Solitude. Siberia. Reverse Traverse. Palisades. KT! The hit list got better and better as the day went on at Squaw Valley, as Patrol proceeded to open the mountain in it’s near entirety. Expectations were low rolling in this morning, expecting nothing more than a nice dosage of leftover mank in Shirley and Siberia. But this was not the case today, as everything kicked off, and was absolutely ripping!! With a staggered opening and limited crowds there were untracked turns to be had till the end of the day.
After some ripping morning laps on the skiers right side of Solitude, it was off to Siberia where… the Palisades were open! Patrol gave us National and even Main Chute, a nice treat! National was a touch on the chundery side, but Main was steep, chalky, and simply delicious. Watch below as Bryce Bennett and Dave Greenleaf get after it in Main! I don’t remember a time when the day after Siberia opens, the Palisades open for business.
The far skiers left of Sun Bowl harbored some fantastically slushy springesque snow, and Cornice II bowl was more than a little fun. After a short bit of reverse traversing, those with the brand new Squaw Valley app or with a working set of ears received the best news of the day: KT to Open in 10 minutes!! Everyone quickly congregated and basked in the lower mountain mank.
With the Mother Ship up running, it finally felt like winter again and the 56 days of dryness faded to a distant memory. The heavy snow was a bit of a struggle, but well worth the effort. With a pleasant lack of crowds and virtually everything open (Oly Lady, Red Dog Ridge, West Face, Chute 75, even Dead Tree was open) it was up to you to decide where to enjoy some pleasant snow slip sliding.
The only disappointment from the day was the lack of tracks in the fingers. I mean, come on people! There was at least 3 centimeters plastering the peppery death. From Middle Knuckle to Ice Fall to Banna Chute, the options were ski on rock or ski on rock, your choice. It still felt fantastic to finally ride over the top of them.
Now it’s just a matter of keeping those snow dances rolling to ward off the potential high pressure ridge that’s threatening to settle back in. Also, we’d like to extend a huge thanks to Patrol and everyone at Squaw for getting things going so quick after so much dry!