The long road back

Went skiing today at Bear. Got up at 4:30, left the house at 5:30. Heard
that Hwy's 88, 50, I-80 and hwy 70 were all closed due to white out
conditions.

But I know a place where the roads almost always stay open and have
virtually no avalanche hazard.

Pulled into the parking lot at 8:30, parked right up by the lodge.

Legendary powder and only a coupla hundred people, nice. Wicked blew all day
long, about 8 inches on my jeep. Its gonna snow all night and all day
tomorrow as well. Saturday will be good in the resorts, iffy in the bc (with
about 8 feet of fresh up high out of this one!).

I broke my ankle last Memorial day, lead fall in Yosemite, hit a ledge.
Broken in 3 places, torn ligaments. Was on the healing mend when I
resprained it about a month ago.

Depression... I truly thought the winter was lost.

Till I just couldn't ****ing TAKE IT ANYMORE! I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M GOING
SKIING GODDAMNIT!!!

Hehe, anyway, I got in 10 runs of great tree skiing, didn't hurt myself (I'm
a fool for skiing with my ankle like this, to be honest) and had uncut
powdah first to last. The hard stuff is still too bumpy (I can't do jumping
jacks or even jog at this point).

I had to ski fixed heel. That genuflect is the weakest part of my ankle.
Having the shin support of an alpine boot made all the difference.

Anyway my back country brothers and sisters, I'm not touring yet, but it
feels within my grasp!

I'm back! (picked a good day for it). Its gonna be some great new year
skiing in Cali.

Happy New Year
DMT

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In article ,
DingusMilktoast wrote:
Went skiing today at Bear. Got up at 4:30, left the house at 5:30. Heard
that Hwy's 88, 50, I-80 and hwy 70 were all closed due to white out
conditions.

But I know a place where the roads almost always stay open and have
virtually no avalanche hazard.

Pulled into the parking lot at 8:30, parked right up by the lodge.

Legendary powder and only a coupla hundred people, nice. Wicked blew all day
long, about 8 inches on my jeep. Its gonna snow all night and all day
tomorrow as well. Saturday will be good in the resorts, iffy in the bc (with
about 8 feet of fresh up high out of this one!).


_ I was at Sierra at Tahoe along with everybody else who wanted
to get in a day at Sugar Bowl, 50 opened up in time for me to get
the 5th chair[1]. I'd have to say BC conditions would be either
terrible slogging or extremely dangerous. Anything steep enough
to actually ski in that much snow is a severe avalanche hazard.
Sierra at Tahoe doesn't have much in the way of steeps, but the
ones I found in the trees were fun if scary. You could definitely
get a good two foot slab to break on short steep bits. With the
wind blowing over the crest and the amount of snow on the hard
ice underneath, this has all the makings of an avalanche death.

_ This storm reminds me of the one last year were people got
killed on Castle Peak in a spot that I would never have thought
would be "dangerous". A cornice broke off up high and sent a
large avalanche down into the trees.

_ Anyway, take it easy DMT, rehabbing sucks.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- Pretty slack for me, but the locks froze on my ski box.

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"Booker C. Bense"
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Jan.01.05@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote
_ Anyway, take it easy DMT, rehabbing sucks.


Right on Booker.

I went again Saturday. The opened the Grizzly Bowl, which had not been skied
since before the start of this storm. There was like 6 or more feet of fresh
untrack snow. I must say, it was orgasmic! I got in 21 runs on the first
day of the year.

So much for taking it easy... it didn't swell up too bad Sunday.

Cheers
DMT

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In article ,
DingusMilktoast wrote:

"Booker C. Bense"
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Jan.01.05@telemark .slac.stanford.edu wrote
_ Anyway, take it easy DMT, rehabbing sucks.


Right on Booker.

I went again Saturday. The opened the Grizzly Bowl, which had not been skied
since before the start of this storm. There was like 6 or more feet of fresh
untrack snow. I must say, it was orgasmic! I got in 21 runs on the first
day of the year.

