Marc's Public Blog - Skiing / Snowboarding / Snow


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This is a collection of my blog entries about snowboarding.
You can find all the pictures I've taken here, and read below for the more recent trips that I have recorded in blog entries:

Table of Content for snow:

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2018/03/23 Day Trip at Kirkwood with Johannes
π 2018-03-23 01:01 in Nsnow, Snow
We left around 05:00 and by the time we crossed 88, Caltrans had no news about them opening, or them even working on it. Sadly they were actually working on it, but failed to say anything about it. After we had well passed the junction point, I got an alert that Carson Spur had opened, so we took a very non obvious (which Johannes described as "scenic" :) ).

We got to Kirkwood 45mn later than needed due to the long detour, but still made it by 09:15 or so. Because cornice did not open until 10:00 or so, and the Wall not until noon-ish, we did not miss out too much despite arriving later than planned. The snow was packed powder due to the water content, but it was still powder. Better than sierra cement or ice :) Crowds were not terrible, thanks to it being a friday.

the wall was bombed a lot
the wall was bombed a lot

we had a mix of sun, high wind and snow flurries
we had a mix of sun, high wind and snow flurries




glad to see another smart snowboarder, with poles :)
glad to see another smart snowboarder, with poles :)

Thanks Johannes for getting us there and back!

2018/03/14 2.5 days of Muchos Powder in Kirkwood
π 2018-03-14 01:01 in Nsnow, Snow
I had been watching the weather forecast for a while, and drove to kirkwood just before the storm turned from rain to snow. I got there with my Tesla 90D in just 3h30, including an 18mn supercharger stop in Manteca. I ended up arriving with 10% battery left in record time, just as the rain was turning to snow:




Day #1 was nice and had a bit of sun to help see the nice powder. Almost everything opened that day, so lots of terrain with not too many people:








Day #2 didn't have sun for long, lots of good snows and self refilling tracks, but poor viz, high winds, and very cold:


everyone made a run to the Wall when cornice didn't open at 09:00 when it was supposed to
everyone made a run to the Wall when cornice didn't open at 09:00 when it was supposed to











Day #3 was more difficult. Very cold too, snow storm most of the day, and kirkwood couldn't get stuff opened. They only opened 6 after a never ending 2H wait. The first tracks were nice, but open terrain was very limited.



2h wait to finally be allowed up a limited section of chair 6, that was disappointing
2h wait to finally be allowed up a limited section of chair 6, that was disappointing

very hard snow, no more pictures
very hard snow, no more pictures

After only 2H of skiing, and talking to Jennifer about the show we had that evening, I decided to try and get home after one of the two roads out finally re-opened. By leaving at 13:30, that would have been plenty of time, but sadly while driving down carson pass, I made a judgement mistake which combined with heavy regenerative braking kicking in in the middle of a slippery downhill turn, caused me to understeer and drive into a snow bank. It took over 1h30 to get out






a nice Audi with 3 awesome guys who helped me shovel out, was unable to pull me out
a nice Audi with 3 awesome guys who helped me shovel out, was unable to pull me out

Caltrans truck then slid into the audi and hit its front
Caltrans truck then slid into the audi and hit its front

snow plow slid off the road and got stuck, had to be towed out by caltrans scraper
snow plow slid off the road and got stuck, had to be towed out by caltrans scraper

finally the just arrived caltrans scraper had enough weight and torque to pull me out
finally the just arrived caltrans scraper had enough weight and torque to pull me out

The rest of the drive home was not fun, took me around 7.5h, includuing the 1.5h stuck in the snow bank. But that was nothing compared to the people driving up hwy 50 on a friday afternoon/night and who took hours and hours to get through the pass...

2018/03/03 5ft powder storm in Tahoe: Sierra @ Tahoe and Heavenly
π 2018-03-03 01:01 in Nsnow, Snow
After a horrible dry spell this year, Tahoe finally started getting a bit of snow. While 5ft in a storm sounds great, I got to find out that it was 5ft on top of almost nothing, so the tree runs were very treacherous. The amount of rocks and tree stumps, which ultimately isn't super safe. Also, the resorts were super packed, which is not surprising given that everyone had been waiting for real snow for so long.

Johannes was a trooper and offered to drive me to Tahoe, which was super great given that I had a concert on friday night and got to bed around 01:00. Sadly, my plan failed miserably and I slept past both my alarms for 05:00. Johannes was super nice and just waited for me to wake up (it's more complicated than this, but skipping details), and we ended up being on the road around 07:15. By then Carson Spur was still closed sadly (it only opened at 13:00, very late), so we ended up driving past Sierra @ Tahoe on hwy50 around 11:30 and figured it was already late enough that we might as well just go there. Sadly we didn't know the resort well and went to the famed West Bowl was actually kind of stupid because while it had plenty of snow, it was lacking slope. We later (too late) went to the main lift on the front side, and that gave much better terrain and pitch:



good enough for the day given that it was already 11:30
good enough for the day given that it was already 11:30




the tree runs I did were great, but honestly very technical, even for me
the tree runs I did were great, but honestly very technical, even for me

convertible RWD porsche without chains just after a snow storm, ballsy but well done
convertible RWD porsche without chains just after a snow storm, ballsy but well done

Since we were sleeping in South Lake, heavenly for day #2 was the easiest, but also I figured they'd have more untracked terrain than kirkwood, so we gave that a shot. Mott opened at 10:00 and I made the mistake of not being at the rope waiting for it to open, so I missed the first group down and it was half tracked for my first run. First line was about 30mn, second line was 40mn+. Yikes!




nice view as always
nice view as always

worst Mott line ever
worst Mott line ever

people lined up the hill :( it almost took as long to line up than to hike up
people lined up the hill :( it almost took as long to line up than to hike up




peek-a-boo
peek-a-boo

oh no, tree skiing is bad :)
oh no, tree skiing is bad :)



More pages: February 2024 January 2024 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 April 2022 February 2022 December 2021 November 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 October 2020 March 2020 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 April 2015 March 2015 December 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 March 2011 February 2011 December 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 March 2009 February 2009 December 2008 April 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 December 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 December 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 November 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004

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