Rushski
New member
Manchester to Reno. Nice and sunny arrival on Feb. 12th. Little late to start skiing the first day. Warm near 60 in Reno, a little cooler lakeside in North Shore (Tahoe Vista).
Sunday 13th: Alpine Meadows: Bluebird skies, groomed trails, all lifts seemed to be running. Skiing was very good on everything groomed with Spring-like conditions. Corduroy, cruisers and corn. Off groomers was a bit chattery and bullet proof. All in all a good first day out and a little on the warm side.
Monday 14th: Day off as the wind was kicking up strong. Lake outside condo/cottage sounded like the ocean with the waves crashing against the shore.
Tuesday 15th: Homewood: Again high winds at peaks but figured this was a good place to be sheltered. Brother had never skied there before (or myself), so figured it would be a cost effective place to go just in case the skiing wasn't good higher up. VERY cool ski area that certainly gets shadowed by it's bigger neighbors. Again groomers were great and the views are second to none. Friend got in from Raleigh, NC late at night and had a fun drive across 80 and down by Northstar to get to us lakeside as the start of a multiple-day storm was rolling in.
Wednesday 16th: Northstar(-at-Tahoe): Woke up to a drift at the door about three feet high. What a difference a day makes... Buddy didn't bring his skis so we went to Tahoe Dave's and got some K2 AMP Rictors, though they tried to talk him into something wider. Great deals with boots of $113 for three days and the option of re-waxing each day or switching out skis. Headed up to Northstar and was a chain stop drive. Pathfinder rental wasn't a problem. Got annoyed finding free parking pretty far and hidden from village area so paid for $15 parking which was a couple hundred yards from the "village". The village area was busy with shovelling, snowblowing and Bobcats clearing snow. Prime concern seemed to be the rink? Got tickets, found there was only a small area with pay lockers and a couple benches. Not day-skier friendly as the "base" lodge was a short gondola ride upward. On to the skiing, a little bit heavy powder but by no means "Sierra cement". Groomed overnight trails were filling with snow and being chopped up badly. In the woods and the occasional "not groomed at all" trails were a better bet, but with knee deep in places you had to stay to steeper trails to keep momentum. Good day of skiing and found way back to village area. Good pizza and decently (surprisingly) priced beer at Rubicon Pizza. Blinding snow on the way back to accomodations.
Thursday 17th: Homewood: Back to the deal as Squaw, Alpine and others had problems at the peaks with wind affecting lifts and potential avalanche danger. Even Mt. Rose was closed for a couple days during the week with their higher elevation. Homewood was busier than Tuesday and a totally different animal with all the new, fresh snow. Amazing fresh, light, DEEP powder all over the mountain. Even most major trails were deep. Woods were amazing. between named trails and Hobbit Land in particular were amazing. Buddy took a fall in the woods after having one ski go over a buried log and the other going under. After finding his released ski three feet under him and righting himslef we finished an excellent run. My mid fats (82mm) didn't do as well as his similar dimensioned skis with some rocker. face shots weren't uncommon and steeps were needed.
Friday 18th: Squaw for NC buddy. I took the day off as three straight days of hard skiing hjad me tight and sore. Buddy was relegated to everything below high camp as winds were still bad on top of avalanche danger up high... He also said it was a little wetter snow that day as by the lake it actually let up a little down at lake level.
Saturday 21st: Heading home, took the Mt. Rose Pass towards Reno. Very slow and very few other vehicles on the snaking, snowy road away from the mountains. Even Reno had a couple inches on the ground, so was a really fun drive.
Saw something from one of the area sites saying 78" storm total for the base and 121" at the top. Crazy they had a big snow drought and then get a huge, multiple day storm like that.
Annoying part of the trip was all three ski areas (and guessing others) don't have much room set up for cubbies or even hooks to store stuff. Juts a few overpriced lockers.
Will try to post some pictures at some point...
Sunday 13th: Alpine Meadows: Bluebird skies, groomed trails, all lifts seemed to be running. Skiing was very good on everything groomed with Spring-like conditions. Corduroy, cruisers and corn. Off groomers was a bit chattery and bullet proof. All in all a good first day out and a little on the warm side.
Monday 14th: Day off as the wind was kicking up strong. Lake outside condo/cottage sounded like the ocean with the waves crashing against the shore.
Tuesday 15th: Homewood: Again high winds at peaks but figured this was a good place to be sheltered. Brother had never skied there before (or myself), so figured it would be a cost effective place to go just in case the skiing wasn't good higher up. VERY cool ski area that certainly gets shadowed by it's bigger neighbors. Again groomers were great and the views are second to none. Friend got in from Raleigh, NC late at night and had a fun drive across 80 and down by Northstar to get to us lakeside as the start of a multiple-day storm was rolling in.
Wednesday 16th: Northstar(-at-Tahoe): Woke up to a drift at the door about three feet high. What a difference a day makes... Buddy didn't bring his skis so we went to Tahoe Dave's and got some K2 AMP Rictors, though they tried to talk him into something wider. Great deals with boots of $113 for three days and the option of re-waxing each day or switching out skis. Headed up to Northstar and was a chain stop drive. Pathfinder rental wasn't a problem. Got annoyed finding free parking pretty far and hidden from village area so paid for $15 parking which was a couple hundred yards from the "village". The village area was busy with shovelling, snowblowing and Bobcats clearing snow. Prime concern seemed to be the rink? Got tickets, found there was only a small area with pay lockers and a couple benches. Not day-skier friendly as the "base" lodge was a short gondola ride upward. On to the skiing, a little bit heavy powder but by no means "Sierra cement". Groomed overnight trails were filling with snow and being chopped up badly. In the woods and the occasional "not groomed at all" trails were a better bet, but with knee deep in places you had to stay to steeper trails to keep momentum. Good day of skiing and found way back to village area. Good pizza and decently (surprisingly) priced beer at Rubicon Pizza. Blinding snow on the way back to accomodations.
Thursday 17th: Homewood: Back to the deal as Squaw, Alpine and others had problems at the peaks with wind affecting lifts and potential avalanche danger. Even Mt. Rose was closed for a couple days during the week with their higher elevation. Homewood was busier than Tuesday and a totally different animal with all the new, fresh snow. Amazing fresh, light, DEEP powder all over the mountain. Even most major trails were deep. Woods were amazing. between named trails and Hobbit Land in particular were amazing. Buddy took a fall in the woods after having one ski go over a buried log and the other going under. After finding his released ski three feet under him and righting himslef we finished an excellent run. My mid fats (82mm) didn't do as well as his similar dimensioned skis with some rocker. face shots weren't uncommon and steeps were needed.
Friday 18th: Squaw for NC buddy. I took the day off as three straight days of hard skiing hjad me tight and sore. Buddy was relegated to everything below high camp as winds were still bad on top of avalanche danger up high... He also said it was a little wetter snow that day as by the lake it actually let up a little down at lake level.
Saturday 21st: Heading home, took the Mt. Rose Pass towards Reno. Very slow and very few other vehicles on the snaking, snowy road away from the mountains. Even Reno had a couple inches on the ground, so was a really fun drive.
Saw something from one of the area sites saying 78" storm total for the base and 121" at the top. Crazy they had a big snow drought and then get a huge, multiple day storm like that.
Annoying part of the trip was all three ski areas (and guessing others) don't have much room set up for cubbies or even hooks to store stuff. Juts a few overpriced lockers.
Will try to post some pictures at some point...
