We have had nothing but beautiful days in Tahoe, one after another. High winds predicted over Friday and Saturday never really arrived, although it was very windy Friday night. A little snow covered the slopes Saturday morning, making the mountain look pretty, but it did not do a whole lot for the skiing surface. The few inches of snow did make skiing a little better, but warm weather turned to mush in some areas not long after opening.
Today, Sunday, I found some good snow hiding on the north facing slopes, with slick icy patches in between the thin layer of winter snow. We watched a ski team drop into Keyhole in the morning. I think this was one of the few days Keyhole has been open this season.
Groomed areas were again very good. Sympathy had good snow, but also icy patches.
Under the Sherwood Chair spring snow prevailed, but the line was growing at the base so we headed back to Scott where nice smooth spring snow greeted us on Bobby’s Run.
I scratched my head wondering about Gentian Gully and finally decided to give it a try. Good news for me, the snow was pretty good until the very bottom where ice had taken over the run out at the bottom of Gentian Gully. However, the upper 2/3rds were just fine. Good size moguls at the top, but covered in nice winter snow. Of course there were slick patches where skiers had pushed the new snow off the surface revealing ice, but I was able to avoid most of these. It was a pleasure skiing through the trees with only one or two other skiers in sight.
Have you seen the lunch party going on at the base of Subway? More than a few patrons were enjoying the sunshine sitting in camp chairs and even cooking up something on their bar-b-ques.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Yes, I always park at Subway, love the picnicking! But my commute from the Bay Area makes me skip any after hours. Once I’m done skiing I am driving back home 🙂
I had a very similar experience yesterday. Beautiful day, but the off-piste was a bit tricky. Firm in the morning and when it softened, it was pretty variable. Steeper was better as it tends to happen with slush when sticky. Now, what happened with the alpine chair? The only way up was summit which was understandably too busy (at least to my taste).
Hey Andy,
How busy was Sunday? I went up on Sunday just before noon hoping that people would be heading out for the drive home. I turned off the HWY and was greeted by the sign saying all the parking at the ski area was full, and the overflow lot was about half full. I went up anyways and circled both the upper and disabled sports lots and couldn’t find a spot. I bailed. Weekends suck.
Sunday was pretty busy, just as busy as Saturday. That is unusual. As a general rule of thumb, you’ll miss the upper lots on a weekend if you’re there past 9:30. Then upper lot spots start becoming available as people leave around 1 pm.