bummer. vibes to the guy/girl/victim. I was thinking it was lucky we didn't have any injuries given the huge numbers that were out at the resorts. There were 22 cars at the bottom of 6 when we got down today with other lots just as full. easily 50 cars there with people hiking to ride.
SATURDAY - Saturday was a tough day for pictures, as it was cold, snowing and grey most of the day. Enginerd, Schralph, myself and a few others mostly stuck to Alpine Bowl and over by Keyhole as we were slowly testing out the coverage. I don't have many shots from Saturday. Pretty efficient skinning as the groomed green runs and CAT tracks offered quick access to the summit.
Mike working through some of the soft stuff.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-Mt5t...-Mt5tfmb-L.jpg
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-gJBn...-gJBnn8R-L.jpg
Schralph on a rollover.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-7sp4...-7sp4Q9b-L.jpg
Enginerd finding some good stuff in a steeper line.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-Mm5G...Mm5GrBm-XL.jpg
Enginerd basically summing up Saturday.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-qtt8...qtt8DMj-XL.jpg
SUNDAY - Sunday was an amazing day. It stayed very cold over night and the shaded stuff was still very light and dry. After Saturday, I was feeling a lot better about coverage. Mike and I split off and skinned up to summit chair and then out towards Beaver to look for some steeper lines that had sufficient coverage. We dug some pits out there and there was virtually no windslabs (I would note that the winds had shifted overnight, but the N-E aspects didn't really appear windstripped either). Basically nice, consolidated snowpack with good coverage up high.
On the skin up, a shot of High Yellow Face.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-KbcC...KbcCVqW-XL.jpg
Panorama from the backside of Wolverine looking West.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-JSN3...JSN3nJ5-X3.jpg
Mike on the summit of Beaver, checking out our first line.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-dmWr...-dmWrgcH-L.jpg
We first dropped into the first chute off Beaver - it had 3 other tracks in it from the day prior. Great snow.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-9p9k...9p9kT9x-XL.jpg
Down lower. We stopped in the sun line at the saddle.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-f3n8...f3n8wpX-XL.jpg
We got to the bottom and noticed another chute that had good coverage and no tracks in it. Tough to explain from this vantage, but it was off to the right.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-f4Tq...-f4Tq8g2-L.jpg
Rather than heading over to Wolverine, we just broke a new skin track up the ridge line of trees between Beaver and Estelle. It was pretty sunny and getting gloppy on that aspect (more S-facing), but no stability issues.
Mike on the last push up to the top again.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-vVDW...-vVDWhGr-L.jpg
There are three obvious spins from the shooters vantage looking out. We skied in-between the first and second spine - untouched top to bottom.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-pNTJ...-pNTJGpz-L.jpg
Mike dropping in up top, getting ready to get into the chute. Snow was great.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-8LrK...8LrKh2C-XL.jpg
My favorite run of the weekend. Deep, soft and stable. I still can't believe we are talking mid-November.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-m5ph...-m5phdvF-L.jpg
On the apron below.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-q4hq...-q4hqRtq-L.jpg
Looking up the line - our tracks are the middle. You can see our entrance above to the left of the spine/rock. Then we hung close to the wall of the spine (which was fun to ski up on), but you can't see those as they are hidden behind the rock. You can pick up our tracks coming out of the bottom (I cut over to the sun a little sooner than Mike, who cut lower).
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-zZtQ...zZtQQnk-XL.jpg
Great day.
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-QwkC...-QwkCNN6-L.jpg
IMPORTANT: I think most people basically hung towards Alpine Bowl, Wolverine and Keyhole areas, as there were not a lot of tracks out on the Western bowls. However, I would note that below the mid-mountain saddles (e.g., from the location where the above photo was taken), the lower exits out of Beaver/Estelle are heinous. While the coverage up top is great, down low that stuff is directly East facing and getting hammered by the sun. Definitely watch out skiing out as there are a lot of rocks down low - survival skiing to get out. You are probably better served skinning back from that spot to Wolverine bowl (keeping up high), and then just go down the groomer.
i peeled off the middle strip on some bd skins after some skin issues and they are good to go now. wonderful innovation
Funny, I was debating doing the same thing last night.Quote:
Originally Posted by gimpy
Truth, and Squaw/Alpine silver+ passes are good at Sierra. There will also be an upgrade option for Sierra passholders. Pretty exciting news, looking forward to exploring Sierra a bit this winter.Quote:
Originally Posted by powdork
Great pics. AM looks amazing for early November.
