Squaw’s current excuse for a half pipe in the Riviera park
“Welcome to extraordinary” – Squaw Valley
Well, guys, it’s not feelin’ too extraordinary now that you’ve laid off your janitorial staff, the Olympic House and Dave’s Deli are perpetually filthy, and you’ve got no half-pipe. Feels kinda ordinary…
Squaw hasn’t had a good half pipe in years. Sure, last year they let us hit the big half pipe they made for Red Bull for 8 days…but that was only 8 days!
The last time Squaw had an actual half pipe was when the Mainline Park used to exist back in the day. How back in the day was it? 2008? 2007? It’s been a long long time.
This year, we’re not sure if they ever did cut the mini, very unsatisfactory Riviera pipe.
Currently, there is no half pipe at all at Squaw Valley. No half pipe at all!? C’mon guys, that’s just embarrasing. Squaw has SPT working for them now. SPT are the biggest baddest park builders on Earth. KSL should have them make us a pipe.
Park Jump in Gold Coast park today
To Squaw’s credit, the park is lookin’ much better than it has in years. The Gold Coast park is fun and bonky and the Riviera park has two big jumps you can do technical tricks on. It’d be nice if they could make one big park where you could flow both options, but we’re happy with the improvement over previous years.
Snow cats are currently building something in the Mainline area. Is it going to be for the public? Or will it be another private Red Bull terrain park where we can see what SPT and KSL are capable of building for us, but not be able to hit it?
You can see the snow-cats building in the Main Line area in here
Hey Squaw, we aren’t just making this stuff up. This is what we’ve been hearing on chairlifts all season long: “please, make us a half-pipe.”
weak
Its bowshit….I could guarantee that the mainline features will not be public!!!!
Mainline is where the park should be!!!!!!
Bring back the old mainline days!
Grrr
Typical squaw story….new park crew comes in and only cares and caters to all the drug addicted pros…. Great job squaw parks! You guys are awesome!
Pause……
NOT!
“those hooligans are all addicted to the pot these days”
you sound like my grandpa.
For all you squaw shreds craving to ride a superpipe, Boreal just announced $15 tickets to other resort passholders. The deal in on their facebook to celebrate the reopening of their pipe. https://www.facebook.com/boreal.terrain.park
Yeah, a pipe would be nice. Seems kinda basic these days.
yup, that 8 days was fun last year. the whole 2 days i was there for it. thanks, shaun white.
i believe it was simon dumont and not white that had to do with the pipe last year
Half pipe, hell, the only thing that KSL wants to build out is the Valley.. Developers are lined up and waiting for a crack at it.
N* passes $419 12/13 get this spring too.
Do they have a halfpipe or any parks?
i hope your kidding.
N* has the only 22′ pipe in tahoe and was one of the only ones on the west coast for most of the season. parks are good plus you get access to heavenly’s park which is good also.
Both are better than squaws park anyday.
I know n* would love to think they’re that special, but Boreal also has a 22′ pipe…
Don’t think anyone from KSL skis squaw on the busy weekends we have seen lately or even skis squaw period. Totally agree that not having a park and clean facilities is ordinary and lamo. But fuck! Not sure how they are imagining more people coming when currently every parking spot lane is being extended by 5+ cars, people are randomly parked in snow banks, lines are 30+ minutes, it takes and hour and 45 min to get from Truckee to Squaw, 30 minutes to get from Alpine to Squaw and most of all, the terrain doesn’t support the intended audience. Get a clue KSL and Squaw! Raise pass prices (within reason), and don’t develop shit and bail, leaving locals with a bunch of empty eye sores that screw over the local resources and local residents.
Squaw = way over hyped and over crowded. It was fun in the 90′s and early 2000′s. Now it is such a circus. Do you have to have a helmet cam to get on the lifts now? haha
Brought my teenage nephew to Squaw for three days of riding. “Where’s the halfpipe?” he said. Sad kid.
i sure miss kookin’ out in the half pipe this year. i’m not buying the lack of snow excuse either. Nstar had one all year. I thought bringing in SPT was going to hugely improve the whole park vibe and it turned out to be not so much. C’mon KSL, you’re harshin my squally buzz!
