Back in January and February when we weren’t sure that Squaw would stay open until March, Josh Anderson and I decided to have some fun. The snow was non-existant and hardly pow, so we came up with creative ways to pass the days on the hill. Everybody loves SaucerBoy so why not go play the part for a day or two and see what happened? The response was amazing. People were yelling from the chairlifts, taking pictures, and super stoked on the whole thing.   Josh has dressed up as SaucerBoy for various events, and plays the character really well so it was funny.

Saucer Boy

If you haven’t dressed up as SaucerBoy I would suggest that you try it out. Feel out your inner Shane and the SaucerBoy in all of us. The looks, responses, and gawking was certainly worth it and I think Shane would have been proud. Thanks Shane for making these kinds of things funny and fun to do. 

Today at Alpine was not too bad. Got out at about 8:30am, and it was worth it. Thought it was a bit early and the snow wouldn’t soften up until later, but it was good timing. It got down to 31 last night, but the temperature inversion that goes on around these parts kept the mountain from freezing.  All the Southern aspects were great in the morning. The Sisters, Beaver Bowl, Palisades, and the “adventure run” to the lookers right of Summit Chair were sick. Cruise down the Sisters towards the gully to skiers left of Summit and you’ll find a hip and 2 QP booters that you can get some air off if you keep your speed up. Below the Palisades there is still remnants of the Standard Films shoot that went down last weekend. A rail off Crash and Burn cliffs. Pretty sick.

Rail off of Crash and Burn, thanks Standard Films

The parking lot was empty and the lift lines were the same. Perfect, more for us. The park, meh. It was super hard in the morning and the speed was questionable. The bottom jump is pretty kicky, and a lot bigger then last week. I’m not sure anybody hit it.  It seems it took most of the day to get the lip shaped up, and the inruns early were sketch. Reminded me of an early morning at Mt. Hood where you question how many beers they had before grooming.

Snow is definitely fading

The snow is fading quickly though. It should be a fun weekend but it seems Summer is almost here. Nothing like shreddin in the AM and then headin to the beach for the afternoon. Life sucks around here I guess!

Beach after shredding is money

The video above is from some Tahoe kids that moved East to Jackson this winter. Pretty impressive skiing and a sick edit, so check it out!

I’m not sure who had the most G.N.A.R. points at Squaw this winter, but Aaron Fox had to be close. If you want to know what it feels like to ski a lot of the Squallywood lines at Squaw, the POV of it is right here. It is 6 minutes long, but there are a lot of the lines in Squallywood in this edit. Skip to the :53 second mark to get to the actual skiing. Hatchett Line at 1:10, Smooth air at 1:16 looks perfect, Straightlining Box chute the way its supposed to be skied at 1:19, The Gate at 1:25 My air at 1:33, Colemans alternate slides at 1:44, Ring Finger at 2:11, Jt’s Air at 2:36,  Center Line in the Chimney at 2:41, Rock Maze at 4:55, Smooth air POV at 5:03, Voltage Rock at 5:17, The triple at 5:10,  Center Line in the Chimney again at 5:21, Diving board at 5:28, and POV of the Gate at 5:41.

This edit was also dedicated to Benny Brackett. RIP BUDDY.

So today Squaw was closed. The “Tram” or “Cable Car” or whatever the hell you want to call it opened today for a bit. Then it closed just as quickly. Today was a sit at home and watch movies day. It’s been a mixture of rain, sun (for a few minutes), sideways hail and rain, sleet, and now turning to snow precip. It looks like it’s trying to snow but I wouldn’t exactly call it snow.

Rain Rain Go away

It’s hard to say how the mountain skied considering it didn’t open?? Really? We’ll have to see what tomorrow brings. Hopes of deep pow are non-existent but we might get a little bit of snow. NOAA.gov says no accumulation but who believes that crap anyway. The report is below. Wear your boxers or panties backwards, do a snowdance or whatever else you need to to turn this shit to snow. My truck says it’s 33 degrees outside so there is hope of a few inches. Not much, but a few days from May a dusting might make for a decent final weekend. Thoughts of the Chimney opening this weekend are unfounded.

This blew onto me within 5 seconds of opening my truck door

Sunday is the Cushing Crossing and the weekend should be fun though. Lets just get this garbage weather out of the way and enjoy Squallywood as it closes. Check out the park video from earlier this week when it was the middle of summer. Lets hope this shit turns to snow up top!

Red dog looks meh... come on snow

Late Afternoon: Scattered snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 43. Windy, with a west wind around 35 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Tonight: Scattered snow showers before 11pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 25. Windy, with a west wind 30 to 35 mph becoming east 10 to 15 mph. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45. East wind 10 to 15 mph becoming north. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Friday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming east.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 57. East wind between 5 and 10 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 59.

It’s springtime and the sun is out, the snow is sloppy mank, and the hot tub and pool are in full effect. No liftlines, one pieces, bikinis and barbeques at Heidi’s are part of what make spring skiing so fun. So do park laps. So grab your best friends and head to the park! SPT has done a much better job with the park this year at Squaw despite the lack of a superpipe. That’s another story but at least we finally got some big jumps this spring. With Ms. Superpark going off this week, the jumps should be prime for the weekend (and hopefully still open to the public).

