California/Nevada 2020-2021 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[SSSdave]

Strong east wind with NV inversion temperatures a bit above freezing kept upper mountain lifts closed till about 1pm when as forecast it waned. Took a single run down below lift on chair 6 that was treacherous from scattered hard or ice packed surfaces. Otherwise easy, very useful day with just 13 lift rides 10.3k on well protected from wind Solitude and Reut.

Just small bumps on Short Spoke. From top of chair 5 exit right, ski down to Zachary's and stay high traversing across the run on the well tracked path in trees just below Cornice Express tower 9 and out to lower Look-out-Janek that has wonderfully shaped medium and small bump lines across it's wide slope that I ran non-stop all day. Then at road cross gully right back onto Lower Zachary's and ski the short drop of show-off bumps in front of the lifts that are well shaped.

Was good sign versus Heavenly to see the 100% masks above nose compliance simply from honor system that reflects the more serious customers Kirkwood attracts. KW could pile up 24">30" with next 2 storms that is making early January looking wide open fun. With 12/26>31 pass blackout, likely do some snowscapes photography next Tuesday sunrise as snow at storm exit will be way low at 3k. Or if it dumps enough at Dodge Ridge one of their cheap tickets rabbit bouncing with my S7's.

 

[textrovert]

 

[Alexzn]

Squaw opened KT22 today with surprisingly good snow almost all the way down, especially later in the day when crusty areas got broken up. If the coming snowfall provides good refills, it will make for a pretty decent pack for the rest of the holidays. The crowds were also really light today with the teams taking a two day break. Cheers everyone!

 

[Philpug]

Squaw opened KT22 today with surprisingly good snow almost all the way down, especially later in the day when crusty areas got broken up. If the coming snowfall provides good refills, it will make for a pretty decent pack for the rest of the holidays. The crowds were also really light today with the teams taking a two day break. Cheers everyone!

We should make it over this week while on back out from Rose.

 

[dcs24]

Heavenly has Mott Canyon open (or so the website indicates) - seems pretty early?? has anyone ventured in?

A bit belated but I skied six runs in Mott on opening day (Monday). Haven't been back in there since but report is probably still valid due to lack of snow since then.

Mott on opening day was the most marginal I've ever skied it. I have rock skis for early season, but even so had to question whether it was worth the average of almost one core shot per run. I decided it was worth it, barely, for the runs past Rocky Point. The ridge traverse there is marginal enough that most of the (few) people who venture here are removing their skis to walk over the rocks. But that kept down the crowds, and each of the runs past that point had only a couple of tracks in them. But plenty of rocks hidden just beneath the surface on the descent. The snow in the morning on those north facing shaded aspects was heavy but still fun to ski. Everything else had a crust layer, and by the afternoon the warm temps mushed up even the north facing stuff to the extent that I'd expect there is crust in there right now.

The main runs under Gates 3 and 4 are more east facing and had crust layers prior to rope drop, but after enough people entered them to slough them out they were skiable, albeit with some billy goating to avoid obstacles.

There were zero lift lines on Mott Canyon on Monday, making it the only lift at Heavenly with ski-on lift access that day. Lines on Dipper were 15-20+ minutes for most of the day and I found it was faster to just hike up from the top of Mott to Gates 1 and 2.

The forecast is for the next couple of storms to be low-moderate in precip, with colder temps and lighter snow density. Given all the obstacles just beneath the surface my recommendation would stay out of Mott this week unless you have skis you don't care about. Mott needs at least one large base-building snowstorm before most people would want to ski in there, and unfortunately there's no such storm in the 7 day forecast.

 

[Andy Mink]

Merry Christmas! We got blown off Mt. Rose this morning. Lift holds, snow, and flat light. Still, a fun way to start the day.

 

[JFB]

Merry Christmas! We got blown off Mt. Rose this morning. Lift holds, snow, and flat light. Still, a fun way to start the day.

I saw the truck and looked for you guys to wish you merry Christmas but missed you. I only lasted until 11:00. But yes, a fun way to observe the season.

 

[Plai]

I saw the truck and looked for you guys to wish you merry Christmas but missed you. I only lasted until 11:00. But yes, a fun way to observe the season.

Note to self: park on Rose side to ride Lakeview on high wind days.

 

[Andy Mink]

Note to self: park on Rose side to ride Lakeview on high wind days.

They even shut Lakeview down.

 

[Plai]

They even shut Lakeview down.

But from what @JFB says, sounds like Lakeview was running at least 1.25 hr (11a) after NW was on hold (9.45). Or, maybe he was riding Galena or Wizard. From website, all lifts were shutdown around noon. I could have used another 1hr of practice (and the fun ;-).

Question now: Will there be enough snow dropped tonight to bring out wider skis tomorrow? I'm guessing no, but hoping yes.

 

[SSSdave]

Mountain Webcams | Kirkwood Ski Resort

Get a glimpse of live mountain conditions, with mountain webcams updated every five minutes throughout the day from 6 a.m. to 3:55 p.m.

www.kirkwood.com

Just began snowing about Tahoe region 12/25/20 2:30pm Christmas day. KW above now has Cornice Cam back online. May everyone and your families have a safe and Merry Christmas.

 

[Philpug]

I saw the truck and looked for you guys to wish you merry Christmas but missed you. I only lasted until 11:00. But yes, a fun way to observe the season.

We were incognito.

 

[Alexzn]

We should make it over this week while on back out from Rose.

Ping me I should be around...

 

[snwbrdr]

They got R2 chain controls right now... I miss driving in the snow...but I wouldn't be putting on chains until R3

 

[Alexzn]

NYT has a somewhat detailed article about Squw's handling of the pandemic season.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/...emic-season.html?referringSource=articleShare

Pretty good except that their photo of a "group.lesson" shows the junior development ski team group and a coach.

 

[John Webb]

NYT paywall

 

[4ster]

From the NYT article...

the resort’s general manager, said smaller resorts often operate at a loss in the final weeks of the season, so closing early actually saved money.

Gotta luv this guy for keeping it real. This is what I kept saying last Spring when the resorts closed in March & many were feeling sorry for them. It certainly hurt the employees who were expecting to work for a few more weeks or months but the resorts already had our money & for most the lockdown probably saved them money.
I had an Ikon pass that I specifically bought for Spring skiing. I got one day on that pass when I went to pick it up because they had lost it in the mail. They made some pretty easy coin from me on that one .

 

[SSSdave]

Be in day one of our 6 day blackout. Continued snowing at KW this morning till 9am with temp 22F, so good snow quality. CDEC Caples remote weather station 2 miles east at same elevation shows during storm 1.05 inches precipitation or 10 inches of new snow depth as did the resort on their snow report. East of crest, HV only reported 3" new and NS only 5" new at sunrise. The Monday storm is more uncertain though colder. With more modest storms in the near week+, January mid winter cold packed powder skiing...

 

[Pequenita]

NYT has a somewhat detailed article about Squw's handling of the pandemic season.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/25/...emic-season.html?referringSource=articleShare

Pretty good except that their photo of a "group.lesson" shows the junior development ski team group and a coach.

The story is misleading in that, yes, day of window sales are restricted, but everyone who has a pass can show up whenever. Sigh.

 

[Alexzn]

The story is misleading in that, yes, day of window sales are restricted, but everyone who has a pass can show up whenever. Sigh.

Well, nobody showed up today. Best powder day I had in a while. My daughter and I skied nothing but fresh tracks until 11:30am. At Squaw. It. Just. Does Not. Happen. Ever.