tseeb
Well-known member
Heavenly greatly exceeded my expectations. They reported 10" on Thursday, but only 1" Friday and there was only about 3" of slush on street in from of cabin at SLT. I did not see the e-mail until I was on the hill that Heavenly reported 9" in last 24 hours Sat. morning (0 overnight) while Kirkwood 18" new and 6 overnight. One of my friends had arrived Friday at 10 pm after a 7+ hour drive from far south Bay Area, while other arrived cabin from near Nevada City at 7:45 am. Both had scrambled eggs, sausage and English muffins cooked by me.
I wanted to be on first tram at 8:30, but it looked like we were going to miss 2nd tram so we skated over to Gunbarrel lift. At Heavenly on a busy Sat, you want to be early and this day it was even more important since highest lifts on CA and NV did not run previous day (probably wind). We got on Sky chair before 9 am and skied untracked in one of the terrain park areas near top of Canyon chair. It was not very deep, probably due to being easily reachable previous day and wind. Next we skied deeper powder next to Ellie's run, then Pinnacles where we found deep untracked skiers left of run.
The line was quickly building so after our 4th ride we moved to NV. It was so crowded the I nearly hit two snowboarders on Skyline trail going to NV. The first was when a EpicMix photographer stepped towards middle of run to get picture which pushed snowboarder who had shared lift with us towards me. The second was when a different snowboarder turned totally sideways right in front of me on crowded trail where everyone should be straight-lining to avoid hiking. I missed him, but he still went down. My third near miss was when I was ripping fall-line powder towards trees on right side of Milky Way Bowl and skier almost traversed into me.
We then got lucky. Not only did they drop the rope into Mott canyon 20 minutes before scheduled 10 am, but they were letting you in Gate B to Killbrew which meant we got SE-facing Under The Gun untracked (and probably open for the first time this year.) It was already sun affected, but still skied great. I did find one rock, but when I looked later, there was not much damage to the perfect bases on current year 110mm-waist Gotamas my friend from the Bay Area brought from his shop for me to try. Although only 178 with some tip rocker, the Volkls worked great for conditions (snow getting heavy unless very shaded, a lot of tight trees, some drops and many rocks to avoid). And he left them with me to return to his store when I get back!
Next Mott run we traversed, then hiked, then skied a little and traversed below Rocky Point. We avoided an extra steep and untracked entrance, due to rock concerns, but it probably would have been OK. Snow we skied here today, and I have many times before, was excellent. Other friend took different route which could not have been as good. Then he went to upper side of chair, where line was at least 10 minutes and building. Our line from lower side of chair was about 5 min so we had a wait at top. He rode chair with Todd from Toronto who skied with us the lower angle (with some steeps) and elevation, but still deep powder in trees with us on Comet, Olympic and North Bowl (twice) chairs. Rather than ride slow beginner Boulder chair, then long and slow North Bowl chair again, we shuttled over to hi-speed Stagecoach and lost Todd as we took a break on deck outside lodge.
We took an after lunch warm-up on Stagecoach. My friends were about done. The one from the Bay Area has an excuse, as it was his first day of the season, but he has a good fitness level from mountain biking, hiking and being a former Yosemite rock climber. We got back to CA base a little after 2 using Olympic, then crowded Dipper chair, CA trail to Maggies Canyon, then rode Groove and skied Upper Roundabout. Snow was thin in spots on Upper Roundabout, but we all made it through without damage. I was able to drop off middle Roundabout trail in two spots and one friend joined me for second one. The Pistol is still closed. Lower East Bowl was excellent to base of tram. One friend took Gunbarrel to CA base which meant other friend and I were left waiting wondering where he was until he skated up a few minutes later as I was about to board chair to look for him.
Since neither friend had a beer for me at car and I had beer and had left my SUV at cabin, I got a ride down, then drove 2 minutes back to Heavenly where I parked one spot away from tram stairs. I wanted to ride Sky, but it still had a big line with singles almost to back of large maze. So I skied Canyon twice, then Sky twice still finding some powder. Then I skied Waterfall, where I started left of roped-off, but untracked Foundation mogul area before I went under rope and skied the unused course. I skied down Gunbarrel, starting in a little untracked on far left (towards Hogback which I saw on Monday was open). I picked up and turned in glove it looked like a downloader dropped and they let me load after 4 pm. I ended long day skiing the Face to within a couple hundred feet of car, taking off my skis as my phone showed 4:20. My vertical was about 27K.