The jumps at Squaw have gotten fairly massive at times. Thanks Oakley

Instead of RedBull this year we got Oakley, but atleast they funded some big jumps that were open to the public last week. Photo crews are out and the skiing is park prime right now. So get out there and get upside down.

Think gap the chains... or acid drop the parking garage

High Fives mark accomplishment and encouragement, and signify victory and elation. They’re what you give your best friend after they just did something sick. High Fives are awesome. The High Fives Foundation might be the best High Five of them all however. Roy Tuscany started the organization to help athletes who have suffered a life altering injury in the action sports environment. The Non-Profit organization based out of Truckee, CA has been putting on the TRAiNS event for 5 winters now, and it’s one of the best times of the year in Tahoe. Alpine Meadows has hosted the event for the past 2 winters and designed some pretty rad features.

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Trains attracted a pretty good size crowd

There was some amazing talent out there this year. Nick Goepper, the Paul Mitchell Breakthrough Athlete of the year was here. He’s fresh off podiuming almost every major slopestyle event in the world this year, and was Winter X games slopestyle Silver Medalist. He’s also still a junior in High School. So were Level 1 signature athletes Parker White and Chris Logan. The local talent was also on display with Garrett Russell, Carson Lehoullier, Andy McDowell, Danny Tourmarkine, Cooper Davidson, Austin Simonpietri, Davis Souza, Michelle Parker and lots of others. Super Groms Aspen Spora, Logan and Cody Laplante joined the party and it went down.

3 jump option for the bottom feature at TRAiNS

Think rapid fire athletes launching over 3 jumps at the same time , or in large TRAINS. Jamie Lavalle from Marker/Volkl cooks up some of the best chicken wings you’ll ever eat, the crowds come out, and a big party is thrown. The athletes competed for the first part of the day to determine best 540, best Male, and best Female. These categories were won by Andy McDowell, Nick Goepper, and  Marta Krusell (who is 13 and wasn’t even in the event!!) . These 3 then chose teams of 11 to compete for the chance to donate $5,000 to charities. A great event for a great cause.

• Best Male: Nick Goepper donated $1,000 to the Reeve Irvine Research Center
• Best Female: Marta Krusell donated $1,000 to the Shane McConkey Foundation
• Best 540: Andy McDowell donated $1,000 to SkiD.U.C.K.
• Best TRAiNS Team: Green Team donated $2,000 to the Shane McConkey Foundation

The top feature had both a large jump and box feature

Thanks to High Fives Foundation for putting on such an amazing event and helping out athletes in every way possible. You guys rock, and HIGH FIVES TO YOU.

Today was supposed to be the day (2nd day) that the traverse between Squaw and Alpine was open. Again, it didn’t open. It sounds like Estelle Bowl at Alpine never froze which made the conditions at the Alpine side unfavorable. Hopefully we get a freeze cycle and Ski Patrol will be able to get it open. Thanks for trying guys!

Light Towers was good this morning

Anyway, the skiing today was actually pretty good early. Sibo groomer was fast and hero snow, and Headwall was the same. Granite was actually groomed mid week, and it was great early as well as long as you were in the sun. If you make it out early, stick to the sunny South facing slopes in the morning and you will be rewarded. The snow turned to glue at about noon, and it was time to call it a day. All in all though it was a super fun day, and I’m pretty stoked to do it again tomorrow. Thanks for killin it CDP.

Chanc' getting upside down

The weather doesn’t look to promising without a freeze, but if you get out early you can make the best of it and still have a good time. Lets try again for the traverse in the AM!

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. Breezy, with a west wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Wednesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 53. Breezy, with a west wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34. Breezy, with a west wind between 10 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. West wind between 10 and 15 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 39.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 37.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 65.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Sunday: Mostly sunny and windy, with a high near 65.

Today was a good day at Squaw and there was nobody here. Nobody on KT, Shirley, Red Dog, Far East, and nobody on Squaw Creek. Not one person it seemed at times. The mountain reported 17 inches up top with only 5 at the base. Up top (Shirley) the snow was wintery light and smokey. It’s too bad nothing else besides Shirley opened on the upper mountain, but tomorrow or Saturday we should be rewarded. The lower side of Corkscrew were some of the best turns I’ve had all year. It was untouched and the majority of the run was white room style.

Getting White Roomed

It was also windy. Very windy. I’m sure some people lost those G.N.A.R. points for the sissy bar today. The funi was operating at about half its normal speed, making the trip to the upper mountain a journey. At times it was almost whiteout, vertigo conditions up top. The lower mountain wasn’t quite so gusty, aside from the traverses to Enchanted Forest and behind McConkeys’. KT skied well, from Red Dog Ridge to Enchanted Forest. Alternates, Banana chute, and Olympic Lady were all good.

