Squaw

Want to fly around the world in 60 seconds?  This time lapse taken from the International Space Station lets you do just that.  Take a deep breath, sit back, and enjoy as your mind is melted traveling around the earth at speeds in excess of 17,000 mph!

A little about the video:

A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.

And a little bit more – thanks Red Neck!!

This gorgeous video was made by science teacher James Drake using images downloaded from The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. This is a great online resource with basically all of the images taken from orbit, categorized into a searchable database by region and date. He used a free program called VirtualDub to create the final edit.

Thanks to Anthony Santos and the JANKY crew for sending along this video. It recaps the deep December that Tahoe received this season.

The snow gods blessed us this December with a very very very white Christmas. Things got of to a really meaty start with some big sessions, deep turns, and plenty of gluttonous activities. Thanks again to our “sponsors” KINKO-PRAXIS-SIRACHA. All around this December was HOT in the coldest way possible. Enjoy!!!

Hot stuff, boys.

It’s not too often you get a sleeper pow day at Squaw these days, with season pass sales through the roof and an obsessively dedicated Bay Area crowd, but today was definitely a sleeper pow day.  The line at KT at 9 o’clock was barely past the diamond in the lift line, there were still untracked landings in Granite at noon, and Silverado has untracked pow turns well into the afternoon. 

While conditions weren’t bottomless (and there were some icy death moguls in places to be sure), they were super fun.  With the last snow int he forecast for the next two weeks, today’s sleeper pow day was a nice treat as we send it into Juneuary.

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!

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!!!

One word to sum up the current conditions at Squaw? Fun!  The first half hour or so brought blue skies and cold smoke powder, and Headwall opened for the first time this season!  The bottom half was skied from the day before via the lower reverse traverse, but the wind was hitting the refresh button each lap.

Here’s a quick rundown of how things were:

Headwall

• The face harbored wind buff pow
• Sun Bowl seemed to be devoid of the ice chunder
• Slot was…variable
• Big(ger) lines at times

Granite Chief

• Wind scoured pow
• The occasional ice patch
• No line!

Solitude

• First open day since the storm started
• Pow, chopped pow, and wind buff
• Mighty Mights made the pilgrimage to the Pixy Cliffs!

Beware, while the skiing is ripping across the mountain, there are some nasty ice barges lurking out there (as well as an ice island in the middle of Headwall face).  Keep your eyes out as you rip the wind buff powder, these ice bumps will send you for a ride if you aren’t ready for them!

There’s a lot more snow in the forecast folks, so get out those powder boards and wax ‘em up.  Here comes winter!

So here we are. It’s November 16th and Squaw Valley is officially open! Early season storms have provided for a great start as you’ll see from Brennan’s State of The … Read More

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