By Rob McCormick
Nearly two feet of snow fell at my house in Truckee last night. It’s supposed to keep hammering all day and should continue to accumulate rapidly as temperatures drop and moisture content decreases.
Category: News (Page 21 of 30)
Are we pumped for this incoming storm or what? After six weeks with roughly six inches of new snow we look to receive multiple feet in the next few days. Snowing heavily in Truckee as of 10pm Tuesday. Bust out the Phat Boards! Long range forecast looks promising too. Check out the good word at Tahoe Weather Discussion.
Here’s video from Olympic House in Squaw Valley Monday morning.
Exit Strategy is film about skiers who choose to leave the crowds, boundaries and other limitations of ski resorts in search of untracked powder and a more satisfying ski experience. Filmed during the superb ski season of 2010, the movie features a cast of North Lake Tahoe locals including Squallywood Author Dr. Robb Gaffney. Though primarily backcountry focused, Exit Strategy has plenty of in bounds powder footage from Squaw Valley, much of which showcases Squaw’s rowdiest lines from the point of view perspective. The film also includes a trip to the legendary ridge of Bridger Bowl as well as tours of Mt. Lassen and Mt. Shasta in Northern California. The movie captures real people with typical lives and jobs who find ski touring and mountaineering to be the most rewarding of all recreational pursuits.
Exit Strategy is an independent project that began as a hobby and ended up being a full length ski movie. It was never intended for mass production or retail sale. It will be posted indefinitely on the home page of skiing-blog.com.
Exit Strategy
Directed and Produced by Rob McCormick
Running Time: 42 minutes
By Rob McCormick
New snow from the weekend improved conditions far more than expected. On Tuesday north facing aspects in the backcountry offered great powder, especially on lower angle slopes where ski float allowed you to avoid the crust layer. Dave Rintala from Pacific Crest Snowcats said yesterday the new snow was beginning to bond with the previous firm layer. Warmer temperatures are expected today and tomorrow. I hope to tour this afternoon to see if things are still holding up.
Here’s footage of my son at Squaw Valley on Sunday and me in the backcountry on Tuesday:
This January hasn’t been the best month for skiing. But it hasn’t been the worst either. Still been some nice corn on south facing aspects at the right time of day. Sunny skies and balmy temps are expected for the rest of the week. Looks as though we may finish the month with less than a foot of new snow. Thankfully the early season snowpack is holding strong.
Here’s some footy from the past month or so:
If you live in North Lake Tahoe and are not yet familiar with the game of GNAR you must be living in a vacuum. The acronym G.N.A.R. stands for Gaffney’s Numerical Assessment of Radness and provides a sound method for proving how much better you are than everyone else at Squaw Valley. What started as a bonus chapter in Robb Gaffney’s Squallywood book eventually became a real contest where the winner would take $25,000. What happened during this monumental event? Unofficial Networks proudly presents the feature film…GNAR…the Movie! Check it out here:
Skiing-Blog.com made the Sports Management Colleges list of 50 sensational ski blogs. Following the top 5 ski blogs, SBDC was ranked number 4 on the “Best of the Rest” list. Real Deep Snow (see preferred links) out of Truckee also made the list.
Merry Christmas to riders everywhere! What a great start to the ski season we’ve had. One can only hope it continues and perhaps holds its own against last years outstanding season. Below is a look back to March of 2010. The footage is from an independent ski film project called Exit Strategy. Limited copies of the movie will be available on SBDC next month. Happy Holidays!
Skiing-blog.com now offers a hit list of preferred links located on the left side of the home page. We have chosen sites that are Tahoe based and feature quality content ranging from weather and avalanche conditions to equipment sales and rentals.
Real Deep Snow and Tahoe Weather Discussion are weather blogs authored by North Lake Tahoe locals. Both sites analyze a variety of weather models and forecasts and combine them with personal knowledge of conditions in the region.
The Sierra Avalanche Center reports daily on snowpack and avalanche conditions. SAC forecasters dig pits daily and report results from a variety of aspects and elevations in the Tahoe basin. Reports are frequently accompanied by video and photographs especially during active cycles.
Grant Kaye is a local photographer with a brilliant portfolio of Tahoe landscapes and beyond. Dr. Robb Gaffney is a frequent contributor to SBDC and the author of Squallywood, a guidebook to Squaw’s rowdiest lines. Tim Konrad and the Unofficial Squaw crew keep tabs on the daily radness going on in Squaw Valley and other resorts with the newly launched Unofficial Networks.
The BackCountry, located on Donner Pass Road in Truckee, sells gear and supplies for all things backcountry with a strong emphasis on ski touring and mountaineering. The BackCountry features a huge fleet of rental gear including skis, snowboards and snowshoes. The BackCountry’s website has a free guidebook and allows users to post all kinds of useful information from equipment sales to trip reports. The upstairs of the store hosts classroom space for AIARE level one, two and three avalanche courses. Field time for the courses is typically held in the Donner Peak, Mt. Judah backcountry. The BackCountry also sponsors the Adventure Slide Show Series held one a month at Plaza Bar in Squaw Valley. Renowned climbers, skiers and mountaineers share their adventures, show great photography and yuk it up with fellow adventure seekers.
By Susan’s ghostwriter from Boulder
Last week a college friend of mine emailed me from Colorado, “Have you seen the storm that’s headed your way? I’m thinking about flying out for it.” So I started checking the forecasts.
He arrived Friday night and the waiting game began. Snow, rain, rain, snow… the precipitation was there, but the resorts couldn’t open anything good.
A late start this morning proved to be painful, as I could see KT loading when I pulled into the parking lot at 9:15. KT, Red Dog and Exhibition were mobbed. I headed over to Far East to try to find some pow while lines at KT died down.
There I met up with some friends and traversed from the top of Far East to the Resort Chair. People at the top said it could not be done. We proved them wrong. And the turns were deep.
The face below Far East was mostly soft, but we could feel the rain layer underneath. We banked into the glades and were greeted with soft, deep snow all the way down to the cat track. After a few runs of low-angle pow, the Funi opened and we headed up the mountain.
From there, we hiked up to Tower 16 to find plenty of soft stuff mixed in with some of the crispy rain-affected snow. Several steep, soft runs later, we headed over to Shirley. Looking down, we saw a few tracks on the Shirley groomer, but no one was on it. We asked patrol if the lift was open because there was a sign that said “Shirley lift closed.” Apparently, they were low on signs because the trail was open and the lift was spinning. But the patroller warned, “there’s a bunch of debris down there.” Even though it wasn’t steep, the fresh snow with no rain layer felt blissful under our skis. Then we hit the debris.
The avy debris was disguised under four inches of snow and flat light, so none of us hit the breaks until we saw the the first of our crew flailing after he hit one of the ice chunks. Most of us remained upright, but we all realized why patrol had warned us. We headed down for one more Tower 16 lap that became two. Although the fresh was gone, having the rain layer broken up and mixed into the rest of the snow, evened out the consistency for more predictable, smoother skiing.
My buddy from Colorado didn’t hit the perfect storm, but he did get a great day of skiing. Here’s to more snow later this week!
Double Feature Now Playing!
Sierroin: The Movie
Exit Strategy: The Movie
Exit Strategy: The Movie
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