A view of "the palisades" runs at Palisades Tahoe, Olympic Valley
Some of the members here refer to "the Gathering Effect", where we seem to get good snow regularly for SkiTalk Gatherings. At Big Sky in 2019, we got 40". At last year's Gathering in Utah, we received 30-50". And earlier this year we got 51" in Taos. But this Gathering might have set a record... Palisades Tahoe officially received 98 inches of snow, starting the Friday before the Gathering, through Tuesday. Mount Rose and Diamond Peak got a bit less, but still more than 6 feet!
While that sounds great, it did present some problems - but Gatherers show up for a reason, and we still managed to ski 5 days, across 3 different resorts (4 if you count Alpine Meadows separately), and had a great time!
I'm going to pre-apologize for all the "action" shots... it seemed to be the thing to do this go-round for some reason, and I took a lot more of them than usual. There was a bit more formal action photoshoot by @Matchstix too, with some real equipment one day. (See here: https://www.skitalk.com/threads/2024-national-gathering-tahoe-live-trip-report.33691/post-972886) With that said... on to the Gathering trip report!
Day 1 and 2 - Saturday and Sunday, March 2nd and 3rd
With the storm having started Friday, most resorts in the Tahoe area were closed on Friday and Saturday. And I-80 was closed both directions between Donner pass and Reno, so several folks decided to wait things out in Reno, me included. That meant a get together at SkiTalk World Headquarters, aka STWH, aka Chez Ziggy, aka Phil and Tricia's house... Some food and drinks, ski gear talk of course, and some boot work was done over the weekend. (Thanks for the canting!)
There was even some skiing in the back bowls of Chez Ziggy... you can see video of that HERE and HERE.
Nice to see friends new and old, even if we didn't get to ski
Hat guys! @mdf and @Tony S
Checking out the test ski selection...
Day 3 - Monday, March 4th
I headed out from Reno early with @Tricia riding along to serve as my local guide. I-80 was still technically closed, but we'd heard that was more about Donner pass, and they'd let people through to get to local places. Well at the main checkpoint on I-80, I was told "no" and had to exit... so we tried the alternate route onto the highway. The guy at that checkpoint simply asked if we were just trying to get to Truckee, I said "yes", and he waved us through. Strange how different the two checkpoints were, but we were off to ski!
Alpine Meadows was the plan for the day, and they would only wind up getting two lower lifts running... Treeline Cirque (TLC) and Roundhouse. The snow, while there was a lot of it, was compacted, blown away, and carved by the wind. So there wasn't much powder skiing, but a lot of nice overall conditions depending on pitch and aspect. It was too bad we didn't get to the other lift areas, but was still a great day! And nice to be through the storm. That evening, I was finally able to check-in to my hotel at Palisades.
Booting up in the Alpine Meadows cafeteria, where you can also leave bags on hooks or by the fireplace
Booting up by the fireplace - @Philpug and @Tricia both going with a classic "thumbs up" photo pose.
First lift ride of the day with @Rainbow Jenny ... who unfortunately would get injured (hope you're healing!)
And a ride with @mdf... we more often share first chair than last chair
Early runs with @mdf, @Rainbow Jenny, @SKI-3PO, and his son Matthew
The sun was trying pretty hard to come out... but it didn't happen. This is the Treeline Cirque area
Looking up at the Scott chair area, which we didn't get to ski!
Afternoon crew... @Dean, @theNitza, @mdf, @aveski, @Unpiste, @Tony S, @Sinecure, @David Chaus, @DebbieSue, @Gary Stolt, @Phelmut, @SKI-3PO
View from somewhere up on Roundhouse lift... the hills around the lift held some nice snow in places!
Lift ride with @mdf, and some young'uns... @Matchstix and @Vince
I skied these the first couple of days... Salomon QST Echo 106... pivoty, rockery, pretty fun
Lift ride with @Jim Kenney and @Tony
And with the other Tony... @Tony S
SkiTalker ridge...
@Vince and @Unpiste
@Jim Kenney
@SKI-3PO and Matthew
@theNitza
Day 4 - Tuesday, March 5th
Mount Rose day! Tuesdays are "Two For Tuesday" at Mount Rose, so several Gatherers decided to head for a place some of us had never skied. A few more had planned to go, but as part of Mount Rose highway was still closed, access was via a long drive around through Reno - which kept some folks away. I got up a bit earlier and made the drive. Mount Rose was a lot of fun, with variable conditions.
It didn't help that the first run, @Philpug and others decided to lead me down a black diamond slope that was untracked. It looked nice, but it was highly variable, with crust, wind scour, stiff turns... and a few soft ones thrown in too. It was a lot of work for me... but things would get better from there. They shut down the backside after a few runs there, so we spent most time on the shorter front-side Lakeview lift.
