I'd takes snoseeks advice. No amount of youtubing and trail map viewing can add up to a high ability local who has years of experience in the region.
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Skiing Rag "Best Mtns in No. America"
- Thread starter Smellytele
- Start date
bdfreetuna
New member
Kirkwood looks like a blast from the videos I don't see that one getting cut. It looks like a good amount of fun/challenge without a bunch of mandatory 30' cliff drops. (which is one of the main reasons I'm trying to study Squaw carefully lol)
bdfreetuna
New member
no doubt! I was hoping for some good advice tossing a preliminary game plan out there. I'm pretty stoked to have 6 days to do this and that my choices aren't really limited by this Ski Lake Tahoe 6-pass.
And hey if Tahoe kicks so much butt that I'd rather move there to ski I won't mind saying!
Tahoe is great. I love visiting. But there are downsides--it's really expensive, gets crowded, and the last few years have had bad drought.
I was always a south lake guy which I know is sorta the ghetto but I wouldn't consider the south shore all that pricy. I've got friends that rent little one bedroom apts for 650....I rented the bottom floor of a pretty sweet house for 400 everything included (utilities, weed, food booze)....Yeah I had roomates but also a back yard/hot tub ect.....Rent is higher in southern nh that south lake I'm my experience.
Crowded....oh man the weekends can SUCK!
Last winter delivered....previous years were dry as hell.
Its a special place to me but when I go back west in a couple years after my latest grind Ill most likely go elsewhere as I just cant deal with the feast/famine cycle of the Sierra. Also its just too warm.
4aprice
Well-known member
Going to miss the great reports from the west this year. Your "Gems of the West" was one of the best things I ever read. Does your last comment indicate that we may look forward to your presence in Colorado and Utah after your stint back east?
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Probably either Utah or the western slope. Its gonna be a couple years though which surprisingly enough I'm ok with.
KustyTheKlown
Well-known member
there is literally a book regarding the most serious lines at squaw. and if you haven't seen gnar you should probably do so.
machski
Well-known member
Did someone mention the trees at Copper?
How about Arapahoe?
or Brighton Utah.
Lots of fun in the western trees.
Alex
Lake Hopatcong, NJ
Those are trees? Looks like wide open boulevards to me!
machski
Well-known member
Hmm, you might be a bit disappointed then. Most of Squaw doesn't require hiking but if Palisades and some of the lines off Granite Chief are in your plans, a little hiking is needed.
Depending on the snow at Heavenly, you may be able to just traverse out of Kilbrew or you may have to hike if depths are low (I had to do both my trip out. Early week you could traverse but the sun killed that by weeks end). The only way out of Kilbrew is the traverse into Mott to catch the chair there.
bdfreetuna
New member
I'm not sure if Palisades are in my plans.
I paid the price last year for air time. Banged up my knees, ended up wearing a brace to not end the season early. Screwed up my back as well. I def want to see about getting less banged up this season if possible.
10 feet is about as much as I like to drop into soft snow. Like that rock to the left of Red Line at Magic is about as big as I try to go. Also my wife will be with me and she's basically a brave intermediate, and I'm not going to ditch her to go do some famous line.
Seems like plenty of in-bounds & lift accessed terrain for challenge and variety considering it's a first visit anyway.
BenedictGomez
Well-known member
It's always interesting how "tree skiing" means different things to different people. To me it's relatively tight stuff that places like Jay Peak and Smuggler's Notch offers, to others it's more like intermediate cruising around widely spaced trees.
SkiFanE
New member
i went to Tahoe around 1994-5, so long ago I can't offer any helpful advice, memory is foggy. Except of the 3 ski areas we visited (Squaw, alpine meadows and Heavenly) we enjoyed Heavenly best. Got there 2 weeks after last snow, in Feb, so conditions at squaw seemed like what I'm used to in spring in East - sleep in and cement til 10. THe snow banks were so huge, new sight for me - so it wasn't a snowless year - just nothing fresh. But heavenly seemed most fresh and less cement type.
But my memories of heavenly - Mott/Killebrew canyon and massive refrigerator sized trees. More open, but those trees were so different than eastern skiing I'm used to. Definitely got my heart pumping - but loved the place. Can't remember much about squaw but the heavenly bowls (California side I believe) and Mott/Killebrew Are what stand out from that trip decades later.
jimk
Well-known member
Love all the talk in this thread about Lake Louise and Sunshine. Never been, but I might drive through that area in early March this winter. Sadly was planning only one day at each on way to next destination (Whistler). I could possibly add one day. Which would you devote the extra day to?
dlague
Active member
I'm not sure if Palisades are in my plans.
I paid the price last year for air time. Banged up my knees, ended up wearing a brace to not end the season early. Screwed up my back as well. I def want to see about getting less banged up this season if possible.
10 feet is about as much as I like to drop into soft snow. Like that rock to the left of Red Line at Magic is about as big as I try to go. Also my wife will be with me and she's basically a brave intermediate, and I'm not going to ditch her to go do some famous line.
Seems like plenty of in-bounds & lift accessed terrain for challenge and variety considering it's a first visit anyway.
Good for you! So much focus is placed on extreme! IMO it is fun sometimes but if you can enjoy all types of terrain and skiing, then there is more to do. Many here, claim they are bored if the trees have no snow or bumps are not in great shape which is too bad. I ski a lot with my wife and we like to mix it up.
dlague
Active member
Even at Jay Peak Andres Paradise or Beaver Pond Meadow or Timbuktu I find to be relatively open glades/trees. Then there is Kitz Woods (beginning) or trees around Tuckerman Chute that are much tighter and steeper.
Now Cannon trees from the summit or the glades below Cannonball lift are real tight.
bdfreetuna
New member
Tree skiing is an umbrella term encompassing glades, manicured/cleared woods, and sidecountry/backcountry/bushwackery.
Although I'd say a trail that basically has a few trees here and there, like "The Glade" at Bromley, doesn't really qualify. To be tree skiing it should at least feel like you're in the woods.
Although I'd say a trail that basically has a few trees here and there, like "The Glade" at Bromley, doesn't really qualify. To be tree skiing it should at least feel like you're in the woods.
bdfreetuna
New member
Tough call for me. I might do one of each and then see which I liked best for day 3.
dlague
Active member
I liked Sunshine a bit more main because of Goats Eye and Look Out Mountain to skiers right. Mount Standish has some playful drops but they are not long. Lots of variety overall.
The frontside of LL feels like skiing in NE - the backside is a whole different story - lots of bumps which can be fun too but I get beat up these days if that is all I do.
One thing that surprises me about Lake Louise is that they claim only 140" annual snowfall where as Sunshine claims 360". Does LL under report and SS over report or are these numbers pretty accurate?
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