Up and Down the West Coast: Seeking Fresh Powder Edition

I mentioned in a previous post how I went to Mammoth on a Mountain Collective Pass. My friend Michael and I now decided to go crazy and drive all the way to Whistler, BC, Canada and hit the three resorts on the way that offer the pass. Executive summary: Driving from San Diego to Whistler and back in a week is crazy. But it’s still better than flying. Thanks, airlines! Continue reading

Following the Pineapple Express to Mammoth with a Mountain Collective Pass

What a tragically bad season to get a Mountain Collective Pass! We’ve barely had any precipitation at all in California, and the more South you go, the drier it gets. Snow pack was below 33% of normal, which means most mountains would only allow on-piste skiing, and that’s tragically bad for crowd control. The Mountain Collective Pass, if you haven’t heard, is the attempt of the non-Vail resorts to band together. Continue reading

Tahoe, Here I Come

Y’all probably remember the terrible snowboarding accident that cut short my budding career as the world’s worst snowboarder. Well, that was three years ago, and I am still not fully recovered: there isn’t much to recover when tendons snap off, is there? But I am pretty much functional as I was, if more cautious at times. While I’ve been good about keeping active, and even added surfing as a new and all-consuming sport, I didn’t snowboard as much any longer. Continue reading

Heavenly? Not So Heavenly

People familiar with the geography of the place know that Heavenly-the-resort is named after a creek and valley that come down from East Peak, the highest skiable location in the Tahoe region. So, to expect it to be heavenly would be geographically not justified. We had a series of intense storms in the Northern California region, so it seemed the perfect moment to rush out and get to Tahoe. I rented a car, since I wanted to go midweek (and realized later I could have gotten a bunch of friends to go with me). Continue reading

Peak 2 Peak

Day 2 of my yearly trip to Whistler. The snow stinks, and you can’t really do anything outside of groomed runs, but storms are on their way. The base is decent, but really way too low for this time of the year. In places you see the base of trees, and the snow covering the rest of the mountain looks threadbare and thin. Snowmaking equipment is on all day and night. Continue reading

bayareaskibus.com

No car and snowboarder? What do you do? Take your bike up to Tahoe (hopefully it’s motorized) with your gear and your snowboard strapped on your back? Comes in handy when going downhill, you can use the board as your wings and fly above the crowd waiting in that giant parking lot that is I-80 on a Sunday evening. So far, I had three options: rent a car, go with friends that are willing to drive, or hitch a ride with unknown strangers on craigslist or one of the carshare sites. Continue reading

Review: Kirkwood

{moszoomimglink:Cornice}Of all the resorts in the Tahoe area, Kirkwood has been consistently cited by friends as the one with the best snow. It is indeed in an odd location, about 40 minutes South of South Lake Tahoe, all by itself. The slopes face the East, which means they are shielded from the fierce West winds that bring all the powder with the winter storms. I had not gone in the four years I had been snowboarding: I had always relied on season passes, and it seemed foolish to pay extra tickets and then go to a place so far off. Continue reading

Perfect Day

It’s Saturday evening, and the party people in the house are not budging. There are lots of places to go, lots of booze to drink, and yet nothing moves. Why is that? Well, tomorrow is a powder day! We decide to leave early in the morning. Whistler has this wonderful program called Fresh Tracks that gets you up the mountain at 7:30a (one hour before the general population is allowed to join). Continue reading

Picture of Marco Snowboarding

{moszoomimglink:Snowball fight in Heavenly 2}Nice picture of me, don’t you think? This one was shot on Heavenly, the first time I decided to go without a helmet, on a bright sunny and warm day. We had a ton of fun, despite being terribly skill-mismatched. This one was shot while I was throwing snowballs at George, the most terrific person you could imagine working with. We were racing down the mountain and suddenly realized we had lost Lina, and sat down waiting. Continue reading

Sierra Snow Alert

Just as I thought the seasons was over, I get an alert from Yahoo! telling me there are 19" of fresh powder in Sierra! Check out the picture from the Sierra webcam! {moszoomimglink:sierralift}