True, N* has has a pipe built all season. But it has only been open to the public on a very limited basis. It was open for almost a month at the start of the season, and only a couple of weeks total the last three months.
So? Move to a real mtn you pretend wannabee chumps
Awwwwww Hatin’ you still bored? why aren’t you out there gettin’ some.
Or at least out of the closet??
pipes are gay
andys got one in his nightstand!
Unofficial – you should do a survey at the end of the season asking your readers to rate various aspects of the operations and mountain (Lifts, pipe, park, restaurants, lift prices, web site, mobile app, facebook page, etc) on a scale of Sucks, Medicore, Good, Very Good and Extraordinary. Then publish it and send it to KSL and Squaw. I doubt they would do anything with it but at least it would be an honest/transparent assessment of what customers think of the job they are doing as opposed to their own delusional assessment.
I’d be happy to design it for you if you publish it.
Alas, even Mr. Positive says they really need to step it up. Clean up and build the half pipe. It’s such a part of the Spring ski scene and should have been done before. Clean restrooms and a good park are elementary…
Totally legit complaint on this one.
Umm, ski halfpipe is now an Olympic sport. It’s hard for aspiring athletes to train without a pipe, doncha think?
so is ski jumping.
so is bobsledding
so is snowlerblading
Fuck Northstar! Mammoth had their 22 foot superpipe open for thanksgiving for christs sake. Fstar’s was open when? Late Jan. Feb? Just talking about who cares for the customers. Mammoth’s parks have been huge all year and, quite frankly, thay have a bunch of them. I would gladly drive there from Tahoe anyday and I have a pass to show it! As well as Kirkwood.
actually the n* pipe was open in mid December and it was awesome………..cant speak to the mammoth pipe, so i will have to take your word for it…. dont be a hater…..
low snow= a lot of crying! tahoooooo bitches
Fuck off mc!
Seriously, i think squaw is doing great with their parks this year! So what if they don’t have a half pipe, the riviera pipe sucked anyways because one side got too much sun and one side was always icy! There is probably not enough snow to make the cold coast pipe, but i think they could still make it (my one an only problem with the park this year). Overall i am happy with squaw and SPT’s good work. By the way, the high camp chair will become a high speed 6 pack and extend to the top of links next year! That would make room for tons features!
6 pack chair high camp?
Now you will be able to power lap Belmont! Oooooo aaaaahhhh!
You don’t know anything!
Please everyone get your N* passes and leave squaw.
yes please leave and go to flatstar
We don’t want you squallykooks casing our landings… Stay where you are and keep getting radder than everyone else. We know you’re the best skiiers in Tahoe, you don’t need to prove anything to us.
Casing your landings… hahaha! Try building decent jumps and you wont have that problem! You shouldnt have to speed check 3 times to hit a jump with the correct speed. Jonahs shits on whoever builds the jumps at fagstar. How about this: we’ll keep getting radder while you keep waiting in 30min lift lines with Shawn White, deal?
If you need a half pipe at squaw valley then you need to go to n*. Please just don’t complain…….. go away……… and don’t come back. When I live there ,10 years from now, I don’t want to see a half pipe. Spend that money on improving the lift system. SQUAW VALLEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE A HALF PIPE! there I said it
I would love to score some of the dope this guy is smoking!
easy, move.
The shit going up on mainline is for an Oakley shoot! who knows if they will even open it for the public??
You are right, and it’s going to be the same situation as the red bull halfpipe last year…….open to public for a short period of time after there done shooting and filming.
I recently e-mailed Squaw about there 1/2 pipe and here is what was said…Lame!
3/22/12-
To who it concerns,
Will Squaw get a 1/2 pipe this season, or will I be forced to go to Boreal or Northstar? They have both had one all season. Low snow year we all know, but there are others who have them…What is the problem?
3/23/12-
Dear R***,
Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately Squaw Valley will not have a 1/2 pipe this year. As you know we did not receive that much snow this season and we did not want to use the limited water supply we have for snow making on a half pipe when we need to focus on getting our terrain covered. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact us at anytime.