_ I've only been to Bear Valley a couple times. Is there terrain
worth the drive if Grizzly Bowl isn't open? I remember some steep
stuff under the main chair, but how fast does that ski out?

_ Booker C. Bense

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It is NOT worth the drive for someone living in Reno, whether the bowl is
open or not.

But for a guy living in Sacramento, who only pays to ski powder, Bear is the
best buy in NorCal. Road always open on storm days, no interstate or
gambling traffic with which to contend, no Carson Spur to cross, crowds
mostly non existent. On Saturday, Jan 1, supposedly one of the busiest ski
days of the year, only every 5th chair seemed to have people and I was
getting untracked snow first run to last.

Compromises? Slow chairs that break frequently. I spent a half an hour
freezing my ass of on Thurs trapped in the wind about 100 yards from the
goddamn wheel house. Gizzly is not opened during big storms due mainly to
visibility and cliffs. Parking sucks if you don't get there early and the
resort is a tiny nothing when the bowl is closed.

But I'd rather have 21 untracked runs on a small mountain that one untracked
run on a big mountain accompanied by 8 hours of driving (which would have
been the Tahoe price of entry this past weekend) and the hordes of powder
hounds that lurk like pirates near any Tahoe resort. You locals up there are
way to competitive for a hack like me to have a sporting chance!

So... if you're in the area and it's snowing, give me a shout. I'll show you
the ropes. But don't come down here just for Bear, you'll be disappointed.

Cheers
DMT
"Booker C. Bense"
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Jan.03.05@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote
in message ...
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In article ,
DingusMilktoast wrote:

"Booker C. Bense"
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Jan.01.05@telemark .slac.stanford.edu
wrote
_ Anyway, take it easy DMT, rehabbing sucks.


Right on Booker.

I went again Saturday. The opened the Grizzly Bowl, which had not been
skied
since before the start of this storm. There was like 6 or more feet of
fresh
untrack snow. I must say, it was orgasmic! I got in 21 runs on the first
day of the year.

_ I've only been to Bear Valley a couple times. Is there terrain
worth the drive if Grizzly Bowl isn't open? I remember some steep
stuff under the main chair, but how fast does that ski out?

_ Booker C. Bense

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In article ,
DingusMilktoast wrote:
It is NOT worth the drive for someone living in Reno, whether the bowl is
open or not.

_ Um, I don't know why you think I live in Reno, I have a nasty
commute to Stanford as it is, that would be a killer.


But for a guy living in Sacramento, who only pays to ski powder, Bear is the
best buy in NorCal. Road always open on storm days, no interstate or
gambling traffic with which to contend, no Carson Spur to cross, crowds
mostly non existent. On Saturday, Jan 1, supposedly one of the busiest ski
days of the year, only every 5th chair seemed to have people and I was
getting untracked snow first run to last.

_ If it's storming and you know the secrets you can do that at
most Tahoe resorts. However, on the first blue sky day after a
storm, pretty much everything is tracked out by 10 am.


Compromises? Slow chairs that break frequently. I spent a half an hour
freezing my ass of on Thurs trapped in the wind about 100 yards from the
goddamn wheel house. Gizzly is not opened during big storms due mainly to
visibility and cliffs. Parking sucks if you don't get there early and the
resort is a tiny nothing when the bowl is closed.

_ Sounds like Homewood. The best skiing isn't open in storms and
the lifts are ancient.


But I'd rather have 21 untracked runs on a small mountain that one untracked
run on a big mountain accompanied by 8 hours of driving (which would have
been the Tahoe price of entry this past weekend) and the hordes of powder
hounds that lurk like pirates near any Tahoe resort.

_ Steepness matters... I find deep freshies and no steeps to be a
kind of mental torture.

You locals up there are
way to competitive for a hack like me to have a sporting chance!


_ I'm not a Tahoe local. I live near Berkeley and don't mind
getting up at 3am to go skiing. A good day[1] for me is one in
which I spend more time skiing than driving. From any rational
perspective my one day skiing trips don't make any sense, it's
often 7-8 hours driving for 5-6 hrs of skiing. But given the
other constraints it's either that or don't ski...

