Lake Tahoe vs Alta

Ok, we're close enough to ski day to start guessing.

My buddy and I want to go skiing and our wives have given us their blessing!
Woo HOO!

When? Second week of February.

We have two choices, but first, skill levels:
Me? I'm an intermediate. I'm comfortable on Sugar Bowl black diamonds, but
intimidated by double-blacks. Example, KT-22 at Squaw is something I'm
hesitant to try. Also I've never been in powder deeper than 18 inches.
My buddy? Twenty years ago he worked ski patrol at Squaw. He's not
concerned about ratings, but takes it easy now to take care of a bad knee.

Now for the where given current conditions. Lake Tahoe Northshore (I have a
place to stay in Truckee) or South Shore (will need a hotel); we can drive
to either shore from home. Or Alta etc? We'll need airfare and hotel.

Do you all have anything useful to say about this excellent dilema or should
we just flip a coin?

Bryan

Bryan wrote:
Ok, we're close enough to ski day to start guessing.

My buddy and I want to go skiing and our wives have given us their blessing!
Woo HOO!

When? Second week of February.

We have two choices, but first, skill levels:
Me? I'm an intermediate. I'm comfortable on Sugar Bowl black diamonds, but
intimidated by double-blacks. Example, KT-22 at Squaw is something I'm
hesitant to try. Also I've never been in powder deeper than 18 inches.
My buddy? Twenty years ago he worked ski patrol at Squaw. He's not
concerned about ratings, but takes it easy now to take care of a bad knee.

Now for the where given current conditions. Lake Tahoe Northshore (I have a
place to stay in Truckee) or South Shore (will need a hotel); we can drive
to either shore from home. Or Alta etc? We'll need airfare and hotel.

Don't let them sell you a pile like that. If Alta etc. seems like your
choice, you can drive to SLC in a day (10 hours from Truckee, add your
additional hours) - so you can get 7 days skiing and two driving over a
week, if you want - plus then you don't have to rent a car. They will
claim you can fly and ski the same day, but I don't buy it; after flying
in a few times, I think the amount of skiing is the same either way.
Stay at the Motel 6 or similar in Sandy area, ski the canyons. Plus you
get the added benefit of a ski road trip with a buddy, something you may
not have done since college...


Do you all have anything useful to say about this excellent dilema or should
we just flip a coin?

All that being said - we have some dandy snow around here right now -
what February is like in either place is a crap shoot. If you've skied a
few dozen days around here, try SLC for the change. If not, there's
plenty of skiing at Tahoe to keep anyone interested. Day trips to
Kirkwood are reasonable, but basing out of South Shore makes no sense at
all unless Casinos are important to you; base North Shore for skiing -
more localized skiing than anywhere but France/Switz...

There are some ideas to kick around.

lal_truckee wrote:

They will
claim you can fly and ski the same day, but I don't buy it; after flying
in a few times, I think the amount of skiing is the same either way.

Hrumph. I've flotwn and skied the same day each of the last three years.
Unfortunately, you only get half a day, but on getaway day it's the
good half of the day. 9am to 2pm is a pretty good ski day.

Just make sure you watch the avalanche forecast - last spring I got
caught behind a slide and almost missed my plane.


Stay at the Motel 6 or similar in Sandy area, ski the canyons.

Of course you mean BCC/LCC, not "The Canyons".


Do you all have anything useful to say about this excellent dilema or
should
we just flip a coin?

I'd go to the place you can stay for free and not have to rent a car.
Keep expenses low, and do it twice. I've never understood people who
blow their whole season's wad in one week.



--
//-Walt
//
// There is no Völkl Conspiracy

In article ,
Walt wrote:

Just make sure you watch the avalanche forecast - last spring I got
caught behind a slide and almost missed my plane.

OOOOHHHHhhhhhh... Stuck in the parking lot at Alta. Fate worse than death.
Nobody can get up the canyon in the morning and you have all that terrain
to yourself from 09:15 on... Oh the horror...the horror...
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 18:00:11 -0500, Walt
wrote:

lal_truckee wrote:

They will
claim you can fly and ski the same day, but I don't buy it; after flying
in a few times, I think the amount of skiing is the same either way.

Hrumph. I've flotwn and skied the same day each of the last three years.
Unfortunately, you only get half a day, but on getaway day it's the
good half of the day. 9am to 2pm is a pretty good ski day.

Just make sure you watch the avalanche forecast - last spring I got
caught behind a slide and almost missed my plane.

Wait...you were caught behind a slide but still caught the plane?
Jeez, man, that's awful. Sorry to hear it.

bw

"Walt" wrote in message
...
lal_truckee wrote:

They will
claim you can fly and ski the same day, but I don't buy it; after flying
in a few times, I think the amount of skiing is the same either way.

Hrumph. I've flotwn and skied the same day each of the last three years.
Unfortunately, you only get half a day, but on getaway day it's the
good half of the day. 9am to 2pm is a pretty good ski day.
I'd go to the place you can stay for free and not have to rent a car.
Keep expenses low, and do it twice. I've never understood people who
blow their whole season's wad in one week.

Well, you and Truckee both have some good points from different
perspectives.
My friend wants Tahoe and I want Utah (because I've never been). Looks like
we might end up with a coin toss, but sometimes the coin lands the right
way. And either way, it'll result in a few days with skis, snow, and
mountains!

In article ,
bdubya wrote:

Wait...you were caught behind a slide but still caught the plane?
Jeez, man, that's awful. Sorry to hear it.

You caught that too. "I'm avalanched in the head of Little Cottonwood
Canyon," has got to get you out of any committment, eh? It's not like
"The dog ate my homework."
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

bdubya wrote:
Walt wrote:

Just make sure you watch the avalanche forecast - last spring I got
caught behind a slide and almost missed my plane.


Wait...you were caught behind a slide but still caught the plane?
Jeez, man, that's awful. Sorry to hear it.

Just unlucky, I guess.

--
// Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy

Walt wrote:
lal_truckee wrote:

Stay at the Motel 6 or similar in Sandy area, ski the canyons.


Of course you mean BCC/LCC, not "The Canyons".

I will thank you to notice the lower case - it's a punctuation thing.
Upper case is a name, lower case is a generic. Get it?

Now, I'll give you a head start before cranking up the Dead - if you run
fast you can save some audio nerve cells...

Jeff Davis wrote:
bdubya wrote:

Wait...you were caught behind a slide but still caught the plane?
Jeez, man, that's awful. Sorry to hear it.


You caught that too. "I'm avalanched in the head of Little Cottonwood
Canyon," has got to get you out of any committment, eh? It's not like
"The dog ate my homework."

Actually, it was Big Cottonwood Canyon, but what's a canyon or two
among friends?

And it wasn't a problem for me. But the guy I was with owns his own
business and had a job he needed to be at the next day. An avalanche
wouldn't cut it as an excuse.

So the moral of the story is: don't farque around in the mountains
when you absolutely positively *have* to be somewhere in another time
zone in 18 hours. Mother Nature can have different ideas.


--
// Walt
//
// There is no Volkl Conspiracy