2010 Ski Season: Day 25-Alpine Meadows

Location: Alpine Meadows
Date: 5/9/2010
Conditions: Spring



Break out the balloon, I made my target of 25 days. We were 2 of about 240 people on the mountain Sunday. I have to say, getting up to the top of Alpine Bowl at 9:15 for the above shot made my day.

The next special thing happened 3/4 the way down the first run. As I came down the middle of the slope alone, I spotted a critter scampering across the snow. I skied over to his hideout, a well for the snowmaking equipment long-since turned off, and saw him up close. It was a groundhog. I sat 5 feet downhill from him and he stared at me. After a while, the woodchuck gave up his hiding spot and scurried across the rest of the run and safely into the trees. I don't think another soul saw him.

The day was much colder than I would have anticipated. The sun only lasted for the first couple of runs before the sky turned gray. By the last run of the day, wouldn't you know it, it started to snow!

That's it for this season, tune in next year folks.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 24-Squaw

Location: Squaw Valley
Date: 5/8/2010
Conditions: Firm, sugar, hot-butter-mush




Day 24 started out on the Funitel as usual. We hit Gold Coast Express then over to Shirley Lake. Conditions were really good, nicely groomed, good coverage. It was windy though. We took the chance to get on Granite Chief and it was much nicer over there.

After a while on the Shirley side we hit Headwall Express. Boy, that was super windy. I had my best run of the day off of Headwall and into Siberia Bowl. Noone had hit that face and I jumped into the bowl through some marker poles and got some good turns.

We headed off the mountain by 3:30 or so to make candles. Yup, candles.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 23-Sierra-at-Tahoe

Location: Sierra-at-Tahoe
Date: 4/18/2010
Conditions: Spring



Morning was nice, afternoon got pretty slopping under 50 degrees plus temps.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 22-Kirkwood

Location: Kirkwood
Date: 4/10/2010
Conditions: Groomers, crunchy, windy



So I've matched my previous season total of 22 days which is also the most I've had in any season. I'm pretty happy about that. Carl contacted me on Facebook to see if I wanted to hit Kirkwood and the answer was an obvious yes. We headed out at 5AM and made it to Kirkwood by 8:30 or so. Carl rides a board and has gotten in 10 or so days this season. I know Kirkwood pretty well so I took him around starting off on some blues to warm up.

We headed to the backside and were disappointed to learn that Chair 4 was closed for wind. Oh well, at least we made it to the backside on potentially the last day it was open for the season.

That afternoon we met up with Walter (PPK) from the Bay Area Ski Bus. He was up with a bunch of rippers who had a cabin near 89&50. One guy in particular, Eric, was an amazing skier. I had to ask him to slow it down by 50% so I could see WTF he was up to. We did a bunch of laps on 6 before Carl and I reconnected and hits some blues to wind down the day.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 21-Alpine Meadows

Location: Alpine Meadows
Conditions: Soft Snow, Spring, Bluebird
Date: 4/7/2010

Alpine Meadows remains one of my favorite resorts. Skiing solo on a mid-week trip, I was determined to rack up some serious vertical footage. I hit the backside all morning and came back down the Expert Shortcut, one of my favorite runs there. The run of the day was through Pallisades. Great snow, great moguls, nice and steep, and all to myself.

Here's the stats for the day and the map:

26617 vertical feet
52 miles


View Track 15 in a larger map

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2010 Ski Season: Day 20-Sugar Bowl

Location: Sugar Bowl
Date: 4/2/2010
Conditions: Wind Blown



Lots of powder all over the mountain. Unfortunately, severely high winds had blown most of it into a weird punchy pack. The first runs of the day were all on untracked which was nice. I took a lesson in the afternoon and hit Strawberry fields and some other fun stuff off of Disney. Summit was closed all day.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 19-Heavenly

Location: Heavenly
Date: 3/27/2010
Conditions: variable

Groomer day at Heavenly. Lots of business travel. Nicely groomed in the morning, slushy in spots.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 18-Northstar (Show Some Respect)

First run down, Jodi and I are hitting Lookout Mountain, making slow turns on a groomer day and I get bored. I decide to start maching down the mountain as fast as I can on Martis. I reach terminal velocity right at the bottom of the run and see some rollers that could spell trouble. I turn around the first, negotiate the second, and completely miss the third roller.

Whoops.

Airborne.

SLAM.

Ski falls off.

Knee in my chest?

Helmet on the snow?

Goggles crash into my face.

Skier who witnesses all of this as I fly by him and proceed to destroy myself at the flat part of the run brings my ski along.

"Now that's what I call a yardsale."

me: I thought I had it

skier: "Ya, you tried to bring it back in."

Click back in, go up, little tender in my chest.

Next run. Two skiers buzz by me and shout epithets. I'm not for that so I get on my horse to chase them down.

Boom.

