180 Junior
New member
Dates Skied: February 20th
Resort: Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, CA
Conditions: Untracked and loose powder, with 7 feet in the last couple days and more on it’s way… be careful for you might catch your skis and fall
Trip Report:
After our amazing first day at Alpine Meadows I asked my dad (180) if I could do this trip report. I had such an amazing time in the steep powder; on my dad’s fat skis BTW
First time in California and Nevada EVER. Also my first trip report ever.
The first day’s been great. Today, the conditions were in the high 20’s, a little windy at the peaks and very sunny. It got a little cloudy in the afternoon, but not enough to put out the sun entirely. The sun definitely made the skiing much better than if it was cloudy out.
We got to the mountain at 9:00 and took the Stagecoach Express up to about ¼ of the way. The lift was fast but VERY long. We first took a screaming groomer to warm-up all the way back down. Then adventured out to the canyons, namely Killebrew Canyon and Mott Canyon for some EPIC powder. A few hidden rocks kind of dampened the experience, but not enough to make us turn around… not that we could have. The snow was deep and untracked in places. We had to ski down to the base of the main canyon and traverse across it and do quite a bit of hiking to get to the lift. If you missed the patted out trough and skied through the canyon up to the border, you would’ve had to hike all the way up to the small double lift over a giant snow mound to the west of the canyons.
We had to be very careful not to go outside the boundaries of the resort or risk getting hopelessly lost. My mom and brother, Spencer, went under the ropes marking the boundaries and accidentally skied down to the road at the very bottom of the mountain. They then caught a ride from a good Samaritan, and rode back up to the mountain in the course of an hour.
Over the rest of the day the groomed trails (groomers to us) got more chopped up and crowded, so we mainly stuck to the powder and trees. On the mountain, there’s always some unskiied powder, some crystal clear tree spots, and some near 90-degree canyon with amazing but deep snow.
We ended the day with a few more screaming groomers (Katy Perry and Rise Against blasting our ears), sliding in between the beginners (kind of like the Belt Parkway) and back to Stage Coach. My dad stayed out. He said he had a plan. But he’ll have to tell you.
View attachment 4348
The carved out ski tracks in the canyon... if you didn't have enough speed, you'd have to hike up it.
View attachment 4349
Perfect powder, just waiting for skis to glide right through them!
View attachment 4350
We had to hike across from the left side of the picture to the right side and hike back to the lift. People had carved it out, so it wasn't bad.
Resort: Heavenly Valley Ski Resort, CA
Conditions: Untracked and loose powder, with 7 feet in the last couple days and more on it’s way… be careful for you might catch your skis and fall
Trip Report:
After our amazing first day at Alpine Meadows I asked my dad (180) if I could do this trip report. I had such an amazing time in the steep powder; on my dad’s fat skis BTW
First time in California and Nevada EVER. Also my first trip report ever.
The first day’s been great. Today, the conditions were in the high 20’s, a little windy at the peaks and very sunny. It got a little cloudy in the afternoon, but not enough to put out the sun entirely. The sun definitely made the skiing much better than if it was cloudy out.
We got to the mountain at 9:00 and took the Stagecoach Express up to about ¼ of the way. The lift was fast but VERY long. We first took a screaming groomer to warm-up all the way back down. Then adventured out to the canyons, namely Killebrew Canyon and Mott Canyon for some EPIC powder. A few hidden rocks kind of dampened the experience, but not enough to make us turn around… not that we could have. The snow was deep and untracked in places. We had to ski down to the base of the main canyon and traverse across it and do quite a bit of hiking to get to the lift. If you missed the patted out trough and skied through the canyon up to the border, you would’ve had to hike all the way up to the small double lift over a giant snow mound to the west of the canyons.
We had to be very careful not to go outside the boundaries of the resort or risk getting hopelessly lost. My mom and brother, Spencer, went under the ropes marking the boundaries and accidentally skied down to the road at the very bottom of the mountain. They then caught a ride from a good Samaritan, and rode back up to the mountain in the course of an hour.
Over the rest of the day the groomed trails (groomers to us) got more chopped up and crowded, so we mainly stuck to the powder and trees. On the mountain, there’s always some unskiied powder, some crystal clear tree spots, and some near 90-degree canyon with amazing but deep snow.
We ended the day with a few more screaming groomers (Katy Perry and Rise Against blasting our ears), sliding in between the beginners (kind of like the Belt Parkway) and back to Stage Coach. My dad stayed out. He said he had a plan. But he’ll have to tell you.
View attachment 4348
The carved out ski tracks in the canyon... if you didn't have enough speed, you'd have to hike up it.
View attachment 4349
Perfect powder, just waiting for skis to glide right through them!
View attachment 4350
We had to hike across from the left side of the picture to the right side and hike back to the lift. People had carved it out, so it wasn't bad.
