Yup, the beginning of March has brought with it a proper Tahoe storm, the kind measured in feet. Looks like blizzard conditions might quiet down a little Sunday and allow us to get out there and play? I’ll be there with my pow tails on.
Sleeper pow day
Wow. What a great powder day! Not totally bottomless, but more than enough. I wasn’t complaining about the occasional scratchy sound from my tails.
Not sure why no one showed up. Even for the Bowl, it was empty. And half of the regulars never made it to Crow’s… open weekdays this season! I found an orange circle that said “Powder shot” and it was all mine. 🙂
Beacon park is open!
Woo! The best park at Sugar is now open!
Beacon park is located at the bottom of Overland. You need a beacon to play. 😉
Welcome home
It’s been a minute since Sugar opened with just a thin white road or two off Jerome. Someone on the chair said 2017.. sounds right? In any case, I was super happy to make any turns at all. Reese met some friends to play with, the sun came out in the afternoon, it’s great to be back on snow.
Hoping for something in the forecast soon…
Bonus Season!
In which the Unofficial Sugar Bowl Ski Team visits those Other Mountains, sporting our helmet ears and rocking beats.
I’m pretty sure we ran into the other team Unoff at Sherwood last week, we definitely made turns and traded stickers with Team Tie Dye, and I was super thrilled to run into all you Sugar peeps out there too!
So here we are…
(Today’s song pairing: Nightmares on Wax – So here we are)
False spring, sleeper pow days, Palisades reopening (and staying open!), Peak Snow, real spring, Team Unoff representing at the Uphiller & Banked Slalom (Disco on the same gear for both, hehe)… just wow.
Oh! And Old 40 reopened yesterday. I missed you, Old 40!
View from the top of West Palisade on reopening day:
Just starting to see the top of the trail maps peek out again at Dis and Tree… hard to believe there’s less than two weeks of lift-served skiing left. Corn harvest is a go!
Closing day cave party will be on Sunday the 30th!
Palisades
On a sleeper Thursday morning, for the first time since 2019, the Palisades opened!!
A couple weeks back I recall a stranger on the chair wondering if the Palisades could open “without Darren Rahlves leading the charge”. Haha! OF COURSE our patrol can open the Palisades!
Not too many folks on the mountain but Team Unoff was representing! I’ve dropped Middle Palisade and West Palisade before, but First Palisade was new for me.
And just like that, the next storm moved in Thursday afternoon, visibility went in the toilet and the magical morning was over. I don’t know what the state of things will be post-cement, but I’d bet this wasn’t a one-and-done situation. The Palisades will hopefully be open again this amazing season…
Mondays
Managed to arrive just as Dis opened. What do you know, we can get snow without insane wind transport.. who knew?! Every line in Dis was lovely, gates opened early, lapped freshies in South Dis while too many people waited in line at Lincoln… wow!
Ran into a highly branded Mr. OpenSnow on skis at Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln just as it opened. Guessing it was CEO Joel Gratz, as our local homey BA is a boarder. 😉
Also managed to run into most of the Unofficial Ski Team during the rest of the epic afternoon.. Finn definitely launched it big in Steielhang! I got freshies down Carl’s Nose & Coinslot (formerly cliff) rollover, hell yeah! ’58s with Will & A, Fourth Sister with Christa & Mean Dean. F**** yeah!
Rare pic from second sister cave 1.45ish as it started to dump again
In like a Leopard
Winds were howling when I made it up to Sugar for the first time post-blizzard.
On Wednesday, an attempt was made to operate Dis, but the wind didn’t cooperate. Consolation prize instead was Jerome. With barely anyone at the mountain, there were lots of fresh tracks to be had.
Thursday morning had some of the longest lines of the season on Disney. Snow conditions were mostly wind-affected and questionable. Lots of folks left eventually. Heard someone doubting whether Lincoln would open. Ha! You must be thinking of some other mountain, my friend. Of COURSE Lincoln opened in the afternoon, and all the gates as well (except Lincoln East Face?). Somehow, a night and day difference from Disney’s conditions, much better snow!
Aand… more feet on the way this weekend! Because 539″ isn’t enough, haha.
“Not as idiot-proof as I expected”
Overheard outside Village lodge as I was warming up after my first few laps. 🙂
It was a great day and a challenging day. Definitely found some great deep stashes of light, blower pow pow. Not our usual Tahoe cement today for sure! But also wind, blowing snow, tough visibility, scoured-off aspects, not yet unlimited depth (maybe later in the afternoon), and cold and windy AF, yow!
Wow, we’re so incredibly blessed with an amazing Patrol and Ops team here at Sugar. I loaded Dis a few minutes after 9. Was on Lincoln and at the top of the mountain before midday. Other unmentioned unofficial folks struggled to get a little bit up their lower mountains.
Hopefully I-80 is open and I can get there Friday. Saturday is going to be prime. All the lollipops should flip to green!
Get after it!
DC