Puddles, Wind, Rain, Sleet, Snow

Hello Skiers,

Sleeping was difficult last night as wind driven rain slammed into the west facing windows of my bedroom. I awoke a number of times checking the fitness appliance strapped to my wrist that clocks the number of hours I sleep each night in three categories. Was I in a deep sleep, a light sleep, or awake when my ears heard a particularly loud gust of wind and rain hit the windows. I was awake when my eyes opened to look at the smart watch in an effort to determine if I was a sleep or not. Okay, enough of this foolishness.

You know you are getting old when you are sitting in your expensive mountain home, condominium or holiday rental looking out the window at rain falling steadily and you do not make a move to leave the house for the slopes. I remember a time when I would be riding any open ski lift. In my younger days my parents would have dragged out of the house onto a slope with an operating lift and let my get soaked to the bone. Today I am just looking out the window wondering why anyone in their right mind would venture out onto the slopes. Perhaps the rain will turn to snow later in the day offering an opportunity to check out the surface conditions. Until then I will pretend to remember how much fun we had skiing in the rain when I was much younger. This was written in the morning hours.

Does everyone skiing at Palisades Tahoe (front and back or front and Alpine) have their phone in their pocket or smart watch on their wrist? If not, how does one know when to evacuate the valley they are skiing or boarding in and return to home base? Do you look at your phone or watch each time it notifies you that a message has arrived from someone or from Palisades Tahoe? If not, how do you know when the Base to Base Gondola might be shut down due to high winds, poor weather, or mechanical problems forcing you to find slower, or any, transportation back to the valley where you started your day. I have been wondering how this would work in such case as the gondola did not operate from the beginning of the day to the end of the day. I guess you wait in line for a bus to take you back to your starting point. This might take awhile depending on the number of skiers and boarders in the wrong valley at the wrong time needing transportation home. Yesterday, incase you missed it, a message was sent out indicating that skiers and boarders should take the gondola back to the valley they started in as winds might limit operations during the balance of the day. I assume this means the lift might close at anytime do to increasing winds. Stay alert when switching from one valley to another.

Before lunch I was sitting looking out the window and thinking of my parents (diehard skiers). A feeling of guilt washed for me. I put on my ski gear and headed up the hill to see what was really going on at the base of Alpine. The parking lot was all but empty. A few inches of mushy snow greeted me.

Wet snow was falling, or was it rain? Treeline Cirque was running to the mid-station. I felt I had to give it a try even if it was just a mushy mess. I was pretty much alone riding the chair as wet snow or rain dropped from a grey sky. Surprise! The snow going down was not mushy and not sticky. Fresh tracks in a few inches of new snow made for a fun run.

A couple of runs later and Roundhouse opened (by the way followed later by Yellow and Kangaroo).

I took a few runs on Roundhouse and found some nice snow making fresh tracks, but there was also some sticky snow. In areas where a few people had already tracked up the runs the snow became lumpy and sticky, but there were plenty of places to roam in snow that was surprisingly acceptable.

Yellow Trail, Red Ridge, God’s Knob, and Chicken Leg made me smile. My parents were right. If you don’t go, you won’t know. The rain and snow did lighten up around 1pm making the visibility a little better. Amazing to me was that people started showing up around 1pm. Suddenly chairs were filling to an extent and people were thrashing around having fun.

Enjoy your day,

Andy