tseeb
Well-known member
In retrospect I should have continued with my original plans to ski Monday but high temps and winds kept me away. And I would probably have picked Kirkwood or Squaw, not gone to Northstar where my friend said they really did get 5" they claimed at top (but only 1" 1200' lower). He lapped Comstock lift and found good new snow. While finishing packing Monday afternoon, I strained my back reaching into SUV to strap down skis. That slowed me down getting out of the house on Tues morning so I did not leave until 5:10, then ran into some traffic getting past Sacramento and more at remnants of chain control on I-80 so it was 9:55 before I arrived N* and 10:20 before I got on lift. Although I found a lot of fresh snow and ended up skiing over 25K, being there early and not straining back would have been much better.
I took a couple of laps on Backside on either side of Rail Splitter finding some places to make turns in untracked before going into lodge at top to join my friend who was boarding since 8:30 opening and had a lot of untracked, for a quick early lunch. We skied one more lap in trees he likes E of Backside chair before skiing to Lookout where there was a lot of low-angle untracked getting into Sugar Pine Glades where we exited to skiers left of chair. My friend left at the top and I repeated Sugar Pine Glades three more times, doing a couple of entrances above Martis and twice exiting towards Martis and finding a lot of room for more tracks.
I skied down, then rode up Zephyr and then skied some powder in trees to get back to Backside chair. I did a lap on Comstock before heading to East Ridge where I was able to get 2nds and 3rds on the free 2 pm champagne Tost. To complete my day, I wanted to hit the 3:30 PM free 'smores in the Village. I thought I would do three more laps on lower Vista chair then go to car first, but I found a lot of good snow including getting further and further into rarely open Sawmill Glades. I also found some untracked along the edges of many of the runs there and ended up skiing5 laps before exiting via boundary ropes on Sawmill Glades to The Woods. I only got one (double) 'smore as there was only one person passing them out and a small line that did not go away.
On Wednesday 3/23, my friend and I loaded gondola before 9 so we could be at the top of mountain to meet his friends at 9:30. We skied Comstock 6 times with them, finding some good day-old powder in trees and many excellent groomers. The line finally got long due to an extended chair stoppage which drove us to the Backside. At the top my friend asked a couple of people what was good on Backside and one guy tipped us that gate to Sawtooth Ridge, an area I had never skied, was open. It looked like we were the 6th people to make tracks on the open E-facing ridge where Northstar may someday add lifts. Since line at bottom was long, I pushed for repeating the 10 minute hike to Sawtooth. After skiing untracked at top, this time I went left off ridge and skied N-facing untracked that got me a little further into Sawtooth area where I found and crossed over a road and then followed it to a easy exit to Backside.
At the top of Backside we ran into a female snowboarding friend who we did five more Backside runs with before she had to leave to go to work. We did a few Monument Glades runs, but I eventually retreated to skiing more steep groomed than powder as it was warming up, getting sticky in some places, harder to find untracked and getting hard on my back. My friend and I got in long line for 2 pm Tost and while we got ours, some people were disappointed that they only poured 150 glasses. We did one more Comstock lap before going up Vista and I took him deep into Sawmill Glades, where he had never been. Although snow was affected by heat and, in some places sun, he only had to remove his board once and hike for about 50' so tour was successful. We got to Village 30 minutes before 'smores so he got a coffee and I got a very expensive Bloody Mary and we drank them on edge of ice rink. They had two people passing out 'smores so we each were able to get three halves before taking long slow shuttle back to parking. 23.6K, not including hikes which were only about 100 vertical feet each.
May add 3/24 although it does not seem like it will be as good as last two days as it has warmed up.
I took a couple of laps on Backside on either side of Rail Splitter finding some places to make turns in untracked before going into lodge at top to join my friend who was boarding since 8:30 opening and had a lot of untracked, for a quick early lunch. We skied one more lap in trees he likes E of Backside chair before skiing to Lookout where there was a lot of low-angle untracked getting into Sugar Pine Glades where we exited to skiers left of chair. My friend left at the top and I repeated Sugar Pine Glades three more times, doing a couple of entrances above Martis and twice exiting towards Martis and finding a lot of room for more tracks.
I skied down, then rode up Zephyr and then skied some powder in trees to get back to Backside chair. I did a lap on Comstock before heading to East Ridge where I was able to get 2nds and 3rds on the free 2 pm champagne Tost. To complete my day, I wanted to hit the 3:30 PM free 'smores in the Village. I thought I would do three more laps on lower Vista chair then go to car first, but I found a lot of good snow including getting further and further into rarely open Sawmill Glades. I also found some untracked along the edges of many of the runs there and ended up skiing5 laps before exiting via boundary ropes on Sawmill Glades to The Woods. I only got one (double) 'smore as there was only one person passing them out and a small line that did not go away.
On Wednesday 3/23, my friend and I loaded gondola before 9 so we could be at the top of mountain to meet his friends at 9:30. We skied Comstock 6 times with them, finding some good day-old powder in trees and many excellent groomers. The line finally got long due to an extended chair stoppage which drove us to the Backside. At the top my friend asked a couple of people what was good on Backside and one guy tipped us that gate to Sawtooth Ridge, an area I had never skied, was open. It looked like we were the 6th people to make tracks on the open E-facing ridge where Northstar may someday add lifts. Since line at bottom was long, I pushed for repeating the 10 minute hike to Sawtooth. After skiing untracked at top, this time I went left off ridge and skied N-facing untracked that got me a little further into Sawtooth area where I found and crossed over a road and then followed it to a easy exit to Backside.
At the top of Backside we ran into a female snowboarding friend who we did five more Backside runs with before she had to leave to go to work. We did a few Monument Glades runs, but I eventually retreated to skiing more steep groomed than powder as it was warming up, getting sticky in some places, harder to find untracked and getting hard on my back. My friend and I got in long line for 2 pm Tost and while we got ours, some people were disappointed that they only poured 150 glasses. We did one more Comstock lap before going up Vista and I took him deep into Sawmill Glades, where he had never been. Although snow was affected by heat and, in some places sun, he only had to remove his board once and hike for about 50' so tour was successful. We got to Village 30 minutes before 'smores so he got a coffee and I got a very expensive Bloody Mary and we drank them on edge of ice rink. They had two people passing out 'smores so we each were able to get three halves before taking long slow shuttle back to parking. 23.6K, not including hikes which were only about 100 vertical feet each.
May add 3/24 although it does not seem like it will be as good as last two days as it has warmed up.
