Lake Tahoe Mini Meetup

[LivingProof]

John Botti and I planned to do a meet up for a day during the upcoming Epic Gathering in Lake Tahoe. Below is the schedule. John has 3/1 at Squaw penciled in to show off his Ca. home mountain. This will be my first visit to Tahoe, so, as long as the snow does not deteriorate over present conditions, I'll be fine and doing a lot of smiling. There are hints of additional snow in the forecast, and, it would be very welcome.

I'm in a ski house with 10 others, including High Angles, so, we have a 3 persons mini-meetup. With recruiting Phil and SnowHot, maybe 5. Any others who happen to be in the Tahoe area, come on up!

It will be great to finally meet John, and,  get some honest assessments of my skiing (which is improved over Holimont due to a bunch of drills). My mojo is back!


2/26 Sunday: Skiers Choice/Arrival Day for some
2/27 Monday: Alpine Meadows
2/28 Tuesday: Mt. Rose
2/29 Wednesday: Northstar at Tahoe
3/1  Thursday: Squaw Valley
3/2  Friday: Heavenly
3/3  Saturday: Kirkwood

[jim-ratliff]

Have a great time.


And very glad to hear you feeling better about your skiing.

[LivingProof]

Max,
I'm sharing a home with 10 others and we've rented 2 huge vehicles to transport the team each day. We are staying in North Lake Tahoe and for the first 4 days, the longest trip is 20 miles.  Heavenly is in South Tahoe and an hour away. I will not be there on the last day. So it's not that bad and I'm not the designated driver.

I do have some mixed feelings about a different mountain each day. Great to see and explore new places, but, it's confusing to search for trails. Epic does a great job of recruiting locals to guide small groups of skiers with like skills. Phil and Snow Hot have arranged a bunch of stuff to do following skiing. It's a great social event, just hope the skiing measures up.

Tuesday will also be demo day and I'm looking for a Supershape replacement. Hmmm... taking 1 pair to Tahoe, just may come home with two.

[HighAngles]

I'm definitely looking forward to finally meeting John and getting the chance to ski with him.  So if it's scheduled for 3/1 then I'm there!

[LivingProof]

High Angles and John Botti,
Philpug called today and just wanted to all to know that on Tuesday (Mt. Rose Day) of the Gathering, 7 skis manufacturers will have a dedicated 2013 skis preview day for the Epic Team to just ski different skis all day.

Fisher, Dynastar, Head, Rossi, Kastle, blizzard, Nordica,maybe Volkl. An impressive line-up.

If anyone wants to offer some thoughts as to a good narrow waist carver for LP, feel free to make a recommendation. Hmmm, maybe even a real sl or gs race ski - just to prove or disprove Helluva's theory's about using non-pedestrian  skis.

[midwif]

You guys are going to have a blast1
Green with envy, I am.

Jim and I were seriously considering the "gathering" until they changed the week to its' current one. Last year the gathering was a week later.

I have the same week for a conference at Breckenridge. Piggy-backing a vacation week after makes it a real
nice stretch.

Demo, demo, demo.
And show of some nice CB/CA while you're out there!

 

[Svend]

Tuesday will also be demo day and I'm looking for a Supershape replacement. Hmmm... taking 1 pair to Tahoe, just may come home with two.

Hey Mike -- any particular models on your radar? Come on, let's start a discussion of "The Right Skis for Mike"..... 

[LivingProof]

Hi all, and, smiles from Tahoe!

First two days spent at Northstar doing groomer skiing. Yeah, groomer skiing...Tahoe needs snow. It great to ski with Phil and the Gathering team. We had a group of 11 today, all love to ski and enjoy life.

I've not skied my skis ( that changes today ). Phil gave me Blizzard Bonifides for Sat morning, and, then, I did an exchange with someone with the same boot size and did Hart Pulse's in the PM. I owned the Pulse (78 waist) 3 years ago and always wanted to try them again. On hard snow, they were great. Fact is that I know how to ski a narrower ski, still trying to figure out wider skis. Bonifides were far better at firm goomer skiing than I would have predicted, but, conditions did not soften to determine what all the love is about.

Yesterday demo'd 2013 Blizzard M 85 in a 174 all day. Serious high speed, GS radius ski. It needs a better skier to make it sing.

It's first light and we did get some new snow (not much here in the valley), but, it's off to work  I go.

And, yes Svend, LP needs a quiver mod, but, the daily driver will be a narrower hard snow carver.

enjoy your day

[Gary]

Hey Mike....sounds like you're having fun for sure....my thoughts .....just get on the right ski for the day's conditions..

you'll have more fun!

Hoping you get snow.....Best, G

[jbotti]

Squaw is reporting that have gotten 8" already today. More snow is on the docket for Tuesday and Wednesday. Conditions will be far from epic (or even good for Tahoe) but this is at least saving the trip.

Looking forward to skiing with LP and HA on Thursday at Squaw.

[LivingProof]

Yesterdays weather prediction of a couple of inches turned into an all-day dump. 12" in the parking lot by days end, some knee deep in the afternoon on the mountain. Really nice powder to ski in, some crust and rocks underneath, but, still a great day of smiles. More to come in the forecast for Wed. into Thurs. 

I hope JB makes it to Squaw on Thurs. He'll have to dumb down his terrain choices (at least for me ), but HA and I hope to make some turns with him. And the new Pow would just be outstanding. HA and I both are a little used up physically, but, we'll donate what we have left to keep up with John.

Demo day today, Mt. Rose is reporting 18 inches from yesterday, so, ROCKER CITY for LP. Anybody ever think they would hear that from me?

Tahoe, Tahoe, it's off to work I go~!

[jim-ratliff]

Fresh snow to ski on -- how awesome is that. 
And, obviously, the same is happening at Stowe.

[Gary]

Mike...get on some fatties...that 12 inches of pow will feel deeper and you'll not hit nary a rock!

Hope you're having a blast!

best, G

[Liam]

I hope those chutes at Mt Rose are open for you guys.  Those great North facing runs (highest in bound elevation in Tahoe, I think) are the best kept quasi-secret in the region.  Best thing I skied last time I was in Tahoe.

Driving to all the different ski areas is one of the best things about a trip to Tahoe-variety is the spice of life and all that!

[LivingProof]

I hope those chutes at Mt Rose are open for you guys.  Those great North facing runs (highest in bound elevation in Tahoe, I think) are the best kept quasi-secret in the region.  Best thing I skied last time I was in Tahoe.

Driving to all the different ski areas is one of the best things about a trip to Tahoe-variety is the spice of life and all that!

Liam is quite correct - Mt. Rose is an absolute jewel of a ski area. Reminds me of A-Basin, only bigger. Snow was much drier than at Alpine in the patches of snow remaining, tree skiing was still very  good. A cool sunny day to ski, later the wind came up and we found out why the locals call it Mt. Blows. Another great day of skiing. Demo'd 6 pair of skis, will report later.

Liam - the chutes were pretty dicey from a coverage standpoint, many are still closed due to lack of snow. On the chairs, we saw plenty of people hitting covered rocks and trees. Some in the group happened to be there when the patrol dropped the ropes to open a chute so they got fresh tracks and smiles. I got caught up demoing and did not see as much of the mountain as I had hoped. Would love to return.

A very special event occurs today at noon while at N'star. Any guesses? Will spill the beans tonight.