Lake Tahoe 2015/16 - Year of Godzilla Baby Jesus

[pajamas]

Snowing at 7,700' all morning and blowing sideways

While the skiing has been phenomenal so far this season, I recently got some bad news concerning a legendary local member of the bc community around here. If you have spent any amount of time in the backcountry around Tahoe, the eastern Sierra, and Shasta, then there is a good chance you may have come across Ed. If you have come across Ed, you would prolly remember it as you don't normally meet an african american pushing 80 years old on the skin track. Always smiling, sharing beta, and charging, Ed has always been an inspiration to me and many others always thinking to ourselves how rad it would/will be to be getting after it as hard as Ed does in his 70's. This year, while we are being blessed with snow, we will probably not be blessed with eds company at the trailhead and on the uptrack as he is currently battling leukemia. He may not post here but I know he does lurk from time to time so I wanted to take this opportunity to conjure up as much positive energy vibrations from us all to send out to a real local backcountry legend.
Keep on shining ed++++++++

That is terrible. Ed is one of the first people I met in the BC about 15 years ago. Always managed to see him on Shasta and random places in Tahoe.

Gimpy- contact info or a address to send best wishes would be awesome. Good to see you on the skin track last week.

Yesterday at P-house was pretty good, started getting just a little heavy on the last lap right as the storm was coming in. Drive down 50 sucked but the stop at D-sky was worth it.

[Jack Burton]

Hoping to see Ed on False white in the spring

[shakyknees]

Thanks for the notification, Gimpy, this is sad news. I don't know Ed well; I only know him because twice when I was skiing solo he offered to take an obviously less experienced skier under his wing for the day. Ed has been a super friendly and knowledgeable ambassador to the Sierra backcountry for me and I expect for others as well. Get well, Ed!

[bobz]

I'm shocked to hear the news; just skied with him a month ago. He had a clear preference for skinning up more directly than I did, on account of hip issues, but he was good for three laps of Chickadee Ridge powder anyway. What can I say, Ed's the man. I wish I got a better shot of him, but he usually leads the way downslope, and he doesn't stand around posing for pictures.

[4matic]

Does anyone at Kirkwood even look at their snowstake?

Went something like this:

[TEXASS]

Damn, bad to hear about Ed,but if He approaches Leukemia the way He approaches Shasta He should beat the hell out of it. Can we get contact info or something going for Ed?

[BGnight]

Absolutely nuking up at Mt Rose/Tamarack. Did my first tour of the season in a fucking blizzard. It was actually a lot of fun except for taking the helmet and skins on/off in a snowy washing machine. Nice to finally get the legs stretched out. The snow was good but the runs up there are boring and short as hell.

[digitaldeath]

where is that bro that was all concerned about moguls?

i wanna meet him

[powdork]

That sucks toby. I only know him from meeting him with you at June Lakes several years back. Here's to a full recovery.

[Charlie Don't Surf]

My bus to truckee just got cancelled. Anyone braving the storm and driving 80 tonight or tomorrow am can offer a ride from Sacramento? I'll cover gas and don't have any gear. Can get dropped in truckee or Squaw.

[ShakeMeUp]

Vibes to Ed. Haven't run into him since a glorious day on the North side of Lassen in the Spring of 2014 due to the scarcity of backcountry skiing in these parts the last few years, but he's always been a friendly guy and an inspiration. Seems to have a good sense of where the getting is good on a given spring weekend in the Sierra...

Got out this morning, definitely character building, but worth the effort.

[gimpy]

If this storm was happening next week this town would be an epic shitshow
3-4' drifts top kbury

[lepistoir]

Absolutely nuking up at Mt Rose/Tamarack. Did my first tour of the season in a fucking blizzard. It was actually a lot of fun except for taking the helmet and skins on/off in a snowy washing machine. Nice to finally get the legs stretched out. The snow was good but the runs up there are boring and short as hell.

It was insane. We got stuck trying to pull into the summit parking lot because the plow left a 3 foot berm. Dug out and went back down to the only place we could park. ILP parking were both plowed in. Ended up at the little pullout on the east side where kids go sledding. Did two short laps and called it good. Still coming down hard all the way back to KB until it changed to rain about 6.

[WestCoastPDR]

If this storm was happening next week this town would be an epic shitshow
3-4' drifts top kbury

They used the snowblower on my street today to cut back the banks. Hasn't looked like this since 2012. You got power ?

