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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2020/03/14 9.5H of Driving to Kirkwood and Back for 2 Runs on Solitude before Unannounced Season Closure
π 2020-03-14 01:01 in Nsnow, Snow
4ft+ of snow finally coming to Tahoe, after so little for so long, finally! It was time to go.

The snow line wasn't too low when I started driving up, except for a bit of surprise slush when I was passing a truck. Thankfully my tesla stability control, did the right thing:



strangely, the road was quite clear higher up (localized snowfalls)
strangely, the road was quite clear higher up (localized snowfalls)

Carson Spur was still in very good shape
Carson Spur was still in very good shape

After a bit under 4H, including a 20mn recharging stop in Manteca, I arrived at Kirkwood just before 15:00:


Sadly, by then only solitude was open, I did 2 runs that weren't bad but on my 2nd run up, I got the very bad news that while Vail said they would stay open that same morning, a few hours later, while I drove up, changed their minds and closed off everything for the season due to COVID-19. Needless to say that I wasn't happy that they couldn't make that decision in the morning, and mislead everyone into coming:


those were 2 expensive runs
those were 2 expensive runs

Now, life sucked, it was clear that I had to leave kirkwood as quickly as possible, as the weather was worsening, but my car was very discharged. I had to recharge it just enough to get out and hopefully make it to some charging source under the snow line.

I had to take the Omo Ranch Rd by Cook's Station to get the shortest path to the Placerville Supercharger, where I barely arrived with a 5% of battery left. Omo Ranch Rd, while open, is not a safe road with snow, and doesn't get plowed. The top was dicey and I had the tradeoff of getting down quickly to get out of the snow line, without driving off the road due to snow.
The tesla estimator has been very wrong, on the trip out, it told me I'd arrive with 14%, but I arrived with 5% while driving quite slow and taking an unsafe road (the safe road around would not have gotten me there with enough battery left):

estimator went from 14% to 9% to 5% by the time I arrived
estimator went from 14% to 9% to 5% by the time I arrived


thankfully it stabilized at 5%
thankfully it stabilized at 5%

on the plus side, the new superchargers are fast, I got back to 80% in 30mn
on the plus side, the new superchargers are fast, I got back to 80% in 30mn

That's definitely been my worst snow trip ever, except for the fact that I avoided crashing my car on the way up after that slide, or running out of battery and having my car die on the side of the road in a snowstorm.

2020/03/01 Way Too Late First Day at Kirkwood with 8"
π 2020-03-01 01:01 in Nsnow, Snow
Due to a combination of sad timing and terrible season, I hadn't gone to Tahoe a single time this season yet. It took a long time waiting to have a decent enough day to go, and this wasn't going to be a ft+ storm, but the meager 8" was more snow than the entire month of february combined, so it wasn't time to be picky.
The drive up in my M3 was uneventful, I got there in one shot with 14% of battery left when I arrived.

The next morning, looked good. It looked nice, but the powder was not bottomless. You could definitely feel the crud underneath, which was unfortunate. Later in the day, 2 extra inches helped, and wind blowing made some nicer pockets of snow:


I was able to keep snow from burrying my car by using the heater
I was able to keep snow from burrying my car by using the heater

the line at cornice was surprisingly short for a sunday
the line at cornice was surprisingly short for a sunday


the wall looked bony for this time of the season
the wall looked bony for this time of the season


eagle bowl was very bony
eagle bowl was very bony

past resort boundary on the backside, was nice as usual
past resort boundary on the backside, was nice as usual


anything wind exposed was definitely bony, though
anything wind exposed was definitely bony, though


After a day of reasonably good snowboarding (cold though), I stayed at the towers, where I found something last minute for a couple of nights:


Unfortunately, it was a waste to have stayed for a 2nd day (monday) as anything worthwhile was closed because of the heavy wind. Such is life, but on top of that, somehow heavenly managed to open sky express during that time.
While solitude was as slow as I remember it to be, the few runs I did were not great, even in the trees, some of the snow had iced up hard (or all the new snow had been blown off, leaving the heavy crust underneath)



So, after a few crappy runs on solitude, I just drove home:



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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