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

[4ster]

Yikes.

LOL, not as bad as it looks & not representative of the actual skiing .

 

[Jully]

Squaw's sent out a few communications saying they don't think they'll make it to May 31st. What are people's guesses for how long they do last for?

 

[SSSdave]

Yep! Here's what they looked like almost 2 weeks ago:

View attachment 132375

https://www.skitalk.com/attachments/squalpine-041621-037-acr-conv-jpg.132375/[URL

@dbostedo, really like that Squaw photo. Clouds fog isolated that rocky rib nicely. Could tell a yarn about how two large heavy aliens reportedly in a UFO landed then laid those tracks at dawn before taking back off.

 

[Mendieta]

Coming up Thursday, when that powder will be a faint memory, and am confused by the trail and grooming status at AM - pretty well established that only Summit is running currently, but the trail and grooming status is confusing at best e.g. neither Alpine nor Wolverine bowls are groomed? All the Roundhouse runs are groomed? Treeline Cirque runs are groomed with no chair?? Leaning towards SV unless there's some grooming on the upper Summit runs.

Pinging @Unmarkedobstacles to the Alpine resident phone. He skied every single day of Alpine this season, if I am not mistaken

In case he's not around: I don't trust grooming reports tbh. I would be very surprised if the Alpine bowl was not groomed, I don't know if I have ever seen it ungroomed, at least the center part. But Squaw might be your safer choice with a lot of good groomed stuff on Shirley. Alpine's best is probably the ungroomed right now, up top, and then the groomers to go back to Summit.

 

[PupManS]

SV Morning Report from today (Apr 27):

Got out for a half day and loaded Funi at 9:03. Heading for the top but the crazy east wind was howling and Emigrant and Granite were on hold when I left. Too bad, as the way things were going I expect the treed regions around Arete/Rockpile/Corkscrew etc would have been the choice of the day. High north in the trees wasn't blower, but mostly soft.

Few things of note:
1) Upper mountain groomers- midwinter condition, uncrowded, would have been a GREAT morning to be on GS skis. Probably same tomorrow given the weather up top. Parking lot was springlike but nothing on the backside remotely warm. At noon, Gold Coast was springy where it was getting full sun, otherwise mostly not.

2) I found nice soft stuff in the trees between the Shirley runs. Especially skiers right of the runs where the wind was depositing some of the new snow. I expect Solitude would have been great but they weren't running it.

3) Most of headwall was stripped bare by the wind- avoid until it warms up a bit. I saw a guy clattering down North Bowl and it just sounded extremely unpleasant.

4) In Shirley bowl, the further over toward Arete you went, the better it got, so I expect that area of Granite/Emigrant to be the pick tomorrow if the stupid east wind dies down.

5) Working over to skiers left of Siberia there was some nice chop in the upper bowls. Little heavy but soft and fun to GS it.

6) I went up KT with a thought to trying West Face but the wind and sun had left the top bit quite spicy. Went the other way and Tamara's bumps were a little early at 11:30am. But I think probably good when a bit warmer- big bumps with some nice lines. Get them soon because it looks like there isn't much more farming they can do on KT to hold it together. I would be very surprised to see KT running past Sunday- maybe not even that far if the late week warmup happens as they say.

 

[raytseng]

Coming up Thursday, when that powder will be a faint memory, and am confused by the trail and grooming status at AM - pretty well established that only Summit is running currently, but the trail and grooming status is confusing at best e.g. neither Alpine nor Wolverine bowls are groomed? All the Roundhouse runs are groomed? Treeline Cirque runs are groomed with no chair?? Leaning towards SV unless there's some grooming on the upper Summit runs.

Alpine Bowl is marked as groomed but closed right now. Which is odd - if the lift is running, that's the easiest way down. Seems like something is wonky with the listing today.

I would expect both Alpine and Wolverine bowls to be groomed, as well as one of the D's and all the Roundhouse runs (which you use once below the bowls). The Kangaroo and TC stuff is groomed in part, and open because you can still get over there from the Summit lift (though may have to ski some more difficult stuff to get there - Kangaroo in particular.)