There was a top terminal at Gold Coast today

Tower 16 also skied well today for the top half. The bottom half was littered with ice moguls, but the snow filled in nicely in between and it wasn’t too bad.

Top of Tower 16 had some great turns

The forecast looks good for tomorrow and into the weekend. Upper mountain should open, and I imagine Granite and Headwall should have some amazing turns. See ya this weekend.

Late Afternoon: Snow. High near 37. Windy, with a south wind around 30 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow. Low around 25. Windy, with a southwest wind 25 to 30 mph decreasing to between 15 and 20 mph. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.
Friday: Snow. High near 31. East wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.
Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 20. West wind around 10 mph. Little or no snow accumulation expected.
Saturday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly sunny, with a high near 38. North wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 44.

This past weekend the Freeskiing World Tour held their final event, The Freeskiing World Championships down in Kirkwood, CA. Kirkwood has arguably the gnarliest venue on the FWT tour. The Cirque is a permanently closed area at Kirkwood and this is where the event went down. Day 1 was lookers right, Day 2 was lookers left. The venue is long, steep face covered in features. I feel there are endless line choices if talent allows. There are also several closeouts, lots of exposure, and some of the sickest terrain anywhere. 

Some of the terrain the Cirque offers.

If you’ve never been to an FWT event then you’re missing out. The FWT is actually a ski event, not just a giant party. Sometimes though it’s hard to distinguish. The events’ feature some of the best freeskiers in the world (a large portion of the event were European or Canadian) on some of the gnarliest terrain the earth has to offer us. 50 foot backflips over massive exposure are not uncommon. JJ Schiller did just that this weekend.

JJ Schiller getting upside down at the top of the Cirque

The finish area was packed full of spectators grilling out, drinking beer, Sake and Fireball. The snowball fights got intense and there is always excitement around. Who knows what the next competitor, friend, or local is going to do. Josh Anderson skied his run naked.  Enough said. 

A pretty big snowball fight went down

The event was a qualifier on Thursday with the top competitors making it to the main event starting Friday. One run went down on Friday afternoon. Both the girls and the guys put together some pretty sick skiing. A lot of going upside down, a lot of gnarly lines and some fast airs. Josh Daiek’s line stood out the most, launching a double and carrying to much speed out to stop before the end of the venue.

Day 1 venue, getting rad

If you haven’t been to an FWT event,  check one out. They are all over the place. Snowbird, Kirkwood, Crested Butte, Revelstoke, and a few stops down South over the summer. I’m sure that you will be impressed, inspired, and have a better time skiing the next time you decide to “get rad”. Here are some pics I shot this past weekend:

Good look at some of the exposure the Cirque offers

Davis Souza heading out of the start.

Getting Weightless

Nice tracks... Day 1

A little over the double on the Cirque

Just a bit of Exposure. Day 1

Going big at the top of the Day 2 venue

Davis Souza up top, day 2

Sean Collin with a big 3 at the bottom of Day 2

Sean Collin Day 2, gettin rad

Sean Collin sending it, top air Day 2

Competitors were backflipping everything.... this one was big

Big Cork 3, natural feature.. No park jump or landing

Check out the slough.. sick line

Day 2 went off

Crystal Wright won the event for the girls, and Josh Daiek won the event for the guys. Both took the overall titles as well. 

I have a lot more pictures, so if you see yourself in any pictures or competed in the event, leave a comment. I’ll see what I can do to get you some shots.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to get invited to compete in the Pain McShlonkey Classic. It was really an honor to wear the badge and be an ambassador to the Shane McConkey Foundation.

Stoked to be able to represent Shane!

The weekend was pretty ridiculous. The event was supposed to start with some  of the Red Bull Air Force team skydiving into Rocker at Squaw. High winds caused this to be cancelled, but the party still went down. Red Bull brought a humongous truck with DJ and loud music included. The party continued through the day to the Gala in the evening.

Red Bull brought this monster in with a DJ an a lot of speakers

Lets talk about the event though. The event was amazing. Athletes flew in from all over the country to compete and represent Shane in the proper way, and I think Shane would have been proud. The event started at just a tad after 9am with a “Chinese Downhill”.  This event was brutal. Unlike last year which was a glorified powder run, this was an icy, moguly, hardpacked mess of competitors coming down KT. There was carnage everywhere and it seemed most competitors crashed the whole way down the first face. Daron Rahlves (who referred to himself as DMoney during pre-event trash talking emails) won. Guess he backed it up.  He took home the golden saucer for the boys, with Shelly Robertson taking home the Golden Saucer for the girls.

The Small Mountain Invitational was just as exciting. The course was a mix of hardpack moguls with several features to jump off. The name of the game (according to the judges) was no big airs. In fact, Ice Goddess and several other airs were out of bounds, and hitting them meant disqualification. This obviously stopped nobody.  We saw repelling down Ice Goddess, Kristian Giessler sending Tombstone pretty big and lots of tomahawking. I’m pretty confident that everybody there had an amazing time, so THANK YOU SHANE!

Thank you Shane!