_ I used to go in on a ski house coop near Tahoe City for the
season, but I stopped doing that a couple years ago since I
didn't use it enough.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- I should rephrase that, in general if I ski more than I
drive then it wasn't a Freshie[2] Day.

[2]- Tahoe has more Freshie days than anyplace else I've skiied,
I'm not sure Utahites would call it powder though.

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Booker C. Bense wrote:

[2]- Tahoe has more Freshie days than anyplace else I've skiied,
I'm not sure Utahites would call it powder though.

Last Thursday I had a day full of freshies in the San Gabriels. I'm damn
sure the Utahites would not call it powder, but it was still super. We
take what we can get and enjoy it! It's shaping up to be a good year for
SoCal skiing.

Next storm cycle maybe lets hook up at Bear then, schedules permitting of
course. Yeah, I've heard Homewood comparisons before (haven't skied Homewood
for some reason). It ain't bad Booker, all in all.

DMT
"Booker C. Bense"
bbense+rec.skiing.backcountry.Jan.03.05@telemark. slac.stanford.edu wrote
in message ...
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In article ,
DingusMilktoast wrote:
It is NOT worth the drive for someone living in Reno, whether the bowl is
open or not.

_ Um, I don't know why you think I live in Reno, I have a nasty
commute to Stanford as it is, that would be a killer.


But for a guy living in Sacramento, who only pays to ski powder, Bear is
the
best buy in NorCal. Road always open on storm days, no interstate or
gambling traffic with which to contend, no Carson Spur to cross, crowds
mostly non existent. On Saturday, Jan 1, supposedly one of the busiest
ski
days of the year, only every 5th chair seemed to have people and I was
getting untracked snow first run to last.

_ If it's storming and you know the secrets you can do that at
most Tahoe resorts. However, on the first blue sky day after a
storm, pretty much everything is tracked out by 10 am.


Compromises? Slow chairs that break frequently. I spent a half an hour
freezing my ass of on Thurs trapped in the wind about 100 yards from the
goddamn wheel house. Gizzly is not opened during big storms due mainly to
visibility and cliffs. Parking sucks if you don't get there early and the
resort is a tiny nothing when the bowl is closed.

_ Sounds like Homewood. The best skiing isn't open in storms and
the lifts are ancient.


But I'd rather have 21 untracked runs on a small mountain that one
untracked
run on a big mountain accompanied by 8 hours of driving (which would have
been the Tahoe price of entry this past weekend) and the hordes of powder
hounds that lurk like pirates near any Tahoe resort.

_ Steepness matters... I find deep freshies and no steeps to be a
kind of mental torture.

You locals up there are
way to competitive for a hack like me to have a sporting chance!


_ I'm not a Tahoe local. I live near Berkeley and don't mind
getting up at 3am to go skiing. A good day[1] for me is one in
which I spend more time skiing than driving. From any rational
perspective my one day skiing trips don't make any sense, it's
often 7-8 hours driving for 5-6 hrs of skiing. But given the
other constraints it's either that or don't ski...

_ I used to go in on a ski house coop near Tahoe City for the
season, but I stopped doing that a couple years ago since I
didn't use it enough.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- I should rephrase that, in general if I ski more than I
drive then it wasn't a Freshie[2] Day.

[2]- Tahoe has more Freshie days than anyplace else I've skiied,
I'm not sure Utahites would call it powder though.

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"DingusMilktoast" wrote:
So... if you're in the area and it's snowing, give me a shout. I'll show you
the ropes. But don't come down here just for Bear, you'll be disappointed.

Vail?

"pinnah" wrote in message
...
"DingusMilktoast" wrote:
So... if you're in the area and it's snowing, give me a shout. I'll show
you
the ropes. But don't come down here just for Bear, you'll be
disappointed.

Vail?

There ya go, it's just like Vail.

DMT