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Here we go... http://tahoeweatherdiscussion.com/

Anybody hazard a guess how long before the super-slick sliding melt freeze surface will take to bond with this dump? Conditions off piste were ugly mank in the sun and super crunchy in the shade last Sunday so I stuck to resort groomers. Plus I had to get my legs back under me after a work-induced month off.

Ready to try out the new split next weekend, but I think the weight of the new snow, even at 20-30:1 will boost the avy conditions super high till the middle of next week. SAC would seem to agree, conditions boosted to moderate on wind-loaded slopes on only 3-5in.

Rode Jobs today. Coverage was pretty good and went all the way to the TH, but surface conditions were heavily wind effected up high. Other than the obvious wind slabs which concerned us, but didn't seem reactive, we didn't notice any current instabilities, but there was plenty of spooky stuff from the recent past.

I think at least 5 different significant avalanches (D3) had run in the canyon on North facing and South facing aspects. All the slides appeared to have run near the tail end of the recent storm cycle (very little snow on top of the debris piles).

On the windboard below the steep stuff.


North facing path, we couldn't see the crown.


Large debris pile, from a South facing path.

Wow, that avy rubble is impressive.

Monday, a buddy and I rode a line I've always looked at and thought would be fun. Skinned up one of the gullies on the east side of 89 south across from where Alpine Meadows Rd. intersects with 89 south. We got to look at backed up Presidents Day traffic streaming to Alpine and Squaw and then throw some big rooster tails into the air for all the Bay Area gapers to view as they sat in traffic inching toward the chopped up leftovers on the slopes ... which made it extra fun. Everything shaded or with the slightest north-facing inclination was money, anything that turned a degree or two to the south/southwest was crusty. We avoided the crust and skied pow to the road.

Santa Cruz will be going off tomorrow...

... Winter Weather Advisory now in effect from 4 PM Friday to
10 am PST Saturday...

The Winter Weather Advisory is now in effect from 4 PM Friday to
10 am PST Saturday.


* Snow accumulations: 1 inch down to 1000 feet elevation with 3 to
6 inches above 1500 feet elevation. Locally 9 inches or more for
elevations above 2500 feet.

* Elevation: heaviest snow will be above 2000 feet but
accumulating snow is expected down to 1000 feet.

* Timing: a mix of rain and snow will develop this evening and
change to all snow above 2000 feet by late tonight as snow
levels decrease. Steady precipitation will change to snow
showers by Friday afternoon as snow levels continue to fall.

* Locations include: all roadways above 100 feet including the
Highway 17 Summit... Skyline Boulevard... Highway 152 to Pacheco
Pass... and Laureles grade.

* Impacts: potential for significant travel impacts with
widespread snowfall on many roadways by Thursday night.
Locally breezy conditions will likely lead to areas of blowing
snow with very low visibilities. Cold temperatures will not
allow for rapid melting. Snow on tree branches could lead to
power outages.

Went from blower to choker in 24 hours

Here are a few belated pics from last weekend. On Sunday, the Heave Gville run was all-time:





Ran into a couple guys riding powder snowskates. Never seen one of those things before! But they were making it look easy even in the deep pow.





On Monday, I met up with Tim and headed out to the Angora area. We have this curse where whenever we go out together, we inevitably end up in crappy snow conditions. We figured with the epic conditions last weekend, this was the time to break the curse.

Well, not so fast.



We were thinking of hitting Halls or one of the other chutes in the area, but they looked pretty much horrible. The whole area was windhammered, and the coverage was surprisingly thin given the amount of new snow. It must have all blown away.

Fallen Angel:



Area below Halls:



Halls:





Even Mini-Halls wasn't looking so good:



The curse lives! But wait... in a rare moment of "being reasonable", we decided not ride the crappy snow anyway. All that good snow must have gone somewhere. Hmm...



We put in a meandering skin track/posthole. Tim's Voile dual heel lifts broke (2nd pair this season), so he got the pleasure of using the Verts for a while. Lulu did her share breaking some trail.



Eventually we got up on the ridge, where the views were great, and the winds were in full force.





Lulu checked out the snowpack and declared it "epic"...



...so we dropped in. It was pretty OK.



So good that we decided we needed to do another lap. Tim realized he had his Mr. Chomps crampons with him, which have heel lifts on them, so we put in a retarded steep skin track for lap 2.





Then Tim dropped his crampon bag off the ridge, so I was forced to drop the cornice to go retrieve it. It was rough.



And we arrived back at the car just in time.



All in all another great day in the mountains!

Pics of various eastside attractions from this past Sat, from Lee Vining to Bishop.

PA pa pa powder makes you HIGHER, makes you hyper, pa pa pa powder makes you higher

is it snowing?

I guess the weather isn't exciting enough to post about

Anybody in Tahoe need a partner Wed. afternoon. I won't get to Echo/Donner until ~2pm but can ride until dark. I've got a free weekday lift ticket at Alpine so if you wanted me to meet you at the top before we access the side-country I'm down with that too. Possible lap or two Thurs morning as well. My hall pass is not yet attained but I'm working on it.

Actually, it was so good everyone was outside shredding. For real. Straight fresh pow in Tahoe for over a week now. Its warming up so its starting to get gloppy, but it'll start corning up soon.
Epic storm system. Hope everyone got out to enjoy.
Another one coming in this weekend? Warmer? We'll see.
Peace.

Heads up...

Afternoon natural at Emerald Bay.

http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/articl ... ofile=1056

Corn was fun in the am. Decent refreeze despite the warm temps and inversion.

4/14/11
Round Hill Dog Beach


Tallac a yak still holdin