Was back in Shirley Canyon today and patrol was doing a lot of control work on Silverado. Looks like it could open before long- plenty of snow at the bottom.
kirkwood so good today. that was the backside bluebird day I've been craving.
and no crowds, the blackout effect was in effect!
pyramid peak is on left
north face (in shade) is a hard to obtain in great shape prize
crazy good snow on the great one today with the angelic choir singing hallelujah as the sunrise popped up to bluebird skies above the hanging layer
How was the entrance? We were pretty cold and sketched when we looked in but only viewed it from one side. I felt it might look better from the other side but even so was perfectly happy skiing the trees after a few wind slabs released on a similar aspect near the top of our crazy skinner
powdork.com - new and improved, with 20% more dork.
It's all a matter of perspective. Spoke to regular weekend warriors and they said the frontside was completely skied out and the line on 2 was the biggest they've seen in a while, so they didn't even head to 4.
I imagine Mashed is spot on, but it would depend on your perspective.
Low at all elevations this morning. Tahoe is back. Hopefully we can just worry about wind / storm slabs the rest of the winter and put that PWL shit behind us. This next storm cycle should be fun.
Fighting off an earache and hoping the antibiotics kick in soon, so staying around home this weekend. Don't think I'm missing much at Mt. Rose -- Friday's main side snow wasn't great (wasn't bad, but was below-average for a normal pow day), and crowds + parking are insane because only the main side parking is open. Slide lift opened yesterday, briefly, and broke. Still broken today.
Pic from facebook showing a lift line at Northwest chair for Rose, from yesterday:
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Friday-Saturday at the wood was about as good as it gets in my book. Everything opened in succession and everything went (except upper drop to heart, unless you had a rap set up or your name is Glen Plake).
Friday early AM hit the sign flip on out pali w FranklezZ for a few laps, then cruised back to hit 10 as it started loading circa 10:30-11am. Put the first tracks in Once after smoothing out the launch. Cold pow in the trees on 10 all day, and didn't matter Eagle was on hold. Good crew out Friday of people getting in before the blackout. Saturday AM eagle popped with 10 fairly early maybe 10am. Had been baked a little bit but still great snow. Mini-kodak has a slanted ice waterfall takeoff, 15', but soft landing good as ever. Kodak proper looks prime, though landing was a little wind affected - didn't see anyone hit it. They popped 2 well before 4, then dropped the rope to the backside an hour before they opened 4, so created a bit of a log jam back there in the afternoon despite a fairly moderate crowd due to the blackout. Turned out to be a good thing though as vista/saddle ridge hike opened first, limiting traffic for a few untouched hits to my favorite line. Snow on that aspect was incredible, cold and wind loaded up a bit from SE wind Friday. All the drops go at the bottom easy. Hells Delight- the choke is a bit, well, choked right now but snow was good up top, heavy on the run out. Jim's, Ski School, Oops all look prime but didn't get a chance to hit em.
Snow got baked later in the day, water was percolating through- good news for the snowpack but most stuff that isn't due north or heavily shaded will be bit heavy until the next storm.
Even sometimes when I'm snowboarding I'm like "Hey I'm snowboarding! Because I suck dick, I'm snowboarding!" --Dan Savage
nice writeup.. you played your hand a bit better than me Saturday. I would much rather have been hiking Vista than standing in line waiting for 4 to open. It's a bit annoying how they "open the backside" but it's really just chair 3 for an hour. There was an epic collision between skier and snowboarder on the chinese downhill to 4 that happened right in front of me so at least I got some LOLz from that.
when each day holds your new best run of year, you know conditions are as good as it gets. snow was even lighter this morning with massive sluffage of surface hoar cystals on steep pitches
Yeah, whole east face of Relay ripped. That's scary and impressive.
There were also slides all over Rose Knob and even west facing off of ILP into 3rd creek.
Debris all the way down the drainage. Massive blocks. Looks like the Khumbu icefall.
Last edited by lepistoir; 01-15-2017 at 02:24 PM.
Even sometimes when I'm snowboarding I'm like "Hey I'm snowboarding! Because I suck dick, I'm snowboarding!" --Dan Savage
They did that more than once last season. Seems like poor form.
OTOH, it allows them to open the Vista hike if they secure the saddle and sunny side. To open 4 they need to secure all the way to Covered Wagon.
I would not mind that kind of opening. As long as I had an idea what they were doing.
Pretty incredible day out there today touring. Fog layer was incredible.
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Last edited by Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer; 01-15-2017 at 06:54 PM.
Had a long night fighting off a case of food poisoning but after those drought years I've learned not to take any fresh snow for granted. Started feeling better around noon and didn't have a lot of energy but still managed to skin up Sunrise for a lap - as you can see from the tracks there's a lot of people out getting after it. I think I liked it better when the road was blocked. Snow seems better today than yesterday... and it was nice to get up above the inversion for a bit.
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