I wanted to be on first tram at 8:30, but it looked like we were going to miss 2nd tram so we skated over to Gunbarrel lift. At Heavenly on a busy Sat, you want to be early and this day it was even more important since highest lifts on CA and NV did not run previous day (probably wind). We got on Sky chair before 9 am and skied untracked in one of the terrain park areas near top of Canyon chair. It was not very deep, probably due to being easily reachable previous day and wind. Next we skied deeper powder next to Ellie's run, then Pinnacles where we found deep untracked skiers left of run.
The line was quickly building so after our 4th ride we moved to NV. It was so crowded the I nearly hit two snowboarders on Skyline trail going to NV. The first was when a EpicMix photographer stepped towards middle of run to get picture which pushed snowboarder who had shared lift with us towards me. The second was when a different snowboarder turned totally sideways right in front of me on crowded trail where everyone should be straight-lining to avoid hiking. I missed him, but he still went down. My third near miss was when I was ripping fall-line powder towards trees on right side of Milky Way Bowl and skier almost traversed into me.
We then got lucky. Not only did they drop the rope into Mott canyon 20 minutes before scheduled 10 am, but they were letting you in Gate B to Killbrew which meant we got SE-facing Under The Gun untracked (and probably open for the first time this year.) It was already sun affected, but still skied great. I did find one rock, but when I looked later, there was not much damage to the perfect bases on current year 110mm-waist Gotamas my friend from the Bay Area brought from his shop for me to try. Although only 178 with some tip rocker, the Volkls worked great for conditions (snow getting heavy unless very shaded, a lot of tight trees, some drops and many rocks to avoid). And he left them with me to return to his store when I get back!
Next Mott run we traversed, then hiked, then skied a little and traversed below Rocky Point. We avoided an extra steep and untracked entrance, due to rock concerns, but it probably would have been OK. Snow we skied here today, and I have many times before, was excellent. Other friend took different route which could not have been as good. Then he went to upper side of chair, where line was at least 10 minutes and building. Our line from lower side of chair was about 5 min so we had a wait at top. He rode chair with Todd from Toronto who skied with us the lower angle (with some steeps) and elevation, but still deep powder in trees with us on Comet, Olympic and North Bowl (twice) chairs. Rather than ride slow beginner Boulder chair, then long and slow North Bowl chair again, we shuttled over to hi-speed Stagecoach and lost Todd as we took a break on deck outside lodge.
We took an after lunch warm-up on Stagecoach. My friends were about done. The one from the Bay Area has an excuse, as it was his first day of the season, but he has a good fitness level from mountain biking, hiking and being a former Yosemite rock climber. We got back to CA base a little after 2 using Olympic, then crowded Dipper chair, CA trail to Maggies Canyon, then rode Groove and skied Upper Roundabout. Snow was thin in spots on Upper Roundabout, but we all made it through without damage. I was able to drop off middle Roundabout trail in two spots and one friend joined me for second one. The Pistol is still closed. Lower East Bowl was excellent to base of tram. One friend took Gunbarrel to CA base which meant other friend and I were left waiting wondering where he was until he skated up a few minutes later as I was about to board chair to look for him.
Since neither friend had a beer for me at car and I had beer and had left my SUV at cabin, I got a ride down, then drove 2 minutes back to Heavenly where I parked one spot away from tram stairs. I wanted to ride Sky, but it still had a big line with singles almost to back of large maze. So I skied Canyon twice, then Sky twice still finding some powder. Then I skied Waterfall, where I started left of roped-off, but untracked Foundation mogul area before I went under rope and skied the unused course. I skied down Gunbarrel, starting in a little untracked on far left (towards Hogback which I saw on Monday was open). I picked up and turned in glove it looked like a downloader dropped and they let me load after 4 pm. I ended long day skiing the Face to within a couple hundred feet of car, taking off my skis as my phone showed 4:20. My vertical was about 27K.