3/24/12-
Thank you for the response.
Your website and an email to me said, you just received 11 feet of snow. We all know that is enough to make the 1/2 pipe.
My question now; Is Squaw being cheap, lazy, or not telling the truth. Earlier in the season, Squaw was bragging about getting Snow Park Technologies to put there park and pipe together. Your news is very disappointing………
Please let the Upper management (Andy Worth in particular) know that people want it.
Next thing we will probably hear that Squaw will be closing earlier then expected because there is not enough snow.
R*** K***
3/24/12-
Dear Mr. K***,
Thank you for your inquiry. With there being limited time left in the season we will not be building a half pipe this year. While we did receive a lot of snow with this last storm it is still not enough to build a half pipe, it takes an incredibly large amount of snow to build a half pipe. Not to mention the time it would take us to build it. Snow Park Technologies is working with Squaw Valley but with the lack of snow throughout the season they were not able to do as we planned. We understand your frustrations but you need more than a lot of snow to build a half pipe. Squaw is not being cheap, lazy, or not telling the truth, we would love to have build a half pipe but the circumstances were not in our favor. We will not be closing early either, we plan on staying open as long as possible. We would appreciate your patience and understanding with our situation this year. If you have any other questions or concerns please feel free to contact us at anytime.
Blah blah blah…..
Wow, are these real emails? Can we publish these? Do you mind? Might write a post tomorrow letting people know that there won’t be a half pipe this year at squaw. The snow freaks definitely have a right to know.
Yes the emails are real. Sure, publish them if you like. Everyone has a right to know. People will be pissed,, I am. Anyone can write to squaws email and complain. Let them know your pissed, I do all the time via emails.
You can publish the notes back and forth from Squaw about not having a 1/2 pipe. People should know. They will be bummed …I am.
People should also be encouraged to email Squaw or do a live chat (they have that during business hours on there home page), and let them know you are pissed, or if they did something right. I let them know all the time when they do a terrible job at something like NOT having parking/traffic control anymore, or being so cheap that they have decided not to have a 1/2 pipe. They stretch the truth and brag so often that they need to be called on there shit.
Live chat is up top of the home page. Thay always respond
Email comments to- contact us at the bottom of home page.
***They actually hire people to respond*** Funny I think.
I may suggest that if you use the live chat:
1. Be polite, respecttful, and use proper grammar. Be collabrative, not combative.
2. Don’t use “there shit” which should be “their” shit or “there home page” which should be “their”.
3. The phone/chat people are already working. They don’t hire extra people for that. You’ll get a response if you’re polite. The messages, if done correctly, and if there is enough of them will gravitate to the right people. If not, they will get trashed. I don’t use FaceBook, but I guess that’s another way to go.
I may suggest that if you choose to correct someone’s grammar:
1. Don’t misspell “respecttful”
2. Don’t forget a comma after a prepositional phrase (…is enough of them will gravitate…)
3. Kill yourself because you just corrected someones grammar on a skiing forum.
I’m excused from number 3 because someone had to point out your hypocrisy.
^this guy. Oakley progression park, kinda like last year. Pretty lame tho we don’t have a superpipe, but the rest of the park(s) are super fun. Big improvement over past years.
I guess its a trade off between the jumps and the pipe.
To tell you the truth Id rather have the jumps.
The jib pipe this year was kinda cool but I have to agree squaw needs to get a good pipe going eventually.
Remember family’s go where the kids want to go and the kids want to go where there are nice terrain parks.
Yeah it seems like Squaw is really mismanaged…all other mountains I have been to feel like things have run pretty smoothly. Whistler comes to mind most prominently because it is huge and can get very crowded but everything there seems to work and run very well. I think KSL/Squaw needs to a page or two out of Intrawest’s book or something. The most frustrating thing is the 3 or 4 lifts that are basically never running! Why? I know it’s a money issue apparently but it’s sad if they are really that cash strapped and charging $100 for a day ticket. It’s just the little things (and a couple big ones)…all adding up.
The village build out is the ONLY component in KSL’s plan that their investors want to see happen. The real estate development group of KSL is pushing very hard to make this happen.