Down again.

Sliding.

Sliding.

Sliding.

Trying to stop.

Still sliding.

Finally stop. My right ski is about 30 yards up the mountain. Picture Jodi, on her 152's, skiing the steepest part of the run, carrying my lone 184.

Click back in, ski to the bottom, wonder WTF?

Lunchtime, "Hey honey, is my eye all red here?"

Jodi: Yep.

How about under my eye

Jodi: Yea, you've got a bit of a black eye going.

Ski the rest of the day, no issues.

Last run, skiing a lonely blue. Boom, ski pops off. I'm on one ski. I'm turning dragging a boot for good measure. I go down. She brings my ski down to me for the second time. I look at the binding. WTF.

Ahh, that explains the second and third falls. Two of the three screws holding in my toe piece were ripped out on the first run of the day.

Next day, ouch, my rib hurts.

End result: busted binding, busted rib, black eye

Lesson learned, show some respect for the mountain, at least on the first run of the day.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 17-Alpine

Location: Alpine Meadows
Date: 3/13/2010
Conditions: Variable

Jodi and I took the Summit Six lift and traversed/hiked along the high traverse to Sun Bowl. While the cornice getting into the bowl was a bit dicey for one of us, the skiing was fantastic.

That night, we headed to our favorite bankrupt casino straddling the California/Nevada border and rested up for Day 2 on the overnight Bay Area Ski Bus trip.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 16-Kirkwood

Date: 3/7/2010
Location: Kirkwood
Conditions: Bluebird morning, snow showers afternoon.

I love Kirkwood. Of all the resorts at Tahoe, given my choice, I would ski Kirkwood any day. The terrain, the people, the mountain, the attitude, all of it seems to fit with me.

Thanks to our bat-outta-hell bus driver, we arrived at Kirkwood at 7:55 AM, over an hour before the lifts were scheduled to start. That earned us first chair on Solitude. First chair is the best way to start out the day, try it, you'll like it.

The morning was absolutely perfect weather, bluebird skies and nice temps all around the mountain. Kirkowwd hosted day 1 of the Freeskiing World Tour in the "permanently closed" Cirque between the frontside and backside of the mountain. We got close, but not too close to the action. As we hit the Caples Crest link, we spied a dude ski BASE jumping and doing flips as he hurled down the cliff-infested face. Other skiers competed by jumping 40 footers and riding away clean.

As I've said before,Kirkwood's backside is a mini-resort unto itself. We rode all four of those lifts covering the Fawn Ridge, Wave, Happiness Is, and Vista areas. I hucked the Cornice atop the Wave about 4 feet or so and landed it. To round out the backside tour, we hit my favorite, Thunder Saddle and traversed out past the World Tour as the flurries started coming down and new snow filled in our tracks.



I took a few park runs and managed to stay upright in the Timber Creek area. We hit Cornice Express and went over to Sentinel Bowl for some steep and deep to round out the early afternoon. I wanted one more shot at the backside, so we did that too.

Bell to bell skiing, blue skies, fresh powder, park, steeps, and a pro competition all in one day? Yup. Kirkwood.

Stats

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2010 Ski Season: Day 15-Squaw

Location: Squaw
Date: 2/28/2010
Conditions: Pow pow



I have probably skied 20 days at Squaw but this was my first verified powder day. With 18" overnight and snow falling most of the day, conditions were primo. Step 1, funitel. Then over to Gold Coast. Hit the Shirley Lake/Solitude area, then over to Red Dog and Squaw Creek.

Lunch was at Squaw Creek, great food, hidden gem.

We hit a few blacks near Red Dog and then cruised back town by around 4 PM. Great mountain, great snow, great day.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 14-Homewood

Location: Homewood
Date: 2/20/2010
Conditions: Variable, hard pack morning, powder

We expected about an inch and were rewarded with much more. What a day!

The morning started out pretty firm, dust on crust. By about noon, the storm moved in and didn't stop all day.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 13-Sugar Bowl

Location: Sugar Bowl
Date: 2/14/2010
Conditions: Variable



Great day out there for Valentine's Day with my sweetie

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2010 Ski Season: Day 11-Sugar Bowl

Location: Sugar Bowl
Date: 2/6/2010
Conditions: Powder/Sierra Cement



The morning started out with fantastic conditions. Sugar Bowl had fresh snow on the ground and more snow was coming down. We hit the White Pines lift and then over to Judah. Fresh tracks everywhere! After Judah we went over to the Jerome Hill lift and hit Sidewinder, a nice little tree-lined passage to the other side of the mountain.

All day we hit laps of Lincoln and Disney, the two main lifts on the Village side. We went through the gates below Lincoln and hit Stelhang and Hari-Kari Gullies. Off Disney we ventured into Crows Face through the gates. The best runs of the day were off Crowley's run all the way to the boundary. Noone was around and the powder was fantastic.

