Forum Discussion
joshuajim wrote:
S Davis wrote:
I remember living in South Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1983, we got 65” in a 24 hour period and had about 168” in a three day period, we were climbing out second story windows that year. We ended up with over 44 feet of snow that year.
Second ski trip. back in the 80's i belonged to a Southern California ski club. Every year we made a 1 week trip to a major mountain. I was scheduled to go to Tahoe one year but a major storm hit just before we were supposed to go. Local Tahoe news was saying don't come, we are in blizzard conditions. Well since the trip was fully paid in advance and there was no refund, we decided to go anyway.
When we got, we were booked into a hotel on the Nevada side as rates were cheaper. We come to find out that the main gas line into the Nevada side broke under the river and there was no gas for heat. The hotel rebooked us to a hotel on the California side. OK, that's good, but when we got there we found out that an avalanche had wiped out major transmission towers on the CA side so electric was very limited.
When you went by the casinos, none of their Marquees were lit up. If you went inside, 80% of the tables were covered and the rest had few patrons. We then found out that you could go to any of the night club show by just showing up and there was no fee. Woo Hoo!
The next day we hit the slopes. There were no lines at any lift because the smart people stayed home. All the lifts we being run on generators so they only ran at about 1/2 speed.
Next the fun part. The snow was so deep that they had to dig out the loading station and dig a trench under the chairs until they were high enough to get above the snow. Same thing at the unloading station. In addition, they had to dig out around each of the towers all the way down to ground level. In some places it could have been 20'. I guess OSHA wasn't there. I'm guessing that they did not want the snow putting pressure on the towers.
Now the best news... we skied fresh powder all week just off the runs which they had groomed.
Now the final part of this story. I was skiing the powder behind a couple of other guys from the club when i skied behind a pine tree. It was the leeward side of the tree and the powder was absolutely loose. I immediately sunk up to my waist and was stuck with no one behind me. After a couple of minutes I managed to dig down until i was able to release my skies with my poles. Then dig down again to recover my skies. I tried putting my skies back on but in the powder i couldn't get it done.
So then I laid my skies down side by side, crawled up on them prone and "surfed" out of the powder until i could get to the groomed snow.
Best ski trip i ever had.
Looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing.
I don't ski but one of my favorite activity, aside from camping and canoeing is craw fishing.
For some reason, Lake Tahoe crawdads are sweetish and has tender flesh. Read that there are billions of them in that lake.S Davis wrote:
I remember living in South Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1983, we got 65” in a 24 hour period and had about 168” in a three day period, we were climbing out second story windows that year. We ended up with over 44 feet of snow that year.
Second ski trip. back in the 80's i belonged to a Southern California ski club. Every year we made a 1 week trip to a major mountain. I was scheduled to go to Tahoe one year but a major storm hit just before we were supposed to go. Local Tahoe news was saying don't come, we are in blizzard conditions. Well since the trip was fully paid in advance and there was no refund, we decided to go anyway.
When we got, we were booked into a hotel on the Nevada side as rates were cheaper. We come to find out that the main gas line into the Nevada side broke under the river and there was no gas for heat. The hotel rebooked us to a hotel on the California side. OK, that's good, but when we got there we found out that an avalanche had wiped out major transmission towers on the CA side so electric was very limited.
When you went by the casinos, none of their Marquees were lit up. If you went inside, 80% of the tables were covered and the rest had few patrons. We then found out that you could go to any of the night club show by just showing up and there was no fee. Woo Hoo!
The next day we hit the slopes. There were no lines at any lift because the smart people stayed home. All the lifts we being run on generators so they only ran at about 1/2 speed.
Next the fun part. The snow was so deep that they had to dig out the loading station and dig a trench under the chairs until they were high enough to get above the snow. Same thing at the unloading station. In addition, they had to dig out around each of the towers all the way down to ground level. In some places it could have been 20'. I guess OSHA wasn't there. I'm guessing that they did not want the snow putting pressure on the towers.
Now the best news... we skied fresh powder all week just off the runs which they had groomed.
Now the final part of this story. I was skiing the powder behind a couple of other guys from the club when i skied behind a pine tree. It was the leeward side of the tree and the powder was absolutely loose. I immediately sunk up to my waist and was stuck with no one behind me. After a couple of minutes I managed to dig down until i was able to release my skies with my poles. Then dig down again to recover my skies. I tried putting my skies back on but in the powder i couldn't get it done.
So then I laid my skies down side by side, crawled up on them prone and "surfed" out of the powder until i could get to the groomed snow.
Best ski trip i ever had.Blazing Zippers wrote:
I love Juan's videos! If that man had been a teacher when I was in school, I would have been much smarterer.
As for the snow dump over Donner/Truckee, this is kind of like the good 'ol days-long ago. Interestingly, this spring will bring lots of "for sale" signs out due to second home owners leaving the area.
The last year we lived there, we had 8 feet of pack in our yard at the end of April and 16 feet still at the base of the resort I patrolled at. Good times!!
As for North Idaho--51 degrees here today. Shorts & sandals weather.
I was in Lake Tahoe area and looked at the real estate listing one particularly in the high mountains.
The real. estate agent I talked to asked me if it will be my vacation home. I answered it will be my main residence as we are retiring. He looked at me funny and it says everything.
I'm seeing that now as we eventually bought somewhere with less snow but still go there to marvel at 10-feet of accumulated snow on both sides of the pathway to some houses.S Davis wrote:
I remember living in South Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1983, we got 65” in a 24 hour period and had about 168” in a three day period, we were climbing out second story windows that year. We ended up with over 44 feet of snow that year.
Reminds me of a ski trip my brother took to Mammoth on a Presidents Day 3 day ski trip about the same time. Bus arrived in Mammoth about 2:00 AM in a heavy snow. He went to condo and by morning there was 2’ of snow on the ground. Stayed in the condo hoping it would subside. He spent 3 days in the condo as the snow continued to accumulate. By the third day, the snow was higher than the sliding glass door!
Got back on the bus and headed home. Great ski trip :B- I love Juan's videos! If that man had been a teacher when I was in school, I would have been much smarterer.
As for the snow dump over Donner/Truckee, this is kind of like the good 'ol days-long ago. Interestingly, this spring will bring lots of "for sale" signs out due to second home owners leaving the area.
The last year we lived there, we had 8 feet of pack in our yard at the end of April and 16 feet still at the base of the resort I patrolled at. Good times!!
As for North Idaho--51 degrees here today. Shorts & sandals weather. - Good or bad news.
Atmospheric river dumped 14 inches of rainfall in California last night.
I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada closed and so is 395 to Bishop.
Yose-might is closed but those who are trapped inside sent out lovely pictures (that's in my Yosemite forum). Reisender wrote:
Well, that’s gotta be good for some of the lake and water reservoirs.
Yep.
Snow pack as of a few days ago was way below normal. The water level behind the Oroville Dam is pretty low as seen in this video.- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party
- Wel, the water was looking a little low at Hoover Dam this year. Maybe this will help.
- I remember living in South Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1983, we got 65” in a 24 hour period and had about 168” in a three day period, we were climbing out second story windows that year. We ended up with over 44 feet of snow that year.
