California/Nevada 2021-2022 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[Andy Mink]

Mt. Rose today. SOSDD. Firm, chalky, with little marbles in spots. If you like groomers this has been a fantastic few weeks. If you don't, it's a good time golf or ride a bike.

This may have been worth the trip up the hill today.


There is some very hard stuff under the minimal dust. Looking down at Express from Northwest chair.

 

[Spirou]

1) when it is 40+ gusts it starts being at risk. If you have opensnow, they make it easy to see the wind warnings both in the mtn quick summary and the daily updates. If you don't have open snow, BA will also post it out in (free) Palisades weatherblog posts when wind will likely affect upper lifts, and maybe more accurate than the automatic quick summaries.

2) If you're right at the gondola, or along any shuttle routes, and the mountain is split due to lift holds; you would just take the free shuttles to get around to all the bases.

I suppose if there's a huge operations failure and huge bus lines that the buses can't handle for some reason, you could consider uber/cab to save time-but if that is the case, the skiing is also likely a mess; so it's not worth spending extra money to just wait in a different liftline for a half-closed mountain. But if's last day and you got to catch your plane home or something like that, that could be an escape option.

I'm thinking of going to lake Tahoe in a week or two. Seems like the forecasted temperature are rising. Would the slopes temperature still be below freezing if its around 40F - 45F at the base of the mountain in south lake Tahoe. Same question for Palisade or NorthStar.
I enjoy long blue groomers, and do not like soft snow and/or moguls. Just wondering if its worth flying in from the East Coast if the conditions are too warm. Trying to use my Epic pass, and exploring resorts I haven't been to.

 

[raytseng]

The surface conditions seem fine, from the temp perspective.

Although the temps are like spring, surface is not like Spring as the sun doesn't have enough hours to melt the snow. It seems to stays frozen even to the afternoon and the shaved snow is more like dry sugar snow rather than turning to slush. It is also day-to-day depending on clouds and whatnot.
So even the moguls are more ice moguls rather than turning to slush spring moguls; or the afternoon skier destroyed groomer moguls are more just piles of sugar not big slush.

I would base your decision more on there has been no new snow for a long time. So while the groomer base is fine, a lot of the offpiste terrain is just rough frozen ice. When storms return it will be much better from perspective of avail terrain, but that is up to you. (it would also bring back bigger crowds too...)

 

[Spirou]

The surface conditions seem fine, from the temp perspective.

Although the temps are like spring, surface is not like Spring as the sun doesn't have enough hours to melt the snow. It seems to stays frozen even to the afternoon and the shaved snow is more like dry sugar snow rather than turning to slush. It is also day-to-day depending on clouds and whatnot.
So even the moguls are more ice moguls rather than turning to slush spring moguls; or the afternoon skier destroyed groomer moguls are more just piles of sugar not big slush.

I would base your decision more on there has been no new snow for a long time. So while the groomer base is fine, a lot of the offpiste terrain is just rough frozen ice. When storms return it will be much better from perspective of avail terrain, but that is up to you. (it would also bring back bigger crowds too...)

Thanks for the information. Makes me feel better about going.

 

[Mendieta]

Thanks for the information. Makes me feel better about going.

There is no bad day on snow, as far as there is snow! I find it much easier for me to lament having missed a ski day, than lamenting for having gone at the "wrong" time. There is no such a thing in my book.

I do think, given your preference for groomed terrain, you will find some places better than others. You may want to ask for suggestions on that, in particular

 

[SSSdave]

Long range weather forecast into mid February is still looking dry. January will break weather records for some Northern California areas as being the first January ever since weather record keeping began with no precipitation at all...bone dry. A sadly strong indication climate change with feast or famine periods is probably already affecting the region.

 

[John Webb]

I skied Northstar yesterday. Did not thaw anywhere even on Lower Lookout. Surface looked like @Andy Mink last photo.
Something like thick dust on crust with a trace of snow on top. I recognised many of the trails even though I had not been
to Northstar in 9 years. Off trail would be very very firm to the point your teeth would chatter so I did groomers mostly.. .
They had groomed about half the trails except only one blue on Lookout. Grooming did a bit of improvement -mostly just
knocked away the very firm moguls . So the day was mostly exploration . I suspect other Tahoe areas would also be firm
but with out eastern ice. Alpine may have softened a bit in Sherwood ? That's about it. All trails were open.
I arrived late morning and snagged a spot in D at the pulse gondola (to a hotel) so I didn't have to do the stupid walk thru
the village.