The wind was a bit fierce at times, but the sheltered lower mountain areas were better, and things improved throughout the day. Lunch was good, and in the afternoon, we found some nice snow, bumps, and trees that we lapped a bunch of times. It made for a good afternoon, and I enjoyed Mount Rose. Seems a bit like an eastern area, with the single main lodge, small cafeteria, but with plenty of seating, and simple to get around mountain. The terrain is great too, though the chutes weren't open, which looked imposing, and fun if the conditions are right.
Looking at "The Chutes" at Mount Rose... they're impressive looking, but weren't open
@Philpug and me
Looking up the Zephyr lift on the "slide side" of Mount Rose... this lift closed after just a little while due to high winds
@Philpug, @David Chaus, @JFB, and me
Looking down a groomer to the valley at Mount Rose
More of the valley view
@Philpug
@Neurodrive
@David Chaus
@Stephen
@Tricia
@SSSdave
Checking the snow depth... went in pretty easy
A horde coming down some bumps
Nice view of nearby peaks
Afternoon crew... Amy, @Neurodrive, @Eleeski, @Philpug, @David Chaus, @Tricia, and @Stephen
@Philpug in some nice snow
@Stephen
@Eleeski cruising
@Tricia
Interesting trees and view near the top
We skied these trees a few times in a row... they were lots of fun... @Stephen and @Eleeski here
@Tricia coming out of the trees
@Tricia's favorite tree
And her with the tree!
@Tricia did take one header into the snow... and @Eleeski couldn't explain it
@Don4Fun, @Eleeski, me, and @Tricia... fun people to ski with!
Looking for good snow toward the end of the day... the snow in the trees in the background looked pretty nice, but was very wind sculpted
While Mount Rose was fun, the drive home for me certainly wasn't. I left Mount Rose at about 4:30... and the Mount Rose highway back toward Lake Tahoe was now open. It was completely cleared, and a really nice drive to the lake, where I proceeded to take Rt. 29 around the north shore. There was some traffic ahead but I didn't think too much of it. After a half-hour or so of crawling, traffic pretty much came to a standstill. I waited about 45 mins more, before I gave up.
I turned around, and drove back over all of Mount Rose highway, through Reno, back to I-80, and the whole way back to Palisades. With a stop for gas, I got back about 4 hours after I left. Quite an ordeal, but it sounded like if I'd waited it out, I'd have been stuck there another couple of hours! (Turned out a stuck truck in some snow backed things up for several hours.)
But at least where I was stuck, the views were nice!
Day 5 - Wednesday, March 6th
Palisades Olympic Valley... just rolls off the tongue.
We'll call it OV for short... the storm had finally cleared out, the winds were down, and everything was expected to be open. Granite Chief and Headwall lifts hadn't opened since the storm, so the local skiers seemed to be excited to ski them. I stood near the greeters prior to the meetup, and heard several folks come up and ask them which lifts were going to open for the first time that day.The morning was spent exploring and waiting for Headwall lift to open. We hit a variety of conditions, and some folks decided to hike the palisades. I took a lap and came back for some (you guessed it) action shots. We had a pretty big group lunch at the top of the Funitel (surprisingly good Indian food), and then I headed down to the lower mountain with @Tony to take a few Red Dog chair laps and wait for the photoshoot @Matchstix had offered up. We wound up with a group of maybe 15 to do the shoot, and had a good time heading down some groom and bumps.
After that I spent the afternoon on KT-22 and Headwall, with @Near Nyquist hunting out good snow for me and @Pumba, even as the afternoon was getting downright warm. An après drink at the iconic Le Chamois was a nice way to end the day.
Booting up at Wildflour
I always like this sign/view at the Funitel station
@Tony S, @Philpug, @Tricia, and me
We somehow, without trying too much, kept a huge group together most of the morning...
Some avy debris coming out of The Attic area
Me, @Phelmut, @theNitza
Headwall chair, The Palisades runs, and Siberia Chair - left to right along the ridge
After riding Siberia, a bunch of folks decided to hike the Palisades... while me, Winks, and Phil took a lap to come back and watch them come down... the hike is on the right here, and steeper than it looks here
me, @Winks, and @Philpug
Catching @Tony S coming out of National (one of the Palisades runs)
Tony then stopped to watch everyone else
@SKI-3PO
@David Chaus
@Dean
@Neurodrive
@theNitza
Some tired SkiTalkers after the hike and ski
View of Lake Tahoe across Chicken Bowl and the top of Headwall lift
@Jim Kenney, @Chickenmonkey, and @Vince at the top of Siberia
View down into the village from Red Dog
Me, @Pumba, and @Near Nyquist heading up KT-22
View of Headwall chair from KT-22
@Near Nyquist and @Pumba in the Saddle area of KT-22
Looking down from the Saddle area
Looking down at the base of Headwall chair
Sun-bow over Headwall
These guys were coming up when we were going down... @John Webb, @mdf, @David Chaus, @Tony, @Vince
End of the day, après scene at Le Chamois... nice place to have a beer on a pretty warm day
Day 6 - Thursday, March 7th
Another day, another new resort... this time Diamond Peak, near the western side of Lake Tahoe. It's a smaller, more local mountain, but has a lot going for it. They pride themselves on their grooming, and their manicured glades which are all over the mountain. The views are wonderful too, when you can see them. We did deal with low clouds that rolled in and out across the top of the mountain.
