Sugar Bowl
Saturday 24 March 2007

Weather

Conditions

Story of the Day

Chris and I flew into San Francisco on Friday and stayed overnight near the airport. We left the hotel about 3:45am and headed East along I-80.

We reached our destination, Sugar Bowl, around 7:45am. It was already warm enough to sit outside. After a cup of coffee and ski rental it was almost 8:30 and the lifts actually opened about 10 minutes early at 8:50.

While we were having our coffee, one of the resort hosts alerted us to a special deal which gave us free ski rental, so this worked out to be a pretty cheap day.

08:36 Chris waiting for the lifts to open	08:37 The Mt. Judah base area
08:37 The top of Mt. Disney	08:39 Someone has got the weather right .. shorts and flip-flops

While we were waiting for the lifts to open, a Scot who lived locally advised us to cross across to Mt. Disney for the best early morning conditions. We did as we were told and after 1 run back from Jerome Hill to Mt. Judah base (to make sure that Chris' boots were OK), we skied across to Disney lift.

08:53 Jerome Hill lift	08:53 Trees on the ridge line to the right of Jerome Hill lift
08:54 The top of Mt. Lincoln	08:56 The top of Jerome Hill lift
08:56 The top of Jerome Hill lift	09:06 Chris at the top of Jerome Hill
09:06 The top of Pioneer Trail	09:06 Mt. Disney
09:06 The top of Christmas Tree lift through the trees	09:06 Looking NW towards I80

For the first part of the morning, we did 5 runs from Disney lift, sticking to the groomed runs. Conditions were pretty variable, frozen hard in places and softening in others. As the morning progressed, the snow softened then thickened to the consistency of mashed potatoes. Our final run was down the black run Donald Duck. The grooming was done after the run had frozen, so this was not a pleasant run at all.

09:16 The top of Mt Disney lift	09:17 Chris at the top of Mt Disney
09:17 Crow's Traverse from the top of the lift	09:26 Approaching the top of Mt. Disney lift
09:27 Crow's Nest lift not scheduled to open	09:34 Rock on Mt Disney
09:35 Remains of the first chair lift in California	09:37 Café at the top of Mt. Disney
09:46 The top of Mt. Disney lift	09:55 Chris at the top of Donald Duck

We were now ready for a cup of coffee. Plan A was to go to the Mid Mountain Cafe. However, as we skied towards it from the top of Nob Hill is was obviously not open, so we took Christmas Tree and crossed back to Mt. Judah base. The track back to the base was ominously "sticky".

10:04 The top of Nob Hill lift

10:09 The top of Christmas Tree lift

After a break for coffee, we restarted with one run to the top of Mt Judah lift before taking Jerome Hill to get across to Mt. Lincoln.

10:48 Not really tempted to go out of bounds	10:49 The top of Mt. Judah lift
10:49 Chris at the top of Mt. Judah	11:00 The top of Jerome Hill lift

Next, we took 5 runs from Mt. Lincoln lift, enjoying the views from the top across towards other resorts including Northstar and down to Donner Lake. The runs started with pretty direct runs down the mountain and finished with heavy runouts back to the bottom of the lift. The first run down Crowley's run was very difficult with a combination of very slushy snow and too many people. When we repeated the run to get back to the base area, there were fewer people, meaning the run was much more pleasant.

11:12 The top of Mt. Lincoln lift	11:12 The backside of Northstar
11:13 Chris at the top of Mt. Lincoln	11:28 The top of Rahlves' Run
11:28 Mt. Lincoln lift	11:41 Donner Lake
11:41 Donner Pass and Lake	11:41 Crowley's Run along the ridge
11:50 The half pipe .. a bit worse for wear	11:50 The half pipe .. a bit worse for wear
11:50 Palisades	11:54 Approaching the top of Mt. Lincoln lift
12:08 Last run from Mt. Lincoln

Back at Mt. Judah base, we stopped for lunch. The snow around the base area was so slushy that we couldn't generate any enthusiasm for the walk across to the lift to restart skiing, so we called it a day. Overall, not a bad start for the first day.

Driving onwards towards our hotel in South Lake Tahoe, we stopped at a scenic viewpoint for a great view of Donner Lake and then drove down route 89 to South Lake, arriving around 3pm at our hotel, the Quality Inn near the casino area.

13:12 Donner Lake	13:12 Snow above Donner Lake
13:12 Covers protecting the railroad tracks	16:10 Snow in the car park of the Quality Inn
16:10 The mountain above the hotel	16:10 The entrance to the Quality Inn
16:10 Our rental SUV

Runs

Last updated: 26th March 2007