Hat's off to them for actually checking and not letting you into the main slope-side lodge if you were not fully vaccinated.
Thumbs down for no paper trail maps. The ones on chairlift safety bars they say to use were not very readable.

 

[John Webb]

I'm thinking of going to lake Tahoe in a week or two. Seems like the forecasted temperature are rising. Would the slopes temperature still be below freezing if its around 40F - 45F at the base of the mountain in south lake Tahoe. Same question for Palisade or NorthStar.
I enjoy long blue groomers, and do not like soft snow and/or moguls. Just wondering if its worth flying in from the East Coast if the conditions are too warm. Trying to use my Epic pass, and exploring resorts I haven't been to.

Temps are not rising and conditions are not too warm. If anything it's still a dry winter. Most trails are hard packed. No eastern ice.

 

[4ster]

12 from Tahoe…

Go team Tahoe!!!

 

[ScotsSkier]

while it has been dry since the christmas storms, tahoe still has some of the best snow cover around. Been hearing some bad reports from Utah and Big Sky as examples. While the surface is firm it is very skiable

 

[migdriver]

while it has been dry since the christmas storms, tahoe still has some of the best snow cover around. Been hearing some bad reports from Utah and Big Sky as examples. While the surface is firm it is very skiable

Not just very skiable but actually quite nice in my opinion.
Maybe it’s all those years skiing New England , but the only disagreeable snow I encountered today was on the off loading ramp on Siberia today which had been thoroughly scraped and scoured into a poor imitation of boiler plate.
Then again , I’m on the hill by 9 and off by 11:30 , while the groomers are delightful v edgable cord, little to no sugar snow, and making the rounds on freshly sharpened SL s. .
Granted , it’s not typical Sierra late January hero snow , but it’s pretty damned enjoyable from the upper mtn to the base runs. The operative constraint though is stay on groomers, hell , even the often miserable mountain run is just right for a couple of leg conditioning nonstops …with nary a single scratchy turn to be heard / had . Cap the morning off with a couple of runs on groomed, firmish , but still easily edgable Red Dog ( though the dog leg was closed today for GS training) and it makes for a v v pleasant morning.
Bright sun, coolish temps, and pretty nice snow; what’s not to like? But again, I grew up skiing VT , so, guess it’s all relative

 

[coldski]

I skied Northstar yesterday. Did not thaw anywhere even on Lower Lookout. Surface looked like @Andy Mink last photo.
Something like thick dust on crust with a trace of snow on top. I recognised many of the trails even though I had not been
to Northstar in 9 years. Off trail would be very very firm to the point your teeth would chatter so I did groomers mostly.. .
They had groomed about half the trails except only one blue on Lookout. Grooming did a bit of improvement -mostly just
knocked away the very firm moguls . So the day was mostly exploration . I suspect other Tahoe areas would also be firm
but with out eastern ice. Alpine may have softened a bit in Sherwood ? That's about it. All trails were open.
I arrived late morning and snagged a spot in D at the pulse gondola (to a hotel) so I didn't have to do the stupid walk thru
the village.

Hat's off to them for actually checking and not letting you into the main slope-side lodge if you were not fully vaccinated.
Thumbs down for no paper trail maps. The ones on chairlift safety bars they say to use were not very readable.

skiing

Not just very skiable but actually quite nice in my opinion.
Maybe it’s all those years skiing New England , but the only disagreeable snow I encountered today was on the off loading ramp on Siberia today which had been thoroughly scraped and scoured into a poor imitation of boiler plate.
Then again , I’m on the hill by 9 and off by 11:30 , while the groomers are delightful v edgable cord, little to no sugar snow, and making the rounds on freshly sharpened SL s. .
Granted , it’s not typical Sierra late January hero snow , but it’s pretty damned enjoyable from the upper mtn to the base runs. The operative constraint though is stay on groomers, hell , even the often miserable mountain run is just right for a couple of leg conditioning nonstops …with nary a single scratchy turn to be heard / had . Cap the morning off with a couple of runs on groomed, firmish , but still easily edgable Red Dog ( though the dog leg was closed today for GS training) and it makes for a v v pleasant morning.
Bright sun, coolish temps, and pretty nice snow; what’s not to like? But again, I grew up skiing VT , so, guess it’s all relative