So unfortunately, we didn't quite get Diamond Peak at it's best... but the grooming was great, we had great views at times, and it was a very fun day. The only lift lines of note were pretty much caused by our group - which seems to be the norm on weekdays there from what I understand. I bet it would be a wonderful place on a nice powder day.
The group getting the tour of the place from @Stev early on
@theNitza checking out the trail map
View of Lake Tahoe from the (of all things) Lakeview lift
For Diamond Peak, I was on my Stockli SR95s... always a great all-around ski
The grooming really was outstanding... I can see they put care into it
me, @Tricia, and @Stev
More SkiTalkers coming up behind
In addition to being smooth, some of the groomers were also steep... this isn't the steepest of them either
Nice views of Washoe Lake off the top
Lake Tahoe coming down the Crystal Ridge run
@Neurodrive and the lake (sounds like an alt-rock band
)
Matching set of Stocklis... SR88 (@Near Nyquist), SR95 (me), and SR105 (@Unpiste)
@Near Nyquist and @Unpiste coming out of some trees... it was mostly not good in the trees, but there were a few good turns to be had... the glading is typical all over the place
@Near Nyquist
A group coming down Spillway from the top... @David Chaus leading the way
@Tricia in some light falling snow
Another group... SkiTalkers were everywhere... Amy, followed by @aveski and @MarkP here
Me, @Phelmut, and @Chris V.
Frosted trees near the top
Fog coming in before lunch
And some brief heavy snowfall
Followed by clearing and more lake views
The next 2 pics were taken on consecutive runs from the top... conditions changed fast (@Near Nyquist in both)
Sunnier lake view
It's not quite spring skiing yet, but there seems to be a wiggle forming already at Diamond Peak!!
Day 7 - Friday, March 8th
Well for the last ski day, we wound up back where we started - at Palisades Alpine Meadows. It was a beautiful day that promised to warm up. And Alpine Meadows planned to get all their lifts running... I was excited to ski Sherwood, Lakeview, and Scott chairs. But the local power grid had other ideas... A power outage after a few runs shut down everything!
Some people decided to leave... some people took a seat to wait it out... and many folks (though no one from SkiTalk I don't think) were stuck on the lifts until they could get them unloaded via generator - some for over an hour! Eventually, the base-to-base gondola with OV got running, and a bunch of us decided to take it over, even though it wasn't assured that we'd be able to take it back. (And would have then have to take the shuttle back to pick up cars.)
That was a good choice, as we got some laps in on the OV side of the resort. A couple of runs off KT-22 and Headwall, and then a run down Red Dog and Resort chairs. Fun stuff, and better than sitting around waiting for power to come back. After a few runs, we WERE able to take the gondola back to AM, in time for lunch. The afternoon was spent mostly on Summit chair with a bunch of Wolverine Bowl laps among other things. Some of the other lifts never did re-open after the power outage, which was a disappointment. But the skiing was still good overall, and a nice way to end the Gathering. (Well, a couple of drinks at après were really the end, but the skiing was good too!
)Morning started with a big group at the top of Roundhouse chair
After a couple of runs... then an hour or so of waiting... the gondola over to OV was boarding... here some folks are getting off at the top of KT-22
Then back to AM, and looking for good snow after lunch... @SKI-3PO here
@Gary Stolt
@Phelmut
@Neurodrive on the left, with @Gary Stolt
We skied the D-chutes a few times down into Wolverine Bowl... I would ski this one later, and fall (gently)... it was very steep... @Neurodrive and @Phelmut coming out of it
@Tony S
Sun setting behind Wolverine Bowl
Final couple of runs were down The Face under the Summit chair... lots of SkiTalkers... and a random tumbler (and it was a lot more bumped up than it looks)
That was it for 5 days of really good skiing, and a lot of great turns. Other items for the trip...
Flight
I flew in and out of Reno from DC, which is, IMO, easily the best choice. It does require a 1-stop flight from DC, but many ski areas do. And since Reno was getting way less snow than the resorts or passes, my flight got in fine. Coming in from Sacramento or San Francisco would have been tougher.
Lodging
I stayed most of the time at the Olympic Valley Inn, at the outskirts of the village at Palisades. I think it was a good place to stay, though would have been more convenient had we skied Palisades more. It's walkable to the lifts, though a pretty long way in ski boots, and they run a shuttle. The rooms are all suites, with small kitchens, and I was able to eat-in some nights. Maybe most interestingly, per their website, it was built out of the left-over dorm-style buildings where the athletes stayed during the 1960 Olympics, which is cool.
Next Year
The most likely plan is Jackson Hole... but I'm not making any promises yet.
BIG THANKS to everyone who came out, dealt with the weather, dealt with the travel, dealt with me, dealt with power outages, and still made this a great Gathering.
We do it, because SKIING IS FUN!
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