Squaw Valley
Thursday 29 March 2007

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

After a discussion, Chris and I decided that we wanted a big resort for Thursday, so once again we tried discount lift tickets. This time they did represent a saving over the ticket window prices.

The temperature was above freezing when we left the hotel, but there was still snow around at valley level.

07:32 Recent snow thawing in the hotel car park

07:37 With snow around this looks like a ski resort

The drive from South Lake Tahoe to Squaw Valley takes the best part of an hour and a half. We got there just as the lifts opened and took the Funitel, a two cable gondala, up to the 8200' level.

09:14 The top station of the Funitel

09:15 Underneath the Funitel

Squaw Valley is unusual in that it has very few named runs; most of the skiing is in a relatively open bowl. The lifts are colour coded according to the terrain they serve rather than the runs themselves. We started the day with an east run down from Gold Coast and then two runs down from Siberia Express. The run to the left of the lift, in Siberia Bowl, was groomed. There was wind and blowing snow at the top of the lift.

09:18 The top station of the Funitel at Gold Coast	09:18 looking up Gold Coast 6-Pack Express
09:19 Lake below the lift is just beginning to thaw	09:21 Approaching the top of Gold Coast Express
09:31 The rim of the bowl	09:35 The top of Siberia Express lift
09:35 The panorama beyond the top of Siberia Express lift	09:36 Ski patrol at the top of Siberia Bowl
09:36 Chris at the top of Siberia Bowl	09:45 Siberia Bowl
09:46 Siberia Bowl	09:46 Siberia Bowl
09:49 The run out from Siberia Bowl	09:49 Chris at the bottom of Siberia Bowl
09:40 Chris at the bottom of Siberia Bowl

Next, we decided to try a run or two on the backside of the bowl. This involved a series of short lifts to get to the ridge of the bowl. High Camp took us nearly to the High Camp area; Baileys Beach gave us enough height to get to the bottom of The Links without having to walk uphill; The Links got us to the top of the ridge.

09:53 The Funitel above High Camp lift	09:53 The Funitel above High Camp lift
09:53 Dramatic rock under High Camp lift	09:53 The bowl above Gold Coast lodge
09:54 The Funitel	09:59 Links lift
10:04 The top of Bailey's Beach lift	10:04 Looking down towards Links lift from High Camp
10:04 Chris near High Camp	10:04 The bowl at 9200'

We took an easy run to the bottom of Shirley Lake and then decided to try the much more difficult runs from the long slow Granite Chief lift. First time up, it was extremely windy and there only seemed to be one run down, High Voltage. This was relatively steep but reasonably well groomed, so we went back for another run. This time, we saw another route, which lead to a slightly steeper and much more challenging run. From below it looked groomed, once on the run it was clear that there had been some attention from a grooming machine, but the surface was very soft with lots of holes.

10:13 Chris preparing for the run to Shirley Lake	10:20 The view towards Lake Tahoe from the top of Shirley Lake Express
10:20 The run down to the bottom of Shirley Lake	10:25 Granite Chief lift line through the trees
10:34 The top of Granite Chief	10:34 Chris skiing down from the top of Granite Chief
10:34 The trail from the top of Granite Chief	10:46 High Voltage from Granite Chief
10:47 High Voltage from Granite Chief	10:47 High Voltage from Granite Chief
10:47 Icicles on the rocks below Granite Chief	10:48 Trees and rocks above Granite Chief
10:49 Nearing the top of Granite Chief	10:54 Main Backside run
10:54 Soft snow under Chris' skis	10:54 Soft snow under Chris' skis
10:55 Chris on Main Backside	10:55 Chris on Main Backside
10:55 Looking up Main Backside

It was now time for a comfort break and mid-morning coffee, so we returned up Shirley Lake and skied down to Gold Coast. After the break we decided to head down to 6200' to try some runs at lower altitude.

11:23 The end of our coffee break

11:26 Dead tree in the middle of Mountain Run

The snow at 6200' was already very soft. Simply getting to Red Dog lift was hard work. Red Dog is a slow triple-chair which at times is extremely high above the valley floor. From the top of the lift there is a great view towards Lake Tahoe and other ski resorts in the vicinity. We took one run down to Squaw Creek, which overall was not pleasant (almost ice in places). Squaw Creek is also a slow very high lift and the run back down to the main Resort Centre was no better than that to Squaw Creek so we decided to go back to 8200'

11:45 The top of Lake View run	12:02 Ski patrol at Lake View
12:03 Looking down Dog Leg	12:03 KT-22 lift

Back at higher altitudes, we did two runs from Siberia and two runs from Gold Coast before stopping for lunch.

12:28 Siberia Bowl	12:28 The top of Siberia lift
12:34 Where grooming machines go to sleep	12:40 Gold Coast complex
12:40 Looking across to Northstar	12:40 Looking across towards Diamond Peak and Lake Tahoe
12:40 The ridge run from the top of Siberia lift	12:49 The top of Gold Coast Express
12:57 The view from the top of Gold Coast Express

After lunch we decided to go across to the "backside" area and search out Solitude lift. This meant a couple of runs to get across to the top of the ridge and a relatively short run down to the bottom of Solitude lift. The runs under the lift, although not groomed looked skiable, so we decided for more or less the first time in the week to search out something more challenging. This was a mistake .. we did not actually find the part of the slope we had looked at from the lift. We did find relatively steep bumps with quite a lot of heavy fresh snow, which proved to be really hard work.

13:26 Getting ready to ski after lunch	13:33 The top of Gold Coast Express
13:42 The top of East Broadway	13:45 Trees and rocks above Solitude lift
13:45 The run down to Solitude lift	13:45 Chris on the run down to Solitude
13:45 Chris on the run down to Solitude	14:00 Powder under Solitude lift
14:00 Powder under Solitude lift

Back at the top of Solitude, we decided we had one more run from the top of Granite Chief in our legs, before calling it a day. There was less wind at the top, but Main Backside was now cut up into moguls. Quite an enjoyable run but not good for tired legs.

14:19 Chris at the top of Granite Chief

14:19 Ungroomed snow on Main Backside

It was definitely time to call it a day, but there was a 2200' descent to the main Resort Centre to finish.

14:29 About to start the run down to the resort	14:30 About to start the run down to the resort
14:40 The Funitel as we stop skiing for the day

Runs

Last updated: April 1st, 2007