Sierra At Tahoe
Friday 30 March 2007

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

On Thursday afternoon, we decided to go back to Sierra-at-Tahoe for Friday and once again got discounted lift tickets. This was probably the warmest day of the week so far, so we started early to get in as much skiing as possible before the snow softened. On Sunday, the lifts opened at 8:30am. We were there in plenty of time to find that in the week, the opening time was 9am. We had plenty of time for coffee before starting to ski.

08:15 Bright and sunny at the start of day in the parking lot

08:55 Artificial moguls on Lower Main

There were no groomed runs on the Grand View side of the resort and that part was still in shade and frozen solid, so our plan was simple, get across to West Bowl and fit in as many runs as possible before the snow softened up too much.

We had a very simple plan, ski all of the runs off West Bowl in sequence, left to right, looking down from the top of the lift:

All of the runs were nicely groomed. There were hard patches, but even on the first run down Powderhorn, we slowed down considerably on the flatter section where the sun was shining. By the time we stopped for coffee, the run out to the lift was getting much slower.

09:07 The backside is closed	09:13 Rock hard groomed trail
09:19 One side of Clipper is groomed	09:26 The bottom of Lower Bashful
09:39 Small trees struggling to grow in the snow under West Bowl lift	09:59 Moss growing on the trees

After the coffee break, we selected the three runs we had enjoyed most earlier in the morning and did each of those twice more, followed by a run down Clipper before stopping for lunch. One run down Clipper after lunch was enough .. we struggled to make it back to the lift and decided to try the other side of the resort.

Although higher than the base of West Bowl, conditions at the main base area were no better. Skiing down Broadway, it was clear that we were going to have to walk to get to Grand View lift and that getting back to the lift again would be no easier. We decided that it was time to stop.

10:43 Innovative use of old skies under the Red Bull bar	10:44 The applewood smoked barbecue
11:14 Chris at the top of Bashful run	11:14 The top of Bashful run
11:23 The selection of runs from West Bowl	11:46 Chris about to drop onto Upper Powderhorn
11:47 Chris about to drop onto Upper Powderhorn	11:47 The view skiing down Powderhorn
11:57 Skies above Clipper; clouds beginning to form	11:57 The shadow of West Bowl lift

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for a few minutes at a scenic viewpoint looking over Lake Tahoe airport to the lake itself. Back at our hotel, we found the fire department there in force (two fire trucks and a smaller van). We didn't actually find out what the problem was.

13:36 The road from Sierra back to Lake Tahoe (I-50)	13:36 View of Lake Tahoe from I-50
13:36 Lake Tahoe airport	13:36 The view from I-50
13:37 Chris at the scenic overlook	13:37 Chris with Lake Tahoe behind him
13:37 A river winds along the valley below the overlook	13:37 I-50 towards Lake Tahoe
13:38 Cliffs above I-50	14:17 The Fire Department at our hotel
14:22 Fire engine number 2

Runs

Last updated: 2nd April 2007