Squaw re-opening for Memorial Day weekend (5/30/10 report)

[tseeb]

2009-10 passes are not valid and it is only Shirley Lake. I'm still trying to go to Mammoth.
From http://www.squaw.com/memorial-weekend-s ... valley-usa
Celebrate Memorial Weekend at Squaw Valley USA with skiing, riding, scening Cable Car rides and the High Camp Swimming Lagoon & Spa. Enjoy shopping and a fabulous lunch at High Camp, el 8200'.
Memorial Weekend at Squaw Valley USA
Skiing and Riding: Saturday and Sunday, May 29-30
Scenic Cable Car rides, mountaintop dining, sightseeing, swimming & shopping, May 29-31
9am - 4pm, Scheduled lifts are the Cable Car, Links and Shirley Lake
Lift Ticket Prices for Saturday and Sunday (all adult lift tickets include FREE High Camp Swimming Lagoon & Spa):
All Day Lift Tickets: $44
Kids 12 & Under: $10
2010/2011 Bronze Passholders: $25
2010/2011 Silver, Gold and Platinum Passholders: FREE
Cable Car Operating Hours: 9am-5pm (last upload at 4pm)
High Camp Swimming Lagoon & Spa: 11am-4pm
Poolside Umbrella Bar & Memorial Weekend BBQ: 11am-4pm
Poolside Cafe: 11am-4pm

 

[tseeb]

http://www.squaw.com/memorial-weekend-s ... valley-usa

Squaw now says all passholders are free:

"Lift Ticket Prices for Saturday and Sunday (all adult lift tickets include FREE High Camp Swimming Lagoon & Spa):
All Day Lift Tickets: $44
Kids 12 & Under: $10

2010/2011 Passes: VALID for the weekend

2009/2010 Passes: VALID for the weekend"

I bought a Bronze pass for next year, when they were $369, but still am thinking about going to Mammoth with 11 lifts vs. Squaw with only one skiable lift that is mostly intermediate. And "For your safety, hiking to ski and ride unopened terrain is prohibited; thank you for your compliance". Plus they are only open for skiing Sat/Sun while Mon/Tues works better for me.

 

[tseeb]

I ended up going to Squaw today for their 2nd closing day of the season. Skied from 9 am to 1 am; Shirley Lake 17 times and the Mountain Run to end the day. Some of the runs were really good between 10 and 11. Tomorrow I'm going to Donner Ski Ranch, 4 chairs for $25, then home.

 

[tseeb]

When half my pictures are from the drive up, you know the skiing was not that great. I departed San Jose at 4:40 am and arrived at Squaw at 8:40. Instead of taking my Honda SUV that barely gets 20 mpg, and since I was solo and chain control did not look possible, I took the 21 year-old Civic that gets over 35 mpg on the freeway. Even though it hit 232K miles on CA-89 on the way to Squaw, the air conditioner still works (and was needed that afternoon, even at 6,000 feet elevation) and it is fun to drive. I went to the pass office to get my 2010-11 pass, but they were out of pass stock and gave me a free day ticket and welcomed me to Squaw after I told them I had Kirkwood passes the last two seasons.

I was on the second tram of the day and my friend from Truckee was able to join me on it. We took Links up to Shirley and were happy to find the snow had frozen overnight. The first couple of runs were to skiers far right (6th Tree Run) and a little too firm. We only went skier’s left once. Since my friend was on a snowboard, he could only get to the far side of Shirley Bowl. On skis, I could easily hike into Shirley Chute, but it was very challenging between rocks, avalanche debris and the almost one foot of two day-old mostly unskied powder as this area gets some of the deepest snow on the mountain.

About 10 am, even though most chairs on the six-pack were carrying 5 or 6 riders, a small line developed. We only waited more than three minutes once, but got separated in line many times as groups formed and re-formed in line. The singles line looked painful a couple of times. At about 10:30, we hit our best run of the day on the 4th Tree Run, which most people were overlooking. It was high speed turns on perfect corn. Next run was not as good and by the 3rd time we took it in a row, the snow was getting too soft. By 11, the line on the chair was gone and never returned.

Another friend from Truckee was supposed to joining us, but was not expected early as he worked part of the previous night at a North Tahoe casino. He got stuck in line at the tram where he said he waited at least three trams to get up and did not join us until noon. We heard the 2,000+ vertical Mountain Run was good in the morning, but it was good we did not take it as we would have been stuck in the tram line and would have missed the best skiing. I tried to get my friends to hike to or past Siberia to get a better line on the Mountain Run or to ski National Chute on Squaw Peak (which when Squaw re-opened Sat. was not going to be permitted), but they were not interested. I’ve seen the Mountain Run stickier and considering it was not even really open and it was 1 pm when we got to the bottom, it was a better option for my snowboarding friends than the flat hike back to the tram from Shirley Lake. 17 Shirley Lake runs and 1 Mountain run for 14.5 K vertical

 

[Tony Crocker]

I'm not impressed at all. I see little excuse for not running Siberia and Granite Chief with the amount of snow that had to be there. I suspect when an area has been closed for several weeks and reopens temporarily that potential prep work is more problematic than when you're open continuously.

17 Shirley Lake runs

More like November WROD skiing (including liftlines) than the diverse range of spring skiing at Mammoth, Snowbird, Whistler, Sunshine, A-Basin. Hope to see you at Mammoth next time.

 

[snowboard247]

I still dont understand why squaw doesn't stay continously open on big snow years like this one...they just dont feel its smart business sense any more? I understand why AM doesn't but I don't get why Squaw doesnt!?!

 

[EMSC]

I see little excuse for not running Siberia and Granite Chief with the amount of snow that had to be there.

That was my thought when I saw they would re-open. Why only the one chair? But then Squaw has long been known for some somewhat odd business practices. I forget, is Cushing's wife still running the place?

 

[Tony Crocker]

I understand why AM doesn't but I don't get why Squaw doesnt!?!

Historically Alpine Meadows WAS the Tahoe area that ran late season. I skied Alpine and Mammoth back-to-back days on May 22-23, 1982. Naturally the snow was sloppier at Alpine, but the experience was vastly superior to what tseeb reported from last weekend. You get close to half the terrain with just Summit Chair, though I think they ran Roundhouse also to better serve intermediates. By contrast Squaw needs to run multiple upper lifts for comparable terrain plus the tram for access, which proved to be a bottleneck. If they ran Siberia they could have used the higher capacity Funitel for access.

Alpine Meadows was owned for awhile by Powdr Corp, so no surprise what happened to the late season there.

 

[snowboard247]

Alpine Meadows was owned for awhile by Powdr Corp, so no surprise what happened to the late season there.

It is nice to see Alpine running at least 3-day weekends into May again.

Im suprised since its now owned by JMA, a venture capital company.