Too much speed into too much snow. As the day wore on, the snow kept coming, only it was heavier, wetter snow. As a result, I had another double eject and did a full front flip out of both skis.

After 3 PM I tend to take it easier recognizing that other skiers are tired and accident prone. We headed to the Judah side for some park action. On the lift up, I noticed two skiers down on the side of the run. As we got down the mountain, the two were still there, huddled up. I asked if everything was okay. They were trying to put one kids ski back on, and doing a piss-poor job of it.

Demetri: Hey, are you guys alright?
Kid 1: I'm trying to get his ski back on
D: Step one, stand up
Kid 2: We tried that, I think my ski is broken
D: Alright, let me see
Kid: 2: Ow!
D: Stomp down!
Jodi: Line up your heel!
Kid 1: Left!
D (Grabbing his heel): Right here, stomp!
Kid 2: I can't!

After a few minutes of wrangling, I finally pulled up on his rear binding and got the kids ski back on and watched him ski away, in a full pizza. Oh well, good deed for the day done.

I hit a few more laps in the park after learning that Summit Chair was closed down for the day.

Sugar Bowl has a ton of gnarly terrain to offer. It's up to you to ski within your ability level but start at the gates and watch for signs saying Cliff Ahead.

Got any lines I missed? Let me know.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 9-Sierra at Tahoe

Location: Sierra at Tahoe
Date: 1/24/2010
Conditions: Blower Pow

Today we got a chance to try out Jodi's new skis: Dynastar Exclusive Legend Eden 152. She liked them from their first turns. It didn't hurt that the mountain was blanketed in 6ft of new snow.

We started out in the West Bowl on some groomers. I couldn't help but explore the powder-laden trees along the sides of the runs. We found some of the best snow on the mountain in the trees between Dogwood and Upper Sleigh Ride.


View Track 6 in a larger map

After it got crowded in the West Bowl we headed over to Grandview. Preacher's Passion had amazing snow. Pillows all over the place!

After that, we hit Jackrabbit for more awesome pow. It was complete blower and I mowed it down.

We hit the backside a little as Jodi got more adventorous and started hitting the trees on her own.

I think Sierra was the best place to ski that day, perfect snow, not too busy, and plenty of untracked to whet your pow appetite.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 7-SIerra at Tahoe

Location: Sierra at Tahoe
Date: 1/11/2010
Conditions: Machine groomed

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2010 Ski Season: Day 6-Heavenly

Location: Heavenly
Date: 1/10/2010
Conditions: Variable

On Sunday, we were joined by Laura who was out for her first day since a nasty spill at Heavenly last year. Again, we hit the gondy first thing in the morning. This time, however, we needed to pull some shady steps to cash in two more Warren Miller Dynasty vouchers she had scored on Craigslist. Since we had already used ours, we neede two straw men to complete the transaction. Enter Michelle and Jimmy. We dragged them out to the mountain that morning but we faced on additional problem: no printer access at the cabin. A few well-placed phone calls later and we found ourselves at the Harrah's business center paying $1.50 per page to print the vouchers plus a $10 minimum usage charge. Oh well. Still saved a ton of money in the process. More on the money aspect later, this is South Lake Tahoe and we're at a casino after all.

Like Day 5, we spent most of our time on the Nevada side cruising blue groomies. The place was much less crowded giving us a greater chance to lap runs.

We also checked out Perimeter which was in pretty bad shape. There was a nice flyover by some fighter jets as we dipped lower down the mountain and found bare spots and exposed gravel. Having thoroughly explored the Nevada side, we headed back to California for Sky Express laps. The snow was in decent shape and I finally found my turning groove. It feels weird to make progress on an off day just goofing around but I'll take what I can get. I found that by turning my hips and really letting the skis whip around I was able to get a better carve with less energy. Who knew?

As the day wound down we connected with our snowboarding brethren and headed back down the gondy. In the ride down, the bets placed that morning during the printer expedition came to light. Our group had put down a significant series of bets on the Green Bay Packers. Growing up in Chicago a rival of the Chedheads, I kept quiet. As we returned to Fire and Ice, I whispered to Jodi that I was not rooting for the Packers.



As fate would have it, the game went into overtime after a flurry of lead changes during the apparent defensive-less fourth quarter. On the fist drive, the Green Bay Quarterback threw a partially blocked pass which he then kicked into the hands of a defensive lineman who returned it for a touchdown. What a bizarre play.

