On January 5th, armed with my Epic and Indy passes,I headed south to the Tahoe area just as the last storm system had dumped 70 inches in the Sierras and the next one was scheduled to bring another 70 inches.
The Epic pass gives you access to the ‘Vail Universe,’ which includes Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Tahoe area. The Indy pass gives you access to a long list of more local, excellent areas across the country. My goal with this trip was to drive to Tahoe and ski the Vail areas, and hit a couple Indy areas on the way down and back.
Overall guiding principles:
- Ski every chair that’s worthwhile
- Don’t pay for parking
- Pack a lunch
- If the ski area is closed, consider skinning up (many of the smaller areas are close some weekdays)
Day 1: Shasta ski park (Indy pass)
I rolled into Shasta after spending the night in nearby Ashland. Mt Ashland (also Indy pass) had 50 mph winds, was closed, and not much new snow, so I skipped it. Shasta, had 10” of new, minimal wind and about a total of 100 cars in the parking lot.
It was somewhat of a blizzard most of the time and the whole mountain was open (something that later in the trip I realized I should not take for granted). After checking the map at the bottom I rode up two chairs to what I thought was the top. But two snowboarders were next to me pointing off towards a gulch in the distance and talking about a new chair. What? Sure enough, there is a new lift at Shasta that seems to almost double the size of the already big area and wasn’t even on the big map at the bottom yet.
Best chair on the hill is Grey Butte Quad. Top elevation 7500’. Some might say the area lacks steep chutes, but I’m partial to trees and found plenty to do in the untracked glades and 2000 feet of vertical. Had an entertaining ride up with nick_thegrow_guy a cannabis greenhouse manufacturer and snowboarder. He said there is a netflix special coming out soon.
(Lift lines at Shasta top chair. 6400’)
Day 2: Heavenly, California
The drive from Shasta to Tahoe crosses from the west side to the east side. I experienced one of the biggest wind and rain storms I ever drove though (maybe should have pulled over). After spending the night in Reno, I rolled into Heavenly with 19” of new. Heavenly is somewhat notorious for crowds and parking problems. I drove directly to the California base (more on the layout later), felt lucky to find parking on the access road, then realized I needed to walk about ¾ miles to the chair. So I left my walking boots on and stashed them in a tree well at the base area.
I was pleasantly surprised. It was cold and there was a ton of new snow from the top to the bottom. In fact the best runs of the day were on the bottom chair, Gunbarrel Express, which had great steep tree runs. Overall the area was in limited operations due to wind, but there really weren’t any lift lines (despite the parking woes), and one of the best powder days you can have.
That night as I was walking though a deep boot path from my hotel to Safeway, a coyote ran down the bank, looked at me and trotted off.
Accomodations in South Lake Tahoe
Day 3: Kirkwood, 21” of new, 28 degrees
Kirkwood was closed the day before I arrived due to avi danger on the roads. Its clientele is a local crowd who are quite convinced their area is the best in Tahoe. They might be right. The main chair, Cornice Express, is all that is needed for a complete ski area: cornice, cliffs, gulches, trees, sidecountry. There are other worthwhile chairs too: The Wall, a really long triple, and the backside that was closed due to avi. I had a good time following different groups of locals around for the day.
Kirkwood cornice
Day 4: Heavenly Nevada, 2” of new, 28 degrees, somewhat sunny.
Heavenly is split down the middle by the California/Nevada border. There are multiple parking areas on both sides and on windy days, if the gondola and Sky chairs are closed (Vail likes to close chairs even in moderate wind), then it’s actually not possible to get to the Nevada side from the California side, unless you uber between the parking areas.
Since I had only experienced the California side 2 days earlier, I came to the Nevada side. The pictures in the base lodge give you an idea of the history of this area. The terrain and views of Lake Tahoe are great. My favorite chair was North Bowl, kind of an underrated chair like Garbanzo at Whistler, with good trees and few people.
Recognize anyone?
Lake Tahoe off the North Bowl chair
Day 5: Northstar
Most people I spoke with wrote off Northstar as kind of flat and crowded. Well, I rolled in there on a day of 11” of new, and strong winds that were keeping the other ski areas mostly closed. To my delight, it was uncrowded and everything was open. Since the clientele are mostly intermediates learning on the groomers, they leave the trees alone. Good for me. After half of the day, I switched to snowboarding to mix things up. Favorite chair was the Backside Express, opening up unlimited mile long tree runs.
Northstar also runs a sort of ski patrol university. The patroller I rode the chair with said candidates can apply and do a try out in March. If they don’t have their EMT certificate, they show up in October for EMT training, then start working right after Thanksgiving. Something to think about for the Meany youth (or me!).
Backside trees.
Day 6: Warner Canyon, Oregon
The temps warmed up overnight and another storm came in. I showed up at Heavenly again in a blizzard of very wet snow and practically nobody in the parking lot. Figuring it would be good further up, I rode up and then was intercepted by a guy on a snowmobile at the top who said the ski area was closing. Why I asked? He didn’t know, and muttered something about wind (was dead calm where we were), power glitches, lightning, but was somewhat apologetic. Welcome to Vail. I decided to quit while I was ahead and headed north via Oregon.
Warner Canyon is a small community run area with one lift just north of the California border by Lakeview Oregon. It’s closed on weekdays. I rolled into the parking lot, which doubles as a snow park, in the very late afternoon on a Tuesday. 2” of fresh snow covered the entire parking lot and there were no signs of people but 4 friendly dogs came running over from the snow cat shed. I skinned up to the top and skied down as it got dark. I was kind of sad to leave one of the dogs who hung out with me in the parking lot while I derigged. She has a good life though - someone is taking care of them and they have the run of the place.
Ski area dogs (I noted that Warner ski patrol uses the same ski doo model/year as I have)
Day 7: Hoodoo, near Bend Oregon. (Indy pass). 2” new.
These trips are modeled after trips that my friend Art Freeman does in his pursuit of going to every ski area in x state. But Art mostly sleeps in his Subaru and I haven’t elevated the experience to that level yet. On this leg I improved my dirtbag status by sleeping at the Summer lake wildlife refuge rest area. Recommended.
Hoodoo is a not so small area near Bend. It was closed on Wednesday, so I was hanging with the small crowd of locals that like to skin to the top. (1100’). There is a DIY ski/board making shop at the bottom (something for Meany to think about) It also has an enormous sno park next door with a legit warming hut (something Crystal springs could use).
I had a really good time on this trip. Despite Vail and all its issues, the Tahoe areas were excellent and accommodations at nearby Lake Tahoe or Carson City were inexpensive. In my opinion, the Indy areas stand on their own and you feel the care each local community puts into them. Which is why my next trip is north to BC to ski at “every ski area you probably haven’t heard of.”
No comments:
Post a Comment