Sierra Nevada Conditions, Reports,TR's and Hooking Up With Others

[Quadzilla]

OK, Snow is falling and piling up rapidly as the weather went from Tee shirt MTB just last week to a growing base and growing as I write this. So, time to make 18-19 a great memory. My hope is that there is a growth of action with this topic, the discipline to report Conditions and TR's and to use this as a stepping stone to hook up with others for BC tours and turns.

[Quadzilla]

Since yesterday was our first day, I guess I will start this with what we saw and experienced. First it was a resort day and a holiday resort day to boot. This means crowds and crowds on limited terrain available. We overestimated the snow conditions as there was maybe 20" in the past two days and 4" overnite. So, we brought bigger skis in the 105UF category and these proved to be too big as the resort had really rolled out the snow and it was a combo of man made and fresh. This made for firm groomers and slippery. The vis was heavy overcast as well so that was a issue too.

Anyway, to make a long story short we skied for 1.5 and bailed due to the crowd and vis. Lynn's hip proved to be a non issue and she skied great with no indication of hip surgery or being gun shy mingling with a big and fast crowd. Me, I did OK and was wishing for my 88's. Today, 4-6" overnite so we are going to tour low angle on fishscales and see. We ae going to a spot that gets lake effect so I think we will get some turns. Slopes today will be 10-30 degree pitch with a fair amount of approach and runout.

[Quadzilla]

Got first tour in yesterday and it was impressive, first, the lake effect really took effect above Diamond Peak ski area and put down 24-36" of medium density snow, unconsolidated from top to bottom. A interesting feature was that the snow depth was consistent all over so, the snow was deep right from the car to the top of the ridge of the Carson Range and back to the car. Skinning was tough without a base so slogging along with skis buried 18". As far as obstacles like granite and blowdown, yes there was some of that but mainly enough snow to over most things. Other factors were that it was butt cold like with a 15mph wind the temps were around 0 so our water froze and telebindings freezing up continually. The binding problem was a big hassle as the skis had to be removed every transition and when you stepped off you dropped in thigh deep. The descents were 10-30 pitches and pretty slow but enough to make turns and billy goating around things like trees and buried rocks.

Anyway, I have no problem sharing beta so path started at the TRT in the Tahoe Meadows and generally followed that all the way to the crest of the Carson Range overlooking Washoe Valley and Lake Tahoe. I broke trail the whole way and the initial climb was maybe close to a thousand, Lynn led the descent back to the TH. A big issue for her is that BC travel especially climbing really aggravated her bad hip so the tour was a test on new hip and she did great and had no side effects afterward. I felt good too and never got winded climbing. I had frustration with the tele gear in these conditions and cold. Overall we were out for three hours, never stopped much due to cold and skied the conditions well. Anyway a good day and for others waiting for the snow to get deeper I would say that it is doable right now and worthy and there is a lot more snow in the future.

So, I don't want to hog this post so if you are out let's hear about it.

[bergbryce]

I'm on the north side of the lake until Thursday (It's Monday evening now). I realize conditions aren't great but I'm itchin' to just to get out and maybe make some turns.

SAC report said a "mostly right side up" snowpack of 167 cm (!!) at Tamarack. I'd be down for some mellow tours up that way if anyone is interested.

[Quadzilla]

We would be available wed or Thurs although wed looks like weather. I think we would be up for Chick a Dee but leary of anything steeper there's 7 feet of snow in the past week and more coming in addition of warming. Pm me if you are interested to try for

[bergbryce]

I don't have plans for tomorrow (Weds.) yet. I don't see a PM function, has it been removed??


I skied tamarack today and it was good, much better than expected. I did not have the right skis. I needed the fattest skis I have, it is deep and pretty soft.

[Matt J]

Dropped in today on the forum for the first time in years, perhaps a few if you remember me from the Lassen meet up years ago....

Bought a pass for Squaw this year but would like to mix some hiking into my trips down south so I will check in periodically.

Broke my wrist on the MTB a month ago, so probably another month or so before I'm sliding on snow.

Best wishes old friends and stay safe out there!

[Quadzilla]

Nice wind buff traveling down from Tamarack toward Galena Creek drainage Mt. Rose Wilderness

[chamonix]

Nice snow, Quad
I'm going to quite my job, and move out West...Wait, I'm already retired !

[tahoebc]

Welcome back all 6 of us :-) Season is off to a great start things are pasted up high, now we just need some cold storms!

[Dostie]

Looking very sweet. Miss the ground-level Sierra spackle. Depth hoar sucks!

[mchin]

Lucky# 7 chiming in. TahoeBC and Quad - great pics, thanks for the stokage!

[SPQR]

Kirkwood was pretty good today, a bit windy and temps a little on the warm side, 31 degrees. It snowed all day, the layer below today’s snow was pretty hard, hit a few ice sharks on first run. Visibility was marked by wind, grapple and fog. But as snow accumulated during the day enough fell that I forgot about that. Plus this month marks my 50th year skiing, first day was in Dec. 1969 at Heavenly. So all in all a fun day. I did have some difficulty getting the duck butt engaged on my left Lynx binding. Plus the toes don’t seem to have the snap of Meidjo. But once engaged good to go. Tomorrow should be awesome!

[Quadzilla]

Great snow conditions today in the Mt. Rose Wilderness skiing the backside of Spark Plug near Tamarack and 431. We climbed around 2,800 and got three laps. This is the last vid we did playing with our old Go Pro and was our only skiing on the SE exposed side. As you can see pretty good snow that should be crusty but a thin cloud cover kept the snow from getting too crusty. Lynn's wearing the go Pro skiing five weeks out from total hip. We have another vid that I am going to edit of the North facing and more powder skiing that I will put up later. Lynn is skiing 164 Voile Super Chargers/Dynafits/Salomon Explore boots with beefed up liners.

Pic of our partner Jason and Lynn with Mt. Rose Proper in the background.

[Quadzilla]

OK, another vid skiing North facing trees going down toward Galena Creek Drainage. Snow is actually a higher quality that the first vid^^ This was our second lap should have done a vid of the first lap as the terrain was steeper and a bit earlier in the day so snow was a bit sweeter.

Tired right now, first real tour with some vert and mileage. We also did a MTB ride yesterday at Clear Creek and was able to get 10 miles(total O&B) before getting stopped by snow. Snow conditions here right now both EYT and resort are good so need to take advantage as we can also get in a drought pattern and season turns sour. However, we love MTB in the cold.............