The actual response from squaw about the half-pipe is totally bogus. Limited water resources??? Yet there are plans to install more snowmaking for next season? Lies?? Hypocrisy? Incompetence? All of the Above.
Their plan is very short sighted, will add to an already congested corridor between Truckee/Tahoe City and total parking nightmares especially during buildout in winter operating months.
Get involved, attend planning meetings, contact local and state officials, groups like the Sierra Club and the Lahontan Water Quality board. Voice your opinion against.
Make your voice heard. ‘Occupy Squaw’ We can make a difference if we organize properly, have proper goals and approach all issues in a proper tone.
Let’s hold them accountable and make sure every environmental impact study is done thoroughly.
Remember, the train tunnel (mousehole) 89 Truckee was supposed to be widened for the original village plan, part of the original permitting phase, still waiting.
What the hell does KSL plan to do now? Probably nothing. Traffic congestion and planned mitigation will be the strongest concern we have to fight against this un-needed, over development.
Look how ridiculous the ingress and egress on SV road already is during these oversold weekends. Parking and Traffic dept. has been cut to only 6 employees. Will they widen SV road? A. NO. You can already see the problems. There are going to be dozens more.
Just say NO to NO Valley
Q. Is headwall going to open on-time or at all today? A. NO
Q. Will there be a half-pipe at Squaw? A. NO
Q. Will there be new lift upgrades for next season? A. NO
Q. Will Far East be open every day? A. NO
Q Will Squaw mitigate traffic issues and increase parking? A. NO
Squaw Alpine two big mountains one big lift line,,,,
all the way from Truckee to T.C.
Hell to KSL.
The fact that Squaw states;
“As you know we did not receive that much snow this season and we did not want to use the limited water supply we have for snow making on a half pipe when we need to focus on getting our terrain covered.”, is incredulous.
How can KSL even consider having enough H2O for improved snowmaking and quadrupling the number of beds in the village when they literally state that there already is limited water?
It is now documented as proof that the village should not be built out based on this fact alone.
K eep S tanding in L ines
the water is in the ground… it just needs to be brought up and stored, easily attainable. siryouareanidiot
Oh really? Perhaps you should do some homework on the water tables in Olympic Valley before spouting.
“it just needs to be brought up and stored”
so WTF super genius, how do you propose storage???? like 4-6 million gallons of projected use over an 8 hr period at full capacity, snowmaking, showers, toilets, etc.. that would seem to be some very large vessels. underground you say? collection ponds? both ideas are unfeasible, either too cost prohibitive or non-potable.
KSL can’t even afford proper staffing for custodial arts, a.k.a. cleaning their fuccing bathrooms.
you sir, are a complete jackass.
Actually Headwall did open on-time today and there will be new lift upgrades for next season.
What will the new lift upgrades be? Won’t be granite chief.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that was disappointed with Squaw/Alpine this year. From a purely operational standpoint it felt like they were doing a lousy job of making things run smoothly and handling the floods of people that consume the resort on weekends. Everything from traffic and parking to lift lines and food services were a complete mess and I’m not sure I want to renew my pass for next season if things aren’t going to improve.
half-pipe at squaw? Why? Are you really that bored with the mountain? If you want a park and half pipe – go to north star.
Maybe we should just start pissing all over there snow who needs a bathroom. That can give them the moisture they claim they don’t have to operate their mtn. Their perspective corporate bidders will love it. Come to squaw valley and ride our yellow snow cause we are too cheap to clean a bathroom. All of your international crowds will love it. When you sell 30,000 + passes you can pay someone minimum wage to clean a toilet. Or give them a free pass you obviously don’t mind over selling the shit out of them
I hate to admit this but Squaw Valley would have been better off if they were bought by Vail or some other big ski corporation. KSL is a joke. Ski resorts need to be managed by skiers not real estate developers. When big ski corps buy resorts they make new lifts and improve the infrastructure. Real estate developers could care less about the skiing. They are only in it to develop.
For all you squaw shreds craving to ride a superpipe, Boreal just announced $15 tickets to other resort passholders. The deal in on their facebook https://www.facebook.com/boreal.terrain.park