Mount Rose
Friday 5 February 2010

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

I left Seattle early in the morning and landed at Reno before 10am. By 11am, I was at Mount Rose. Despite the forecast of heavy overcast and snow, there was bright sun and blue sky when I arrived.

I had only been to Mount Rose once before and that was in 2002, so it was like skiing at a resort for the first time.

I rode Northwest Magnum with someone from the local ski patrol. I asked for guidance and a reasonable cruise to warm-up. He advised Kit Carson Traverse across to Kit Carson Bowl. It may have been groomed at some stage, but by 11:15am it was cut-up. There had obviously been fresh snow overnight, and it was typical Sierra Cement, very heavy with a high water content.

Back up Northwest Magnum, I headed across to the bowl on the other side of the mountain. I started to follow "easiest way down". Before long, I found myself in Sunrise Bowl, with moguls forming. No great challenge, but very hard on 61 year old legs!

I now took four runs from Blazing Zephyr lift.

• On the first run up the lift, I was tempted by the run down beneath the lift. It did not look much more challenging than the previous run. In practise it was somewhat steeper and there had not been any grooming in recent history. Again Macho Bowl posed no real challenge, other than to the muscles in my legs.
  
• Next time, I looked for the easiest way down. I started with Mine Train, but once again found myself in Sunrise Bowl.
  
• Third run down, I turned under the lift and tried the other side. Big Bonanza is marked blue, but the snow conditions meant that it was much harder. Not moguls, simply cut-up cement, CRUD.
  
• I was sure that I had seen an easier run to the left of the lift. This time, I took High Traverse which seemed to be groomed .. for a while. Quickly I found myself back on Big Bonanza.

I had only been skiing for just over 90 minutes, but my legs were already starting to complain, so time for a break and lunch.

After lunch, I headed up Blazing Zephyr for the last time and took Ramsey's down to the base. I was tempted to stop, but decided I would have to walk uphill back to the car park. So I continued for a while.

Ponderosa serves a series of green runs used for ski school. The top is near the bottom of Galena that goes a little higher. I decided to take one more run from higher up, in an attempt to find a view towards Lake Tahoe, so a gentle cruise down Galena, Ponderosa and North Rim took me back to Northwest Magnum Express.

This time, I took Kit Carson Traverse and the continued along Around the World. I never did get a view of Lake Tahoe, but I did stay higher than the base area, so did not need to climb back towards ski rental return.

In these conditions, around 2½ hours was just about all my legs were capable of. I checked into Calneva Lodge early and overnight cramp found the muscles that were not prepared for skiing.

Runs

Last updated: 06/02/2010