Sounds like much the same on the north shore last weekend... was out on the hill Friday, the first sunny day in a week or so, and while the temps hadnt warmed up yet, it was surprisingly firm for a forecast of 8'+ just finishing up. The locals said the storm started with some rain and may have set up a wet surface before freezing and then kicking winds into overdrive through a lot of the storm. I was expecting A conditions and would give it a B- at best.Well the storm dumped snow, but it was pretty wind blown at Kirkwood....... Although the frontside was tracked out, found a couple okay pockets of fluffy stuff. But the sleeper conditions that ended up being very fun was the wind buff.
Ventured over to the backside when they opened for the first time in days, and the powder was rather lackluster, as it was super packed. Wind blown and firm,
It will always be Squaw Valley! Still trips me out a bit looking up at the main zone from down in the valley and especially at the base village. Any beginner there has to be thinking, how am I gonna ski / ride this place!?
Had a group event going on at Everline Resort, formerly The Resort at Squaw Creek, which is very nice, but we'd likely never stay there without the group discount, and other festivities going on. 3-5pm happy hour on the patio next to the resort chairand then taking some final runs was one of the highlights of the trip. Here's the view up and down. Some pretty aggressive terrain down the middle if you want it, or a nice long groomer (with a bit of a lake view) around lookers left / riders right...
Made it a point to ride the new(ish) Gondola up KT22 and down to Alpine Meadows, where we found the most buttery snow in the afternoon sun.
I remember seeing the 4 routes proposed for the Gondola, and still thought there could be a top station at Alpine Meadows, but instead it takes a route from the KT22 top station directly down over the Alpine parking lot. They moved and upgraded the Red Dog lift too which is now a high speed six pack.
You cant say enough about Squaw, and these lift upgrades take it to the next / highest level, but it's still very spread out and just not my favorite overall.
View from the breakfast table on Saturday was nice. Spot the hottie!? lol