Carving at Tahoe

[SEJ]

We've been riding Tahoe forever, but the last 10 years we've had the double whammy pass, so It's been mainly Sierra and Nstar. Skipped the pass this year so we could ride around. Want to get to know Heavenly, Kwood, Rose, etc. better.
Anybody have any recomendations for favorite resort or runs for good carving?
We'll be heading up the 16th for a week. We stay at South lake, but don't mind driving around the lake if the roads are good.
Thanks in advance for any input.
Scott

[Ladia]

This season so far Mt. Rose was the best for grooming and over all experience. No wonder Reno crew is so happy. Only problem for me is the longest drive over there. Kwood had problems with electricity as usually and their grooming sucks this year. Squaw was absolutely the worst. Almost non existing grooming if that mess they make on the slopes can be can be called grooming at all. Zoo on the slope, really miserable experience. If they do not have a lot of snow and they do not have it this year, the visit there is waste of time. I am just thinking how my winter will go with pass to KW and SV.:smashfrea

[Loc]

Alpine Meadows is still my favorite Tahoe resort. The grooming is awesome and those huge bowl on the backside are so much fun. http://www.skialpine.com/

[James Ong]

Hi Scott,
There's usually a few of us around at Mt. Rose, give us a shout when you feel like coming up.

[Wun]

you mentioned before that you were staying at southshore 16th-22nd and sort of implied planning to ride heavenly while you were up there.

have you picked your resorts and dates yet?

anyway, i just started a new job yesterday that works me most weekdays in the hometown, so unfortunately i've sort of become a weekend warrior. luckily, i actually have tuesdays off, so i still get one weekday. woo~ but yeah, this upcoming weekend is a bit iffy for me, and chances of riding tuesday, the 19th is a maybe at best.

in case you don't get to go with anyone to give you a tour if you end up riding heavenly, here's some o' the skinny that i know. prob'ly not absolute, and i particularly don't know terribly much about the california side. hope it doesn't overwhelm you too much; just tryin' to be useful on these forums once in a while since i'm still a hardboot n00b.

*groom, groom!*

RED - Lifts
BLUE - Slopes/Runs

Nevada side:

Stagecoach, Olympic:
Olympic Downhill (Groom all the way down to base of Stagecoach lift)
Stagecoach (upper half icy)

Boulder (non-express), North Bowl (non-express):
Boulder Chute, Boulder Bowl

Dipper, Comet:
Orion, Big Dipper, Comet

Galaxy (non-express):
Galaxy (bit icy, could use more snow), Perimeter (bit icy and has a lot of woodchips, could use more snow)

California side:

Sky, Canyon:
Ridge Run
High Roller (has good and bad days)

Notes:
-When everything has coverage and snow is good, my single most favorite run is Stagecoach. (It's not perfect yet as of this posting.) It's a gem because no one ever turns left off the top of the Stagecoach lift, so no one ever goes there. The bottom half is always great because trails merge down there.
-Olympic Downhill all the way to the bottom of Stagecoach is one of the longer runs that you can one-shot without any flats. Only riding the upper half (stopping at base of Olympic lift) is a popular course of action since the groom's pretty good there and it don' crowd up like Orion and Dipper; bottom half gets chopped up quicker (in a bad way) than the upper due to several trail merges in the area.
-Orion and Big Dipper are superb at time of first chair but they crowd very quickly. These runs are the most popular of the Nevada side, maybe even of the entire resort. Orion's arguably the best, crowding aside; always perfect snow in the morning and very wide.
-Galaxy area is a gem when there's enough frickin' snow 'cause it's way the @#$& to the side but has no express lift, meaning no one ever goes there, so it's a tradeoff. If you go here, beware of branches sticking out. Not a HUGE problem on Galaxy run. Besides the double blacks, this is probably the most desolate (in a good way) place in all of Heavenly.
-Ridge Run on California side is pretty great too but is also a contender for most popular run at Heavenly. If it feels like a California day, I move over to Canyon when Sky crowds up, as they have access to the same runs that I like to ride.
-If you tire easily, it may be a bad idea to explore too much in one day. There are tons of riders on all areas of the spectrum in riding ability congesting the popular slopes and there are LOTS OF FLATS on the traversing runs that connect different sections of the resort!

some links:
* trail map (http://www.skiheavenly.com/the-mountain/trail-map.aspx)
* grooming map (http://common.snow.com/groomingMap.asp?siteid=50) apparently updated daily, but groomed runs mostly stay the same every day

[Jim]

I believe Kirkwood has the best coverage but Mt Rose has the best grooming and way better steeps. I did thrash a fresh race tune on gravel at Mt Rose last week. Fog was very bad that day or I would have avoided the exposed area. Coverage may be not be an issue after the 20th. BTW it may be snowing from the 16th to the 21st.

I should be at Kirkwood on the 20th to try a (thanks RJ) 172 Rockered Rad Air Tanker. You are welcome to demo the board. I will post up on the TahoeCarvers site.

[Chucklebeast]

wish it was payday, I could use a trip to SLT...I love the NV side of Heavenly, midday groom anyone?

I hope they still do that?

[Cuban Carving Gooding]

I saw something about that .Is it true? Mid day groom.

[Wun]

not that i've seen. give me a location and i'd investigate.

[Wun]

oof, just realized that your vacation starts smackdab at the beginning of a system (http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USCA1083?from=today_topnav_Lawn). figure you should bring a pow-capable board with whatever else you're bringin'. if you're going to heavenly, i hear that the canyons (double blacks) are ecstasy after pow dumps; never been there myself. i would imagine that the milky way bowl would be great too; never been there either.

[Randy T.]