Off trail would be very very firm to the point your teeth would chatter

Tried some off piste at Kirkwood Wednesday (chair 4) - activated the Fall Detection on my Apple Watch

 

[migdriver]

skiing



Off trail would be very very firm to the point your teeth would chatter

Tried some off piste at Kirkwood Wednesday (chair 4) - activated the Fall Detection on my Apple Watch

Now that’s pretty funny… Maybe a new use for an Apple watch: a crappy hard snow detector… if you haven’t gone down yet - you will

 

[textrovert]

This looks like a late April post.
"Follow the sun"

 

[Pequenita]

I think there are a lot of skiers who ski infrequently enough that when they go up to the mountains, they want to ski what was good and what they enjoyed the last time they were there, not realizing conditions are drastically different. A few years ago my first time at Heavenly, I suggested to the group of people I was with that we follow the sun because conditions were “east-coasty” in the shade, and the charismatic leader of the group insisted that we work our way around the resort hitting her favorite runs. We didn’t get a single run on soft snow until around 2pm, and it set up after one run.

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

How are those new Stocklis, @migdriver?

 

[Chris V.]

Long story on traffic problems getting to/from Squaw blamed on the Mousehole. Not sure that adding another two lanes under RR for $50M would make everything better. Even when I lived there 45 years ago we would try to avoid 89/80 Interchange. And that was long before Interchange was improved including Roundabouts, or second Mousehole was added between 89-S and Downtown (connecting Donner Pass Rd and W River St), or that 267 was routed E of town with long bridge over the Truckee River. You used to have to go over tracks and through 3-way stop to get to downtown Truckee or I-80 from Northstar (or take W River to 89 to 80). See https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/article/Tahoe-Truckee-Mousehole-traffic-trap-16790994.php for story.

SFGate is the most brain dead so-called news site around. Minimize the cost of content, maximize ad revenue, readers be damned. Exemplifies the state of journalism in the U.S. The above made for a good tease of a headline, but those who know Truckee know it isn't the mouse hole. The backup would occur wherever the road went fro 4 lanes to 2. Moving it 1/4 mile down the road would make no difference. And then the real backup generally starts about another mile down the road, clogging up all the way to Squaw Valley Rd. Too much traffic for two lane roads to handle, that's all, and if the roads were four lanes the limited parking capacity would lead to the same result.

 

[Andy Mink]

Still the same at Rose. Maybe a bit more dust on crust. Washoe Zephyr had been groomed which is good because the entrance was getting pretty thrashed and uninviting. For the run that gets the most morning sun it never seems to soften up however. As usual the top of Outlaw is just really big, hard bumps. Northwest and Bullwhip continue to ski really well. They get just soft enough to work and edge. That's kind of interesting since they don't get a lot of sun. I did venture down Millertime, which is the furthest of The Chutes to lookers left. Really nice, chalky snow but with a flurry of bumps towards the bottom where Millertime and Nightmare merge.


I think I woke up the lifty on Chuter chair. It's a lonely place!


Bumps towards the bottom of Millertime


It does get pretty steep


Another steep look


Top of Outlaw. Getting to Millertime may be harder than actually skiing Millertime.


Washoe Zephyr after the groom.


Looking at Millertime from Chuter chair. It looks different from above.


Trees between Bruce's and Bonanza. They're still holding really well.

 

[Chris V.]

Saw the pics earlier over the weekend. Didn't realize it was Donner Ski Ranch

[PHOTOS] Friday's Structure Fire at Donner Ski Ranch, CA, is 2nd in Recent Years - SnowBrains

CAL FIRE responded with Truckee Fire District to the burning Lytton Lake Lodge at Donner Ski Ranch Resort, CA, on Friday night.

snowbrains.com

Alex, I'll take arson for $500.

 

[John Webb]

Still the same at Rose. Maybe a bit more dust on crust. I did venture down Millertime, which is the furthest of The Chutes to lookers left. Really nice, chalky snow but with a flurry of bumps towards the bottom where Millertime and Nightmare merge.


View attachment 157271
Bumps towards the bottom of Millertime


Getting to Millertime may be harder than actually skiing Millertime.

Maybe it's Millertime until the snow drought Nightmare ends !