Skiing

Gavin Smith is getting to be quite the regular here on Unofficial and that is by no luck.  Gavin continues to blow our minds here at UnofficialSnowbird for always pushing the limits of what we think can be done.

Some of the lines crushed include: Jaws, Diagonal Chute Cliffs, High Speed Double, Straigtlines in the Silverfox Bush Cliffs, Straigtline into Daltons and turning the Hanging Bowl Double into a SINGLE!  There are many more lines I have witnessed Gavin crushing on a near daily basis at The Bird too.

If you haven’t noticed, the iPhone can take a pretty snazzy photo.  Plus, patrol gave us a new zone in Silverado today, and the iPhone Photo Shootout commenced.  I’ll let … Read More

With much of the upper mountain remaining closed through the duration of the past storm cycle here in Tahoe, things were fantastically deep out today.  The Kangaroo Kicker had drifted back in (hopefully they don’t flatten it back out tonight…), and with a staggered opening of Headwall and Granite Chief the holiday crowds were actually quite bearable.   That, and Squaw opened KT to the public at 8:30…something that hasn’t happened in quite some time!

With cold temps, the snow will be staying good for days to come so get out the powder boards and go shred!

After a late opening of KT due to large and very frightening (see video) slab avalanches all the way from East Bowl around to GS Bowl, the skiing was wind packed hero pow.  The type of snow was optimal for hucking your meet into, offering the perfect amount of deceleration for a soft and clean landing.  Thanks to everyone who obeyed closures and thanks to patrol for throwing all those bombs!

The conditions:

The Valley

• Holiday crowds are out in mass (hour plus KT lines)
• Parking lot was parked out by noon
• Slow traffic into and out of the Valley at 12:30

KT-22

• Hero wind buff snow
• Large 5+ foot avalanche crowns in GS Bowl
• Nearly every open face slid
• Only open for skiing from West Face to the west
• Some of the first hucks of the season off Ice Goddess

KT, Red Dog, Exhibition, and Funitel lines at about noon.

Massive debris field under Mainline. One of many all over the mountain.

Remember to be safe out there, the Persistent Weak Layer is still lurking and likely will be for many days, if not weeks, to come.  Have fun, stay in bounds, and send it!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Squaw today was filled with deep turns and a pretty big scare for everyone with a large avalanche triggered above the fingers.  Everyone enjoyed an early KT opening, with some very, very deep and bottomless powder and Red Dog/Squaw Creek remained ripping well into the afternoon.

The conditions:

Red Dog/Squaw Creek

• Bottomless pow
• Moderate crowds but lines moved well
• Near zero visibility in the afternoon
• Along with exceptional rates of snowfall

The Avalanche on KT-22

• Crown height appeared to be around 3 feet
• Triggered by two snowboarders cutting into closed terrain
• 1 Big Mountain team member was pulled from the KT chair (due to wind vacuum caused by the cascade of snow)
• Patrol was amazingly quick to respond, on scene in under one minute
• 1 injury and fortunately no deaths
• The area had been bombed earlier that morning

We are extremely fortunate that no one was lost in the incident.  A huge thanks to the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol for their hard work in getting everything open, and for their exceptionally quick response (on scene in under a minute, avalanche rescue dogs on scene in under 5 minutes) as well as a huge thanks to the Squaw Valley Ski Team who turned out in mass to help with the coarse search.  Please remember folks, when patrol puts up a closed sign its there for a reason…to protect you and those around you.  This is a valuable less that we must not forget, peoples lives were jeopardized today as a result of poaching a closed zone.  If see a closure, especially in the midst of a storm, its there for a reason.

On a happier note, things are expected to go blue tomorrow!  That’s right, with well over 3 feet of storm totals we are going to have a powder bonanza tomorrow for Christmas Eve.  The skiing is schedule to be deep, soft, and epic!  Bring out the big sticks ladies and gents, things are going to be DEEP!!

Fortunately the world did not end yesterday, and Mother Nature brought copious amounts of snow to be slashed, slarved and enjoyed by the masses at Squaw Valley.  With high winds, the upper mountain remained on standby, and despite patrols best efforts KT didn’t happen either.  None the less, Red Dog and Squaw Creek held plenty of deep turns and smiles to be had across the board.

Stay tuned, much more snow in store for tonight…tomorrow is going to be a good one!

That’s right, Squaw popped the Mother Ship today and skiing was all time!  Nearly everything on the top 2/3rd’s of KT was absolutely ripping, and then there was a bit of combat skiing to be done out the bottom.  High winds kept the upper mountain shut down, but KT East was plenty for today.

The conditions:

KT-22

• Ripping Dead Tree laps
• Chute 75 was drifting in quite nice
• Oly Lady chair line harbored both pow and ice
• Wind Slabs developed on west face (be careful in the backcountry everyone!)

Upper Mountain

• On Wind Hold
• Funi Cars taken off the line in expectation of high winds

Overall the skiing was quite fun today, and it felt good to have the Moth Ship back on the schedule…and just in time for Powder Armageddon!  If you’re thinking about heading into the backcountry, bare in mind there is a lingering persistent weak layer, that if triggered will likely propagate into a large slide.

Have fun and be safe out there!

Squaw Valley USA was ripping good today.  With light snow, super cold temps, and a conspicuous lack of crowds the entire mountain was smooth and glorious.  The wind was working to our favor, smoothing out North Bowl to Headwall Face lap after lap.  The video above does not even begin to give justice to the amount of fun had today.

The Conditions:

Headwall

• Good, great, grand!
• Buffed and smooth slot
• North Bowl, Hogs Back, and the Face were to die for

Siberia

• Palisades opened!
• Main was ripping, chalky goodness
• Looked like Extra opened (but Christmas Shopping made me late)

Granite Chief

• Similar wind buff
• Devoid of any people

The Mountain Run

• High road opened, but heinous creek beds
• Ice rink near Headwall loading zone
• Carnage in every direction

The only word to describe today…fun.  And the forecasted storm is holding strong, with multiple feet of snow en route for Squaw this weekend!  We have a White Christmas, coming in cold and strong folks!!!

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