Yes indeed bring a pow board! :)

STRONGER AND WETTER SYSTEMS WILL BEGIN SUNDAY AND CONTINUE INTO NEXT WEEK. ALTHOUGH TIMING OF INDIVIDUALSTORMS IS DIFFICULT AT THIS POINT...IT LOOKS LIKE EVERY 24 TO 36HOURS A SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH. RAINFALL TOTALS BY THE END OF NEXTWEEK ...COULD EXCEED 5 TO 10 INCHES IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WITH SNOW AMOUNTS OF 10 FEET OR MORE POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER SIERRA NEVADA. SNOW LEVELS WILL GENERALLY BE AROUND 4000 TO 5500 FEETBUT AT TIMES COULD DROP INTO THE FOOTHILLS. THERE IS ALSO LIKELY TO BE PERIODS OF BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS AND TRAVEL INTO THEMOUNTAINS IS LIKELY TO BE IMPACTED.

[tahoetrencher]

SSSSHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh.;)

[Wun]

SSSSHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh.;)

don't matter, it's MLK weekend and there will be hordes of vacationers riding in the middle of a dump anyway. :cool:

[SEJ]

Everyone, thanks for all the info. We haven't picked what days to ride where, looks like the weather will play a big part in that decision.
Don't own a real powder board, but I got a 172 AMT and a 178 4WD.
If it's storming I assume Kwood is out of the question due to the avalanche issues getting in and out. Heavenly is close to the condo.We're directly below the California Lodge on Pioneer. We never enter on the CA side though, always go to the NV side.
Well, now that we know it will be storming, what would you recommend?
Thanks again everybody, Scott

[shawndoggy]

Everyone, thanks for all the info. We haven't picked what days to ride where, looks like the weather will play a big part in that decision.
Don't own a real powder board, but I got a 172 AMT and a 178 4WD.
If it's storming I assume Kwood is out of the question due to the avalanche issues getting in and out. Heavenly is close to the condo.We're directly below the California Lodge on Pioneer. We never enter on the CA side though, always go to the NV side.
Well, now that we know it will be storming, what would you recommend?
Thanks again everybody, Scott

Heavenly is one of the few (only?) Tahoe resorts I still haven't been to, so take this with a grain of salt.

If it's dumping my favorite place to be is Alpine Meadows because they have great trees. Even if the steeps are closed, there is lots of fun to be had. It helps to have a mountain guide, tho. Sinecure? Of course that's hella gawdamm far from where you are staying... could be a 2 hour drive in the snow EASY.

Later in the week once there's 3-4 feet at lake level, I'd strongly consider/recommend diamond peak in incline village. It's small, but usually abandoned (esp midweek). Really good trees. Their downfall is that they are low and on the unfavored (east) side of the lake, so it takes a lot of snow (which we should have unless Randy jinxed it).

Homewood on the west shore can also be a pow delight. Slower old skool chairs (fixed grip doubles in a couple of critical locations) there, so DO NOT GO if it's crowded (i.e. over the weekend). It's prone to 1970s style 30 minute lift lines on 3 day weekends.

Northstar (as you know) can also be really fun on pow days... again, great trees.

Squaw... I'd concur with Ladia's evaluation. Lots off-piste, but pretty crappy grooming and nothing steep at all (groomed). OK one run.

Rose.... by far the best steep groomers around the lake. That includes squaw and alpine. Problem is it's really only two runs (with 2-5 also-rans). It's on the dry side of the lake so it takes a lot of snow to be good. Rose also has some of the best steeps in the chutes. Very few other resorts' steeps are as steep or as long. After riding at Rose for the past 10 years, squaw actually feels flat and tame despite its "extreme!" rep.

Sugarbowl... way to far to consider

Boreal... same. and it sucks.

I suspect Heavenly could be pretty rad after the weekend.

[Wun]

one thing. if you like taking public transportation and avoiding driving, this page (http://www.bluego.org/services.aspx?panel=shuttle) and the map and schedule PDFs may be VERY useful to you; after all, you're staying there for like a week. buses are free during the ski season, from what i've been told by a driver.. i've used them several times this season and haven't been charged yet. also, signs on the bus say that stops are only made at the designated bus stops, but i've been told by the same driver that one can get off anytime during ski season. however, i'm most of the time just going between boulder or stagecoach lodge to a condo less than a mile away, and so i don't get taken anywhere near the city. i don't know if they're as lenient on their policies when driving through the city. YMMV. sorry if anything's not completely accurate. no responsibility taken for any problems! thank you!

another thing. at my condo, we have an association channel on our cable tv that tells us in which areas of our parking lot that we may not park in at whatever times (i can only imagine that this gets updated VERY often when it's storming big time like it will be while you're up there) so that people can plow snow out of the parking lots. your car gets towed if it's in the wrong spot at the wrong time. it may be like this where you're staying as well, so watch your back!

[Sinecure]

I'd love to be anyone's guide at Alpine in the coming days. Only problem is I'm scheduled to be teaching Sat-Weds. Probably won't have a lot of work on Tues-Weds though.

Whatever board you take, just move the bindings all the way to the rear as far as you can. That will float your nose more and help you in the pow. You'll be able to turn without burning the crap out of your rear leg quad.

If you want to come to Alpine, I have a 196 swallowtail that I probably won't be riding (I'll be skiing on my skis with 136mm waist) most of the pow days in the coming week.

If anyone is coming to Alpine, email me and we'll try to hook up. I can definitely take folks on tours of the cool stashes and good tree skiing on dumping days. Of course if you are feeling flush, you can book me for a private lesson any time you want. Up to 5 people in a private and we cut all the lift lines (the ones that alpine almost never has).