Category: News (Page 27 of 30)

All in one week, the weather turned from the the calm, hot, dry air of summer to the cooler, crisper, more blustery air of fall. Leaves even started falling off the trees. And the new issues of Powder and Skiing arrived in my mailbox. Both issues look great, with large format photos and comprehensive ski reviews to get you amped for the season. Around the Tahoe rumor mill is word that a Tram Face freeskiing content will take place at Squaw in February. More details on that should be coming soon. Directly under the cable car, Tram Face is a series of steep, northeast-facing chutes at Squaw. Often poached in the dark when conditions are ripe, leaving dramatic tracks for skiers to oogle at from the tram, the area is currently closed. Word has it that Squaw would like to open the area to the public. I’ll post dates and details I have them. In the meantime, I’ll be out sucking in the cool air and thinking about snow. Oh, one more thing to keep you occupied until it’s time to ski: Eastern Mountain Sports just launched a fancy new outdoor website which has map and GPS data on trails across the country. Here are some backcountry trails with GPS info: mntnlife.com/index.jsp?cat=ski-bc&con=traillist&val=custom.

“After lots of packing and planning I am ready to leave this morning for Pakistan with a solid crew of skiers to attempt to ski Gasherbrum 2, the worlds 13th highest mountain. We land in Islamabad on the 6th and make our way North to Askole where we will begin trekking up the Indus valley and onto the Baltoro Glacier, Here, at base camp, we will have about 25 days to rest, acclimatize and try for the summit. we have set up a Blog for people to follow our progress, https://gasherbrum.wordpress.com”
-Kip Garre

Yesterday was the last day of lift operations at Squaw and there were plenty of skiers out lapping the Paslisades and milking the last sticky turns of the year.

Greg Pronko and Mike O’Reilly got sick of shipping snowboards and displays in oversized boxes stuffed with landfill-clogging Styrofoam peanuts. The bloated shipping costs bothered the founders of Glissade Snowboards and Bender Brothers almost as much as the destructive environmental effects. Their newest venture, Eco Ship, provides lower-volume, sustainable shipping supplies like biodegradable, corn-based polymer bags, foam and boxes. “These are the biggest materials in the garbage,” explains Pronko, “so we reached for the lowest-hanging fruit.” Pronko, who is talking with Amazon, is also working toward an discounted ski/snowboard industry prices. “Right now the bio materials are too expensive,” Pronko says, “but there will be a tipping point and we hope to be there when it tips.”

The annual pond crossing at the bottom of KT-22 is scheduled for tomorrow, which is also the last day of the season for KT. Check out video of the crossing > I’ll post photos of tomorrow’s event here tomorrow. Also, friend, neighbor and heli ski guide at Points North just returned from Alaska. I’ll post a report and a slide show here soon.

On a stormy April afternoon in 1978, the Cable Car at Squaw Valley came off of one of its cables, dropped 75 feet and then bounced back up, colliding with a cable which sheared through the car. Four people were killed and thirty-one were injured. Robert Frohlich tells the full story of the Squaw Cable Car tragedy and the heroic rescue effort in this Moonshine article >>

The birds are making noise, the snow is melting and temperatures are supposed to reach 67 degrees today in Truckee. Despite the huge snows we received in January, the snowpack has dipped slightly below average. But there’s still plenty of snow in the mountains and spring skiing is excellent: firm in the mornings, creamy from 11-1 and getting slushy in the afternoons. It was a big season for Squaw in more ways that the snow. Patrol opened more terrain in Silverado and extended the boundary in Sun Bowl. Even more terrain at a mountain that was anything but lacking terrain to begin with!

Next to powder, corn snow is the most fun to ski. So live it up this weekend because a cold front with gusty winds will likely move in on Sunday night and firm it all up.

Skiers are trying to qualify for the 2008 Subaru Squaw Valley USA Open Freeskiing Finals today in Enchanted Forest. The finals will be held tomorrow in the C2 area.