Let me know when your around. I got a sierra pass this year & will be doing plenty of side-country back to christmas valley.Quote:
Originally Posted by thefrush
Sent from my DROID4 using TGR Forums
I haven't quite resorted to that on my BD skins yet (both of my sets are relatively new) but yeah the stupidest thing about the middle strip is that it has completely different elongation and stretch characteristics from the actual skin itself. It gets really annoying really fast, when the strip is way shorter than the skin (because the skin is warm/wet) and creating all these weird crease points etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by gimpy
G3 never had a strip, and ... never had a problem :)
(except G3 Alpinist skins don't bite nearly as well on steep firm snow as BD)
Rare to see a shot like this with Caples Lake unfrozen....
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1352697123
lots more pictures and words from the weekend
winter storm brutus – weather channel product in review
This weekend totally surpassed my expectations. Skied with sierraskier at Alpine both days. This is will probably surprise no one, but Jakes wasn't ready. That whole area appears to have gotten half the snow of the northern end of the lake. Also, I don't know anything about Alpine, but it's a fun resort in which to skin.
Anyhow, it was kind of like this on every run.
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j...25281%2529.jpg
Great shots all!
Powdork, I like this one from your link, I see you have taught Nacho new commands over over the summer, like Fetch.
http://www.aboutlaketahoe.com/images...rkwood-031.jpg
Flogging myself for being lazy and making excuses not to make the drive. Way to slay it. I hate you all.
I haven't decided if I hate you (because I couldn't go) or if I love you for bringing the stoke. (Because I couldn't go...) Either way, I think this page if funkn fantastic! Almost as much stoke as we had all last season... :rolleyes:
Sufficiently stoked and ready to get onto and into some snow. Thanks guys.
Just saw that Squaw says they've moved their opening up to Nov 16 with FirstVenture, Searchlight, Red Dog, and Squaw Creek.
kirkwood also just announced the 16th
I missed this above, but entirely agree. Just based on general observations from the past two days, there seems to be a sense of complacency among quite a few folks when touring at a closed resort. While the resort feels "familar", it is complex, uncontrolled avalanche terrain at this point.Quote:
Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio
[EDIT: While AM was very crowded with many different users, I can say that absolutely EVERYONE I met or spoke with was in extremely good spirits and working with each other to avoid skiing on top of other groups, being courteous to each other, avoiding the grooming operations, etc.. It is always a great day when depsite the number of people, everyone co-recreates in good fashion without incident. Just a good group of skiers, boarders, staff, snowshoers, etc... out there all around this weekend. Props.]
http://www.skilaketahoe.com/blog/ope...-opening-dates - nice!
2012/13 Ski Lake Tahoe Resort Opening Dates
Alpine Meadows: December 2
Heavenly: JUST ANNOUNCED - November 14
Kirkwood: JUST ANNOUNCED - November 16
Mt. Rose – Ski Tahoe: November 21 (tentative)
Northstar California: JUST ANNOUNCED - November 14
Sierra-at-Tahoe: To be announced soon!
Squaw Valley: JUST ANNOUNCED - November 16
1st hand info-ish: my buddy i was skiing with this weekend received a call from his roommate. his roommate was in Reno at the hospital with the injured. the injured (i believe it was a female) fell at hit her head and is an a coma in ICU. She was wearing a helmet. Be careful out there. VIBES!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by SchralphMacchio
Sugar bowl delivered on Sunday.
Dang D, I'm really sorry to hear that. Positive vibes going her way.
Hope who ever got hurt is okay and resting well.
Heard sugar bowl was on point Sunday though. Great pics from the weekend.
Squaw opening thursday....
Then seems like another big dump next week. 3" of liquid from NOAA LT forecast.
Moved up from Friday?Quote:
Originally Posted by Wickedbrew4u