Skiing Stoke from Lake Tahoe
Elevations around 6,000 feet received anywhere from 6 to 11 inches of new snow last night. That should mean much more on the Pacific Crest. Looks like round one delivered more than expected. More snow is expected Saturday evening.
Squaw Valley the morning of November 4. Truckee residences at around 6,100 feet received more snow than Squaw.
Snow removal in the Squaw parking lot this morning.
Lots of activity around the base of Squaw recently. Construction projects in full swing, lifts getting bumped to life and snowmaking to the top of Red Dog. Six inches of snow is expected above 7,000 feet tonight. It may be a tad early to get amped on ski season but let’s not forget the seven feet of snow that fell prior to Thanksgiving last year.
KT getting kicked into gear.
Ground level of Olympic House stripped to the ribs.
Fresh sod in front of the Funitel where the ticket portals used to be.
Alpine Meadows residence that collapsed under snow load last winter. A reminder of the epic 2011 season.
The Chammy hosted a Halloween party in Squaw Valley last night. Truckee residents with kids trick or treated in the Gateway neighborhood.
The Occupy Squaw Movement pushing a cause we can really get behind.
Everyones favorite stop in Truckee...the Baeza residence. Candy and ghouls for the kids and tequila shots for the grownups.
Saucer Boy was there too!
With the legal merger of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows now complete, Troy Caldwell holds the cards in connecting the two ski areas. Troy’s White Wolf property, complete with lift towers already installed, is the obvious link between Squaw and Alpine, which would create a mega resort with over 6,000 square acres of skiable terrain. How did Troy obtain this piece of land? What does he think can be done with it? Moonshine Ink gets the scoop from Troy himself. Check it out here: Troy Caldwell talks about White Wolf
KSL is knee deep into a five year, fifty million investment in improvements at Squaw Valley. The fortress of ticket portals has been completely demolished creating enhanced views of KT and Red Dog from the Village. A new ticket office is being built into the main base lodge where the Patagonia store is. The KT Sundeck will now have a two sided bar that can be accessed from the deck or from inside. The lower level of the sundeck facing Cushing Pond will feature cabanas. The ground level of Olympic House is getting a long overdue remodel. All base facility buildings including Le Chamois are being painted to better compliment the Village.
Former ticket portal location
New ticket office
Olympic House gets a paint job
Olympic House after new paint. Note new lamp posts have replaced the round glass bubble lamps that have been there since the Hot Dog movie circa 1983.
The Chammy after new paint
New snow and gusty winds on October 5 in Convict Lake, CA.
Finally, it’s official! Squaw Valley USA (owned by KSL) announced that it will buy Alpine Meadows and the two resorts will combine their operations. The result will be a massive ski resort offering skiing and riding along the Pacific Crest from the West Shore of Lake Tahoe (Ward Canyon) to Granite Chief Peak, nearly halfway to Truckee from the Lake. The two ski areas combined will offer over 6,000 acres of skiing and riding.
Though it’s all just rumor now, the two resorts may eventually be connected through Troy Caldwell’s White Wolf property, adding additional dynamic terrain off the backside of KT. This would make Squaw-Alpine the second largest ski resort in North America, after Whistler-Blackcomb. For this season, at least, the two resorts will only be connected via shuttle.
This is the biggest news that we’ve heard in North American Skiing since Jackson Hole opened it’s boundaries a decade ago. Bring it on!
The annual Burning Man Festival begins Monday in the Black Rock Desert north of Reno. Tickets for this year’s event sold out for the first time in history. An ironic scenario unfolded in which tickets are being scalped for an event founded on self reliance and a gift economy. It’s no surprise that the exponential growth of this event would eventually be restricted by the Bureau of Land Management. Nothing like a little controversy to heighten the anticipation of the 50,000 people who will attend this brilliant temporary community.
The author’s of this blog spent much of last summer supporting a music and art project called Electric Ladyland. Here is a look back at Burning Man 2010 as seen through the eyes of the Electric Ladyland Collective.
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo
Need your summertime roller coaster fix? Maybe it’s time drop into some good old fashion theme park action at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
Located just off I-80 in Vallejo, Discovery Kingdom has no less than a half dozen coasters among it’s thirty rides. Everything is located within a fairly small proximity making it easy to get a bunch of rides in a short amount of time if it’s not crowded. We rolled in around 2pm on a Monday and stepped right on first car of Medusa, the parks largest roller coaster. We did the same thing five minutes later on Kong. DK has a nice mix of coasters ranging from the traditional wooden Coney Island style to the modern era foot dangling, hanger type. The kind that make you feel like your feet may get chopped off. Our favorite was Vertical Velocity which is a suspended, spiraling impulse coaster that goes from zero to seventy in a matter of seconds. It’s really cool because you get the combination of speed and weightlessness without excessive force or jarring of your head and body.
If you’ve got kids, Discovery Kingdom is great because it’s got more than just rides and cotton candy. DK has several interactive animal exhibits including penguins, dolphins, killer whales and sting rays. It also has two specific kids zones, one called Tava’s Jungleland with kid sized rides and another called Looney Tunes Seaport which is all water related fun.
Discovery Kingdom is not cheap. Admission for adults is $50 and parking is $15. However, a season pass is only $60. Apparently there are plenty of deals on admission if you do some research ahead of time. A couple of twenty somethings asked if we wanted a free admission voucher when we arrived and it worked so we got in two for one. Standard theme park tactics apply such as going midweek and arriving early to avoid lines. Riding six coasters in an hour rocks! Riding one coaster in an hour sucks! If you live in Tahoe it’s probably not worth going to DK just to visit a theme park. However, if you are driving to or from the city and have a couple of hours to kill it may be just what you need to breakup a three hour drive.
Clouds over Shirley Canyon on July 29
A hot, sticky weekend of Yoga and live music hits Squaw Valley this weekend for the third annual Wanderlust Festival.
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