Diamond Peak
Saturday 4 January 2003

Weather

Conditions

Lodgepole (260) :

Friday at Northstar was extremely crowded. On Saturday I was looking for somewhere with fewer people. Locals recommended the smaller resorts, and since I had never been to Diamond Peak before, I decided to give it a try.

I got there pretty early, in time to get a close in parking slot. The guy in the ski rental shop said it was a good job I was there early because they were expecting a crowd.

Crystal (1540) : Crystal Ridge, Sunnyside

Diamond Peak has a different approach to high speed quads to some of the bigger resorts. Instead of detachable chairs, they have a "magic carpet" to partially match the speed of the skiers

Crystal lift goes to the highest point of the resort. Facing uphill there is the usual views of ski runs. Turning off the lift back down Crystal Ridge is worth the price of the lift ticket. The run faces straight down to Lake Tahoe. In almost every direction, the Lake and the mountain backdrop dominates the view. Everyone seemed to be stopping to take photographs.

The run down was a very pleasant cruise down a groomed slope along the ridge and a slightly steeper descent down to the bottom of the lift.

The bottom of Crystal Express lift	The top of Crystal Express lift	Crystal Ridge looking towards Lake Tahoe
Crystal Ridge looking towards Lake Tahoe	Crystal Ridge looking towards Lake Tahoe	Crystal Ridge looking towards Lake Tahoe
Crystal Ridge looking towards Lake Tahoe	Looking back up Crystal Ridge	Crystal Ridge

Crystal (1540) : Crystal Ridge, Spillway Lightning

For the first run, the run along the ridge looking down towards the Lake was the obvious draw. Second time up, I looked at the alternatives. On the South side of the ridge there was Golden Eagle Bowl. This was frozen solid, so not really an option. Despite the claims of an enormous base of snow, the runs to the North of the ridge at the top were closed because of rocks, so there really was only the Crystal Ridge run, but there was still the view of the Lake.

There is a series of black runs down into the valley along the North of the ridge. All were frozen hard and virtually unskiable, except Lightning which was groomed. There were plenty of rocks showing at the top, but lower down it was fine.

Crystal Express Chair

Looking down towards Spillway from Crystal Express Chair

Lakeview (650) : Slalom Glade

Back at the bottom, I decided to move down the mountain and take a few runs off the Lakeview chair, relatively short, leading to Snowflake Lodge overlooking Lake Tahoe.

The trailmap shows that all of runs bar one from the top of the lift are graded black. Most of them were groomed, so I had a series of pretty similar series of steepish groomed runs.

The bottom of Lakeside Lift	The beginner area around School House lift	Lakeside Lift
Slalom Glade	View of the Lake from Lakeview Chair	Nearing the top of Lakeside Chair
The top of the Lift	Diamond Peak and Crystal Ridge

Lakeview (650) : Lower Show Off Upper Show Off

Lakeview (650) : Popular

Lakeview (650) : Ridge Run

Ridge (350) : Luggi's

After exhausting what Lakeside had to offer I decided to head back towards Diamond Peak to see whether any of the more interesting runs had softened up.

This meant taking the short twin chair Ridge and then a run down to the bottom of Crystal Express lift.

Ridge Chair	Ridge Chair	Ridge Chair

Crystal (1540) : Thunder

Back at Diamond Peak, a quick check revealed that Golden Eagle Bowl, in the sun, was still frozen solid, but Thunder on the other side and largely shaded seemed much better. In fact, the areas in the shade were soft enough to ski, so I headed down through the moguls. The further down I skied, the crisper the snow became, so it was a good thing that the run was short and connected to the groomed Lightning run that I skied earlier.

The bottom of Crystal Express lift

The top of Crystal Express lift

Red Fox (400) : Wiggle

I took Red Fox to see where it took me. Even shorter than Lakeview the slow twin chair climbed a few hundred feet to the saddle of the ridge between Diamond Peak and Snowflake.

Lakeview (650) :

The view from Snowflake Lodge

Popular, Ridge Run

Lakeview (650) : Ridge Run, Dusty's Delight

Red Fox (400) : Penguin

Crystal (1540) : Golden Eagle Bowl, Battleborn

After a break, I went back to Diamond Peak. This time, Golden Eagle Bowl had softened up nicely. Calling that area a bowl is a little misleading, comprising a few turns at the top and a long run-out back to the Ridge.

Part way down, I came across Battleborn, one of the mogulled descents from the ridge. This was not promising. The top was rocky and not particularly soft. This was probably the best run of the day. It was not easy because the surface was very variable, but I did manage to ski comfortably to the bottom.

Crystal (1540) : Lodgepole Golden Eagle Bowl Diamond Back

Lakeview (650) : G.S.

I was about to stop for lunch. At the top of Lakeview chair, I noticed that G.S., the only ungroomed run from Snowflake, was open. I postponed lunch to take advantage. The top, which had been in the sun all morning was great; lower down the surface was a little unpredictable and my legs were getting tired.

The top of GS run	The bottom of GS run	The bottom of GS run

School House (100) :

School House lift

Lakeview (650) :

Ridge Run

Crystal (1540) : Lodgepole Crystal Ridge, Sunnyside

Snowflake Lodge and the top of Lakeview Chair

Lower part of Crystal Ridge

Overall assessment of Diamond Peak? Well worth the visit.

I little over four hours I did use every lift and ski virtually every run, so the "boredom factor" is probably one day or less. If snow conditions were better, and more terrain open, it would probably rate a second day.

At the beginning of the morning the guy in the rental shop predicted crowds. In fact, the car parks were full, but on no occasion was there even a 1 minute wait for a lift, so the objective of finding a local resort without crowds was achieved.

Base area at the end of day	Base area at the end of day	Lakeview lift
Lakeview lift and G.S run	View towards Diamond Peak from my hotel room

Runs

Last updated: 10/01/2003