Agree, when I was at alpine couple weeks back, the grooming was already reduced to alternate runs/alternate days. So if it's groomers that you seek, SV maybe better choice. What's on the schedule today might not be what's up for tomorrow. I think it's all highly subject to change and a day-by-day based decision at this point depending how beat up things look, especially midweek.

 

[John Webb]

Will see what Wednesday brings. Likely bring my Eastern rock skis !

 

[dcs24]

Squaw's sent out a few communications saying they don't think they'll make it to May 31st. What are people's guesses for how long they do last for?

Total conjecture, but here's my guess:
- KT closes sometime in the next few days (Sunday at the latest, maybe sooner if the heat wave melts things out too much)
- Mountain closes two weeks later, May 16. I'm guessing that's the longest Mountain Run will be farmable, and it sounds like they don't think they stay open with everyone downloading the Funi because of covid capacity limits.

 

[4ster]

Looks like operating hours are now 9am - 2pm

 

[Tony S]

Looks like operating hours are now 9am - 2pm

Hmmm.

 

[luliski]

Looks like operating hours are now 9am - 2pm

perfect for ski/bike days!

 

[Paul Lutes]

Has Granite Chief been shut down for good, or am I being trolled by their web page again?

 

[John Webb]

Coming up Thursday, status at AM - pretty well established that only Summit is running currently, but the trail and grooming status is confusing at best e.g. neither Alpine nor Wolverine bowls are groomed? All the Roundhouse runs are groomed? Treeline Cirque runs are groomed with no chair?? Leaning towards SV unless there's some grooming on the upper Summit runs.

AM skied well today- more like winter than spring. Answer is YES. AM has just groomed Alpine Bowl and Wolverine from the top. They only run Summit chair now but that gets you most of the front side including Weasel and Yellow. Cutting left thru woods just above the lower park on Tiegel gets you back to the lift ( weasel side is best early in day as the lower flats there get very slushy in afternoon). New SVAM hours are 9-2 starting today. Rumor talking to a employee is AM will stay open after this weekend.

 

[Andy Mink]

Has Granite Chief been shut down for good, or am I being trolled by their web page again?

I was there today and didn't even look. All the runs off Shirley were still firm at 11, especially Marilac or whichever they've been training on. Bullet proof. I can't imagine Mountain Run making through to next week. Basically, once you get just above Headwall it's mush.

 

[John Webb]

Skied some with @Rainbow Jenny and @4ster today at AM. Saw @Sandy_NYC in town.
Next week may meet @Tony S , @mdf, and others at Squaw. Tomorrow thru Sat will be a bake fest, weather wise. Start early !

 

[mdf]

Looks like operating hours are now 9am - 2pm

Well, that solves the "what to have for lunch" problem....

 

[4ster]

perfect for ski/bike days!

My thought exactly...




To repeat some of what John Webb wrote, All the main runs off of Summit Chair at Alpine were well groomed with good coverage & skied great! Some sticky spots in the flats after noon but anything with pitch skied fine till 1:30 when l was done.


I’ve heard May 9th as a final day for Alpine but nothing official. Not seeing any solid freezes the next few nights.

 

[Andy Mink]

Skied some with @Rainbow Jenny and @4ster today at AM. Saw @Sandy_NYC in town.
Next week may meet @Tony S , @mdf, and others at Squaw. Tomorrow thru Sat will be a bake fest, weather wise. Start early !

What's left at AM? I was considering it but saw only Summit was open. I figured slogging all the way down every run wouldn't be that fun.

 

[Andy Mink]

Not being the brightest bulb in the lamp I figured I'd try Horse Tail after already KNOWING the runs off Shirley hadn't softened yet. Well, neither had Horse Tail. There's good snow and snow that's good for you. And refrozen, lumpy, dodge rock. It was another "looks good but it's not" moment in a long line of similar decisions this year.

 

[Tony S]

Well, that solves the "what to have for lunch" problem....

Beer!