This might be best weekend of year to hit slopes
Sailing down the morning corduroy on the Lake Tahoe ski runs with blue skies and sweeping views of the lake this week was nothing short of fantasy. Maybe this is as good as it gets this winter.
It all adds up. Last week’s snowfall. This week’s surface grooming. New terrain opening. And now comes benign weather with public Super Bowl parties galore throughout the Tahoe region. This weekend could end up being the best of the winter for skiing, boarding, cross-country, snowshoeing, tubing and snow play.
Or maybe it’s just a perfect time to gather up a snowball and nail your brother in the back.
The conditions are best-ofthe-year, clear and cool each morning, with the nights still cold enough for snow-making operations to add a layer of fresh powder at the larger ski areas.
All the factors in the cosmos seem to be aligned.
Last week’s storms refreshed the mountain country up and down California, and many ski areas were able to open lifts and runs for the first time.
In the Tahoe region, it’s game-on. The best report this week came from Kirkwood near Carson Pass, an hour south of South Lake Tahoe: It’s fully open — 14 lifts for access to 86 runs over 2,300 acres of terrain.
Three smaller sites in Northern California with little or no snow-making ability finally were able to have limited openers last weekend: Dodge Ridge (east of Sonora), Royal Gorge cross-country (near Truckee), and Mount Shasta in the north. Only Yosemite Ski and Board at Badger Pass remains closed (a personal look this week showed you still can see dirt and dead grass poking through a thin layer of white on its small hill).
In the short term or the long run, this weekend is looking like the answer many have been waiting for.
Some forecasts aren’t predicting a chance of fresh snow for three weeks. At Truckee, which often produces some of the coldest numbers of the year for California, the forecast calls for highs of 56-57-61, Friday through Sunday, respectively, so roads will be clear and dry for travel.
Here is the weekend synopsis: Big or small? If you love snow sports, the inevitable questions are “Go big or go small?” and “Pay high or pay low?” This winter, with snowmaking bridging the periods with no snowfall, the gap between the corporate-run ski areas and the mom-and-pop operations has never been greater. I love all the ski areas and have been to nearly each one, but seeing the snow conditions and runs available at the big ones right now — including Kirkwood, Squaw Valley, Heavenly, Northstar, Sugar Bowl and Mammoth — is like looking at the solar system with a telescope. You peer out there and see things that you never knew existed. At Mammoth, the possibilities seem to extend to infinity. Cross-country skiing: This has been a grim winter for many of the best spots for cross-country skiing. Royal Gorge, the cross-country crown jewel, finally was able to open enough terrain to get on the map, with 54 of 126 runs open. At Lake Tahoe, the snow layer is either too thin — or nonexistent — at do-it-yourself spots like the Meeks Creek Trail and at Camp Richardson. At Tahoe-Donner near Truckee, 25 kilometers of rails are available, and by my count, 21 of 71 runs open, with those open mostly flat and graded easy/beginner. Kirkwood has 10K of trails available, and is planning to open the upper section Saturday. Snowshoe: In Yosemite National Park, Glacier Point Road is closed at Chinquapin at the junction of Highway 49, with no access to the trailheads near Badger Pass for routes to the south canyon rim and Dewey Point (this information is not posted at any website or phone recording). So forget that. The most popular trailhead is at Castle Peak, located just off Interstate 80, directly across the highway from Boreal. It is routed 2 miles with a 700-foot climb to Castle Pass, with a view directly above to fortress-like Castle Peak; with no fresh snow (and no postholing), the peak will be accessible by snow trekking this month.
Snow Play: Leland Snowplay — off high Highway 108, 40 miles east of Sonora near Dodge Ridge — opened this week for six-day-a-week operations (closed Wednesdays). This is a 12-acre hill with a ride up for youngsters (at least 44 inches tall) with tubes (available for rent). Many ski areas also have small hills groomed for tube runs for youngsters. For freelance play, State Parks operates 19 Sno-Parks, but like the snow, many are thin and grim. Buy parking permits ($5) online in advance or from vendors. Sno-Park hotline, (916) 324-1222; http://ohv.parks.ca.gov, click on Winter Recreation on right.