Raining on the snow!
My friend D. just called with horrible news: the wonderful, wonderful powder of last week is disappearing under heavy rain! The snow level is at about 8000 feet, making it impossible to ski in the lower elevations of the mountain. Actually, Squaw and the other (lower) resorts are having a ton of trouble, while the top of Monument Peak still seems to be fine.Almost missed the first winter storm
In a strange coincidence J. and I decided to go up to Tahoe and ski away on Saturday. We had initially planned for Sunday by decided then we wanted to go Saturday. The trip up was great – we made it in no time, thanks to careful planning – and then we proceeded to going up and down as many times as we could. On the way up from the gondola for lunch, we chatted with a couple that was going up for the first time boarding. Continue readingSaturday Fun
This weekend, the first Saturday run with two colleagues of mine. One is a total beginner, the other one an intermediate beginner, and then I, the uberrookie. Sounds like fun???First Snowboarding Day: Sunday, 12/4
Was it fun? More fun than I remembered! After a long hiatus and with the tentative and hopeful approval of the snow gods, D. and I drove up the mountain and stopped in Heavenly. The drive was very uneventful, getting up the mountain not a problem at all yet, with the snow barely making it to the pass. In Heavenly (California Lodge), I stood in line for my season pass. It took about 45 minutes, and it could have been organized better, but in the end we were all happy and ready to go. Continue readingHeavenly Opens Tomorrow, Wednesday 11/30!!!
Well, if the headline doesn’t say it all… They even had an interview on NPR with the head of South Lake Tahoe CC, and he was extatic! Sunday? Anyone? I’ll be up, and it looks like some of my colleagues are going, too.Heavenly Not Opening On Friday, After All
It was all over the skiheavenly.com site until Friday: the season was to open on 11/18!!! That didn’t happen, although the snowmakers are pretty busy. Now the opening date is set to Thanksgiving. If that happen, there is going to be one sick puppy that is going to be in heaven(ly)! I am already thinking of bringing a turkey sandwich to the slopes. Or maybe I should break down and finally buy the turkey jerky I always stared at in the supermarket. Continue readingGoofy?
Dude! Check out the board. It’s still regular. I can’t believe it! Regular, for all you that don’t know yet, is a board on which the bindings are mounted to make you face to the left. Goofy is the opposite. The terms, I am told, come from wave surfing, the sport closest in physics to snowboarding. When I went to do my first boarding trip ({moszoomalbum:2004-12-26}) I had no idea at all and ended up choosing regular more because I felt like a regular guy (stop laughing! Continue readingSlow start?
According to the [Wester Regional Climate Center](http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?cataho+nca), there is definitely a shortage of snow on the mountains around Lake Tahoe. Looks like this might be a slow start of the season! Usually, early November already sees accumulation, and the average snow depth for the month in Tahoe City is 3 inches. Now, looking at the resort cams, there isn’t any snow left even on top of the mountain! It’s so bad that Heavenly even turned off their cam, presumably not to embarrass fans. Continue reading