[frorider]

Howitzer carpet bombing echo during the last 30 mins. 33 F and heavy snain all day, and currently, in Meyers.

[TahoeBC]

About 3 in the morning last night I heard the snow blower widening the streets took me awhile to figure out what in the fuck it was, it's been so long!

[4matic]

Might have to bust out the Billy Baroo for Wednesday. Hasn't been out of the cover since 2012or so. Been riding rock boards for three years.

[reid]

At Kirkwood last Friday night through.... I don't know. This coming Sunday I guess?

We did a couple hours saturday and sunday each. Blowing snow, not horrifically cold though my goggles kept freezing over. Crowds minimal, a handful of inches of fresh (or wind-blown) powder over a soft-ish base. Just really pillowy and pleasant snow.

Set the alarm to get up early today, and.... didn't leave the house. Shuttles not running, and by the time I saw the ONLY shuttle of the day roll by around 11:30am, only 5/7/9/11 were open. By 1-2pm only 7/9 were open. It was too warm inside and too cold and blowy looking outside. Bang on 32f all day long.

At sunrise it all looked pretty calm but snow picked up almost immediately and only got stronger and windier from there. Vis looked like about half of what it had been this weekend.

Deck hadn't been shoveled in ever, but the path down the middle was used around 3pm Sunday. By mid-morning it was half filled in, and by sunset today it was full. I was estimating 2 additional feet but wouldn't dispute the "3 feet at the base" rumor I heard. The deck went from maybe 3' to 6' in a day, though of course a lot of it is wind-blown.

Got the alarm set early for tomorrow, but to be honest, I don't even know how I'm going to get out. Maybe do some morning shoveling, change clothes, and then head out. Maybe just jump off the deck and deal with it when I get home.

All I know is I'm gonna do all I can to go hard all day Wednesday despite how out of shape I am. That looks like *the* day to be out there (until we get all that promised xmas eve powder).

apparently I can't post pictures because I'm a n00b. well, that sucks for everyone but me, because I can already see my own ph00ts.

[digitaldeath]

Howitzer carpet bombing echo during the last 30 mins. 33 F and heavy snain all day, and currently, in Meyers.

Oh you live in Meyers. Shots out to you player

[SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCKING MORON!]

Oh you live in Meyers. Shots out to you player

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCKING MORON!!!

[liketoride]

That is terrible news about Ed getting leukemia, saw him on Shasta last spring, and Red Lake season before last, first met Ed at Lassen many years ago. Seeing Ed was a sure sign we picked a good mountain to be on for good turns and a good day. Damn dude, I hope he's alright and I hope he gets some pow turns in.

[SchralphMacchio]

That's a lot of new load for 24 hours! Friend reported 2'+ today at KW 7800', another reported 20" at 7500' in Incline Village ...

From a backcountry perspective, what scares me most is that the scary pit data and PST results posted on SAC are from the most popular areas (Tamarack, Powderhouse, West Shore) and below treeline, which would commonly thought of as a safe bet. Coming into the holiday weekend I am worried about a setup with low probability of failure and high consequence hazard in places that people think are safe spots. Not a great setup as our Christmas gift.

I had to really temper my own personal excitement about possible touring conditions over the holiday weekend. Despite reasons for optimism the reality is that we will have this as a high consequence problem until a lot more data comes in and the certainty level increases.

I guess when the conditions get sketch, go (ski) south (facing) eh?

This statement sums things up for me right here and is worth re-reading:

Without performing numerous snowpits in the area of question to determine presence or absence of the weak layer, entering steep terrain will be a decision made without using any amount of sound decision making. It doesn't mater if you were in the same terrain yesterday or previously during large storms. This is a locally uncommon weak layer that could lead to some large destructive avalanches below treeline.

Ski safe everyone, have a white (room) Christmas in deliberately chosen terrain!

[TahoeJ]

^^ Agreed. I already made the call to leave my pack at home so it's not even an option to ski outside the resorts this week (but I'm pretty conservative). Definitely seems setup for something bad to happen much like this same week in 2012. Hopefully not.

[SchralphMacchio]

^ even in that case, beeping inbounds is never a bad idea. It can help you be found or find someone much more quickly than that joke of a product that starts with "R" and sounds like a pass in south lake.

[TahoeJ]

Yes, I do take out the beacon and throw it in my pants pocket on deeper resort days. Took a short ride down headwall face at Squaw a few years back and that was a nice reminder - not that you'd need it there but certain zones like P-gully off Red Dog you might be glad you had it.