Northstar-at-Tahoe
Saturday 6 February 2010

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

I was originally planning to ski Saturday and Sunday, but a change to business plans meant that this was likely to be my last day of skiing in 2010.

Overnight snow meant difficult road conditions with chain controls. With a 4x4, I was able to get over Brockway Pass to Northstar. Being Saturday, there were lots of other people heading in the same direction. Northstar continues to change dramatically, not all for the better. Close in parking now cost $30 for one day.

As I started, there was very slight snow. I decided to take Village Express rather than the gondola to the Day Lodge area. This means a little bit of skiing before taking a lift higher up the mountain. As I got off the lift, I immediately felt the drag of poorly waxed rental skis on wet snow.

08:50 Big Springs Gondola

08:50 Village Express

A very short ski down took me to the bottom of Vista and then another warm-up to Comstock  and the top of Mount Pluto.

I decided to go to the "backside" immediately before the lines built up. (The days when the "experts only" signs on relatively easy terrain reduced numbers have long since gone).

The first run was down Burnout. This is straight, not very steep and was groomed. But there was fresh wet snow on top and it is not far short of 200' vertical, so my legs were burning at the bottom.

Even though it is an express lift, Backside still seems to take a long time. On the plus side, it does provide time for tired legs to recover. I was looking for groomed runs (1860' of moguls covering in Sierra cement did not appeal). To the right of the lift only Sierra Grande was groomed and open to the public. Challenger was closed for racing. There is one steep section on Sierra Grande which gets the heart racing for less experience skiers and I encountered a dad trying to convince a small boy that it would be fine.

There is a great view towards Squaw Valley from part way down the run. The photos show how grey the weather turned out to be.

09:33 Squaw Valley	09:34 Squaw Valley
09:34 Backside runs .. Challenger closed for racing

Back up  and this time, I turned left to the final groomed run Iron Horse. Under the lift, ski patrollers were being trained on the bumps of The Rapids. Iron Horse itself had been groomed but fresh overnight snow was already being to cut up. 

09:46 Training ski patrol under Backside	09:46 Training ski patrol under Backside
09:48 Backside runs	09:50 Backside runs

After another three runs down the backside on Sierra Grande, Burnout and Iron Horse, it was time to take a break and queues were beginning to build up. The single line extended outside the rope maze. Earlier in the day, the sun was trying to break through. By the time I stopped for a break, it was snowing heavily.

The interior of the Summit Deck and Grill was packed, so I took my quesadilla and coffee out onto a sheltered area of the outside deck.

11:09 Deserted deck .. High winds and blowing snow	11:10 Snow blocks cleared from the lodge roof
11:17 Icicles hanging from the lodge roof

With queues building up on the front and back of Mt. Pluto, it was time to try somewhere else. After my break, I skied down to the Day Lodge at Mid Mountain and up the Tahoe Zephyr Express. There were long queues for the lift and even for Lookout Link, the drag lift across towards Lookout Mountain.

The run down Martis was much longer than I expected. The lift on the backside of Lookout Mountain, Martis Camp Express, has been significantly extended down to a new area of condos. Instead of turning sharp left at the foot of a steep face, the run now continues and turns more gradually into a lightly gladed area. With increasing winds and blowing snow, this was not a pleasant run.

Nevertheless, the pursuit of a few more vertical feet motivated me to take three more runs down to the same lift. The two runs to the right of the lift, Prosser and Stampede were very similar. Long, groomed at some stage in the previous 24 hours and covered with cut up fresh snow. A new run Washoe was rather easier. In retrospect, I did not really enjoy these runs at all and should have finished earlier.

12:21 Bad visibility on Lookout Mountain

Once I had taken the decision to stop, it was a matter of getting back to the parking area. First of all, The Face and The Stash  took me to the mid-mountain area. Then a ride up Vista took me to Loggers Loop and The Woods right down to the village area. I finished the day as I started, with my skis dragging in the wet snow surface and the need for polling in some places of the run.

Back to the CalNeva Lodge, a rest, some work and dinner and an early morning drive to Reno Tahoe airport on Sunday morning.

Runs

Last updated: 10/03/2010