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After an unbelievable start to May in Utah...65 inches in 3 days on May 1-3 of inhaliable pow lift assisted...I figured my powder days were over for the year. I was pleasantly surprised when i awoke to 4 inches of snow on my car in south lake tahoe on saturday morning with the temp hovering around 25 degrees. 4X4 chain requirements were up all around the lake. I waited till 10am and headed for Hope Valley off of hiway 88. The day before I had scouted a forest service road that would access Red Lakes Peak with only a short drive off the main road. Driving as far as i could until i hit snow, I packed it up and started skinning up solo in a blinding snowstorm. Within minutes it was sunny and then snowing again. That was to be the weather for the next 2 hours. It was a low angle hike as I was unfamiliar with this area. I climbed until it became to steep to skin and not being able to see the top decided it was time to ski. The snow depth had gradually increased from about 3-4 inches at the car to 6-8 inches up around 9000 ft. I made a ski cut on the first steep face only to watch most of the pow sluff down to the trees. That convinced me to stay off of the bigger faces and just ski the ridge down to the car. With the sun peaking in and out I had about a mile and a half of sweet turns. My skin track had already filled in from the flurries and I was making more May powder turns. Things couldnt have been much better. Now as I look at the weather it looks like this friday May 28 may be one and the same. I may need to get in one more pow day in May...jim

That area always delivers!