We headed back to the Tahoe Keys for a scrumptious dinner followed by the possibly the worst board game play in the history of board games. Cards were literally thrown into the fireplace. For those of you considering a harmless game of Taboo, get the anniversary edition please.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 5-Heavenly (Plus MC Hammer)

Location: Heavenly
Date: 1/9/2010
Conditions: Variable

This was my first trip to Heavenly in two seasons. Some friends organized a birthday cabin trip to South Lake Tahoe for a long weekend. We loaded up our car and headed to Oakland to head up Friday afternoon. Our two friends board while we both ski. That made for an interesting packing process with five Dakine bags, boots, food, and games. Our hosts wanted to strap our gear to the roof of their VW Toureg. I was not having it. We folded down the seat to save our gear from getting ripped off the roof through the mountain pass.

We got the the Tahoe Keys Friday night and discovered an awesome rental cabin right on the waterfront. We hit the Fire and Ice at Heavenly village for dinner. The place is a ton of fun. Drinks were 22 OZ's. After three of these, I spilled raw fish into the buffet line's Alfredo sauce bin.

The next morning we headed out by 9 AM. We scored some free lift tickets from Warren Miller's Dynasty premiere.

The place was jammed. All the lines were long. Skiers and boarders dotted the slopes like human pylons. One of our skiers got separated from the group after missing a turn, a common problem at Heavenly.

We managed to get some great runs in over on the Nevada side including laps on Orion. Lunch was at the East Peak Lodge. After chowing down we lapped the blues on the Neavada side before taking the California Trial back to the Gondola.

After a trip back to the Keys, a quick shower, and wolfing down some pasta, Jodi and I headed back to South Lake to the Harrah's Casino where MC Hammer was scheduled to perform at 7:30.

Yes, MC Hammer, as in U Can't Touch This. You may not know MC Hammer is a social media expert. He gave the keynote speech at the Snowcial conference on snow sports and social media. We arrived to learn the concert was sold out. I had 6 extra tickets which I sold to the first 6 people in line.

The show was an absolute blast. Let me say this, MC Hammer still has all the moves and stage presence to rock the party. By the end of the show, Hammer had come out down the isle spitting rhymes right in front of us. He had over 100 people up on stage dancing and showing their moves for U Can't Touch This. My favorite performance of the night was Turn This Mother Out.

After the show, we headed back to the Tahoe Keys for some R&R. I was so excited about my MC Hammer photos I couldn't wait to get them uploaded.

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2010 Ski Season: Day 4-Sugarbowl

Location: Sugarbowl
Date: 1/4/2010
Conditions: Packed Powder

Introducing the MantraCam:

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2010 Ski Season: Day 3-Alpine Meadows

Location: Alpine Meadows
Date: 1/2/2010
Conditions: Packed Powder

We headed up to Lake Tahoe Friday, New Years Day, for a long weekend at the new Bay Area Ski Bus cabin. After chowing on some lunch at ToGo's our host and BASB owner Brian picked us up in Sunnyvale in a converted 15 passenger van. We loaded up my trusty Volkl Mantra 184s on the roof rack and met up with 4 boarders who were going up with us, Gary, Justin, Kosgey, and Emily. We chatted with Brian as we headed to SF to pick up Diane, the 8th member for the inaugural cabin trip.

We got news of the the Kirkwood Fire some tasty margaritas at Truckee's La Bamba. To avoid the disaster, Brian wisely re-routed his 6 buses scheduled to hit the fire-damaaged resort over to Alpine where we would ski the next morning. We came back to the cabin where a wood-burning stove warmed the entrance and a heated hot tub waited for us on the back deck.

Saturday morning, we were up and atem by 7:00 AM. A quick breakfast and we loaded up the van to hit Alpine Meadows for our first trip of the new year. Alpine has definitely upped their customer service game. Before we even got out of the van we had lift tickets in hand and a mountain host offering to carry our skis to the mountain. I took a few warm up laps on Hot Wheels while Jodi sorted out her rental skis. She got some nice Volkl all-mountain skis and we quickly headed to Alpine's back side to enjoy the sunshine.

On the way back to the front side, I had a minor slip that almost cost me dearly on Expert Shortcut. I caught an edge about 10 feet above a large exposed rock cliff and lost a ski. Luckily, I knew the boulder was there so I dug my ski poles into the ground to arrest my slide over the face. It took a long while to click back in but I skied down to the base where Jodi was waiting with a quizzical look wondering what took so long and how she managed to beat me down.

After a quick noon break we hooked up with Brian for some turns in Alpine Bowl, where the photo of Jodi and me above was taken. Brian rips, so any of you who want to try to keep up with him, I suggest you sharpen skis and prepare for an all-out assault on the mountain. We also met up with host Mario and Sliding on the Cheap creator Daryl.

We skied the rest of the afternoon with Brian and Diane and tackled some mogul runs as well as some easier stuff before wrapping up for the day. On the last run of the day we ran into David who runs the Alpine website and saw him shooting his little ripper kids in the terrain park.


Alpine is a fantastic mountain. If you make it there, be sure to find your way to the backside and explore Sherwood. I'm still looking for fabled Munchkins. Next time I'll track down one of the locals to show me the way.

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