Now in the Tahoe area...

[kb1dqh]

Hey all,

I've left Jackson and am now in the Santa Clara area of Cali. Not quite Jackson, but so far so good. I'm a new proud owner of a Subaru and will be at Squaw this weekend I think. I'd love to hook up with any maggots there... Seems to be quite the contingent in this part of the world. Pray for snow, -kb

[mc_roon]

most certainly going to be at Squaw on Sunday, possibly on Saturday as well.

[The Dad]

Welcome, indeed. You're getting here just in time for the spring and season pass specials (not to mention the best conditions in the recent past). Alpine's spring pass starts Monday -- $99 gets you a full pass through close, and if I recall correctly, you can apply it against next year's pass too. I think Squaw and others do similar deals, although they might just target passholders at competing areas.

[Huckwheat]

Welcome to CA...I will be at Squaw one day....dont know which yet.

Do you have your Friday night drive strategy yet.....strategy is key!

[kb1dqh]

Hmmm... no Friday night strategy yet... does it clear if I head up by 7:30pm? Not working this week so I can head up earlier... Not sure of the plans yet. I know I'm skiing Sunday, maybe Saturday. Either that or Friday and Sunday.

The pass deals look good! Stoked, -kb

Edit: Quick question. I'll be driving from Santa Clara and I believe Kirkwood is a bit closer normally. Is the trafic still bad on that route instead of going to Tahoe? Hopefully I'll get to a few and then buy a spring pass.

[NoKnees]

I'll be doing the normal early drive Saturday to Kirkwood, so, um, yah, you should definitely go to North Shore instead...

Just messin... Traffic is bad exiting the Bay Area Friday nights, no matter if you head north or south. (80 or 580 to 205/680, what'ev you choose). Further along, Route 88 to Kirkwood usually has less traffic, but is more subject to weather or accidents as it's a narrower single lane road.

Crowds have been getting worse there on pow days though, as word is out that Kirkwood as a hill to ride doesn't suck... expect a parking lot crawl to get in if you aren't there before 8:30am... If you aren't there by 9:30, it's just plain stupid sometimes...

[davep]

IMHO: squaw is my favorite for terrain, but it's expensive. kirkwood has high bang/buck ratio.

[The Dad]

Squaw also has the "frequent skier club" -- cheaper tix tues-thurs, plus free ticket every fifth day.

Sliding on the Cheap has all the resort deals.

As far as departure time vs. travel time, leave by 3pm and you're generally fine.

One useful tip: Take maps of the areas around the usual chain check/volume restriction locations with you so that you can jump onto side roads when necessary. Going to North Lake on I-80, Applegate, Gold Run, Baxter, Alta, and Kingvale are all popular with Caltrans.

Another useful tip for North Lake: print this guide to I-80 in the Sierra Nevada and take it with you.

[freshies]

recently, it seems there is no rhyme or reason as to when to expect traffic. i have left at 2pm and been hosed, and left at 6 and was OK - go figure. as a general rule of thumb, if you can get up Thur afternoon or evening vs going on Fri, you will save yourself a lot of frustration....if you have to travel on Fri, as others have said, get out of dodge by 1pm, or wait until 8pm or so.

[The Dad]

I have found 3PM on a Friday to be the absolute worst time to leave, it's taken me 4 hours to get to Sacramento alone! Since I never leave then anymore maybe traffic patterns have changed.

Depends on where you leave from. I was figuring kb would take 680 up, thereby avoiding the bridge issue. But thinking about it more, you're probably right -- leaving at 3 puts you in Sac about 5, just in time for rush hour. So 2pm is probably a better call.

[lemon boy]

I've left Jackson and am now in the Santa Carla area of Cali. Not quite Jackson, but so far so good.

watchout for Kiefer Sutherland, if he bites you, well...just don't let him bite you.

[freshies]

watchout for Kiefer Sutherland, if he bites you, well...just don't let him bite you.

i think that is "san dimas" (e.g. santa cruz) you are thinking of

[lemon boy]

san dimas is bill & ted.

I'm about 85% sure I'm right per the quote in my post.

[freshies]

san dimas is bill & ted.

I'm about 85% sure I'm right per the quote in my post.

ah, good call, that was Bill and Ted...but "Lost Boys" (right?) also had a bogus CA town name that sounds legit....and it was def. based on Santa Cruz, with the boardwalk, etc....pretty sure it wasn't actually Santa Clara (the heart of Silicon Valley and a totally boring corporate-park kinda town)...

[lemon boy]

ah, good call, that was Bill and Ted...but "Lost Boys" (right?) also had a bogus CA town name that sounds legit....and it was def. based on Santa Cruz, with the boardwalk, etc....pretty sure it wasn't actually Santa Clara (the heart of Silicon Valley and a totally boring corporate-park kinda town)...

no shit huh? first thing you should do is read the first post I made, especially the quote it contains

[freshies]

no shit huh? first thing you should do is read the first post I made, especially the quote it contains

ok, here it is, you win: (from imb): The story is of a woman (Dianne Wiest), and her two sons, Sam (Corey Haim) and Michael (Patric), who move to a small Californian town, called Santa Carla

but i am pretty sure that there is no "santa carla" in CA...

[lemon boy]

Dude, I would make fun of you for being a nerd but obviously, I'm a bigger one for seeing clara, thinking carla + lost boys and change the quote, so there.

[mc_roon]

I go to Santa Clara University, and have found that if you take speed limits as suggestions rather then laws you can do the trip to Squaw in about 3 hours if the roads are excellent, or 3.5 if they arent so good. (did the drive in 3.5 on last saturday morning) Also, here is a good link for current I-80 conditions.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi?roadnumber=80

Hope to see you up there sometime

[ATrain]

that is where you want to be...no where else. The place is going off right now. 40" since Monday, more on the way...Sicter

[MTT]

Hey welcome to Tahoe sking.

To bad you were not up here today. It was good it got skied! I see clouds comming, next storm please.

We have had better pow @ Mt. Rose but today I hit one of those perfect runs!
Nervana!! I am happy

[freshies]

Dude, I would make fun of you for being a nerd but obviously, I'm a bigger one for seeing clara, thinking carla + lost boys and change the quote, so there.

yeah, i didn't pick up the "santa carla" refernece, but whren yoyu mentioned kiefer, i put it together, so def. geeked out...but then again, if you are of a certain age, that movie was popular back whren I was in HS....

[Nuthon]

I'll be doing the normal early drive Saturday to Kirkwood, so, um, yah, you should definitely go to North Shore instead...



... expect a parking lot crawl to get in if you aren't there before 8:30am... If you aren't there by 9:30, it's just plain stupid sometimes...

MMMM I love watching the parking lot crawl. Makes me enjoy my job more. See ya there in the 5-6 parking lot before 8.

[Skis4Fun]

... along that I can get housing, car, etc, all figured out by then. So far I think I will.

I saw your post about lodging at Tahoe.

You may wish to check out some of the 31 ski/snowboard clubs in the Bay Area Snow Sports Council (BAC) www.skibac.org. These are nonprofit volunteer run clubs and some own/lease places up in North Lake Tahoe. Since these are nonprofit clubs, the rates are a lot cheaper than hotels/condos.

For example, one of the clubs - Apres Ski Club www.apres.org has a lodge in Kings Beach and charges $15/person/night and has a hot tub and free WiFi. The annual membership fee is $55 and you can join online with PayPal.

There are other clubs in addition to Apres so you should go to the BAC website to look for more information.