Casey Cane

I'm 900 years old, have three children, a wife, and on occasion love a Heineken Light. Skiing is FUN, so why not record video and take pictures while having FUN? Tahoe commuting is my game. I once broke 1 million points on Robotron (Arcade) ...but that's not very special to the 'pros.' www.slaythegnar.com

Riding Around the Range @ Remarkables, New Zealand

New Zealand, remarkable,

Back in Mid-August of 2016, a father and son team descended upon a Southern Hemisphere gem…The Remarkables ski field near Queenstown, New Zealand. Located on the southern part of the South Island, the Remarkables is a mini mountain range by its own right. Running in a true North to South fashion and separated by the rest of the Southern Alps, not only does it have impeccable scenery but it also holds some absolutely radical terrain.
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August Aggression Session on The Sisters – Tahoe, CA

How big was winter 2016/17 in the Tahoe region? The answer: we’re skiing non-glaciated terrain at the end of August!

At around 6AM of August 24th, Joe Stewart and I ventured out on HWY 88 from South Lake Tahoe en route to Woods Lake. By just before 7AM, we were on the trail up towards The Sisters to find some late August turns. The Sisters are a few tall peaks (just above 10,000 feet) located due East of Kirkwood that hold north facing pockets of snow well into late Summer.

We knew there would be snow, however, the big question for late Summer skiing is the state of the suncups. Massive suncups equate to the worst possible skiing surface known to man. Luckily, with the sun shining and a relatively easy hike up to the ski boot transition zone, we were greeted by a long steep slope with minimal suncups. Yippie!
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Heli Hunting for Pow in Haines, Alaska with SEABA

After an easy flight up to Haines, we rolled over to SEABA to check in with the crew and get settled. Stoke level was extremely high until we checked the weather. With a forecast showing heavy snow in the mountains the next few days, we had to start planning for the daily wait and see scenario. Luckily for us, SEABA just installed a new bar for the perfect hangout zone on down days and a night cap…or three.
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Box Canyon Bliss in the San Juans @ Telluride

With now 19 years of annual visits to Telluride under my belt, it still feels just as special as that first decent down Palmyra Peak many moons ago. Flash forward to February 2017 and my wife and I have assembled our own crew to wreak havoc on the mountain. Alright, so the 9 month old did not make any turns but the 5 and 8 year old groms had a blast venturing all over the hill.

With six days of skiing ahead of us, the weather gods granted a few inches of fluff on the first day, That was followed by two days of gorgeous Spring-like weather, a day of wind, followed by around a foot of cold smoke with cool air to finish up the trip.Ultimately, it was the perfect mix of conditions to find some powder, hike in the sun, rail some groomers, teach the kids some powder techniques and have a few nice meals in the sun.
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Savoring the Super Snowpack @ Kirkwood

With over 500 inches of year to date snowfall on the upper mountain of Kirkwood, I was curious to see how my usual stomping grounds fared with all this snow. Would my usual ski line even be there? Upon arrival, the weather had stunningly blue skies and yet a consistent Eastern wind that was visible on the ridges.

After the ‘getting the kids gear on struggle’ at the car and a few warmup laps with y daughter, I began my day on Chair 6, headed straight to the Funnel but found windstripped bulletproof on the steepest aspect. However, after a hundred feet or so below the ridge, the wind was absent and the snow was more mid-winter packed powder. The Fingers were fun but they are so small now…as in buried. Shortly thereafter, I notice that Chair 10 was finally loading so ran over to there to check out the coverage. I found that the wind was ripping up top and over Eagle Bowl into the Buttress. I normally roll into the Wall via the steep pitch above the usual traverse track but found that most of the upper steep pitches entertained the bulletproof layer that the winds created. Of course, I wanted to hit Once Is Enough but figured the snow was variable and I didn’t need a high speed crash, so I passed up the line (made the same decision for Upper Chamoix on Chair 6 earlier.)
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All Your Base Are Belong to Us @ Sugar Bowl

Sugar Ski Resort located on the summit of Donner Pass, CA has measured 536″ of snowfall on the upper mountain for the season. Yes, that is over 46 FEET (13 meters) of snow!

On Monday, February 6th, 2017 Bevan Waite and I braved some stormy conditions to see all the snow with our own eyes. Given that most of the resorts around Lake Tahoe were closed for the day, Sugar Bowl ended up being the right call in order to make some turns. Unfortunately, extremely high winds shut down the chairs to the summit but we definitely were able to make the best of it.
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Scratching the Technical Itch @ Kirkwood

The series of storms that have hammered the Sierra over the month of January recently calmed down and in their absence, a ridge of high pressure gave California a chance to dry out. With Kirkwood receiving over 400 inches of total snowfall on their upper mountain so far this year, the calm weather provided a perfect opportunity to examine my usual fun spots and to see…well…if they were even still there.

With my daughter in tow, we arrived early in response to the reports of crowds and full parking lots the last few weeks. Her Mini-JETS (Junior Expedition Team) begins at 9:30am, so with an early start, we managed to grab a few untracked corduroy laps on Chair 5 and sneak in a lap into the Ditch of Doom before dropping her off.
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Sunny Sessions between Super Storms @ Squaw

During the month of January 2017, over 23 feet of snow fell around the Tahoe region. After the first 10 feet, a few days of reprieve occurred over the MLK holiday. This gave time for the resorts to dig out and open more terrain…just in time for an old kid like myself to have some fun.

I’m creating this blog to give some reference on how much snow has fallen SINCE this report…the result is pure craziness for the end of January when compared to the last few years.
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Before the Storm – Early Season Radness @ Kirkwood

Early season at kirkwood mountain is quite unique. The mountain is littered with deep volcanic chutes and cliffs that skis quite differently at the end of the season with a deeper snowpack.

On a normal year, these same chutes and cliffs disappear and may even turn into a open bowl later on in the year. Therefore, this early part of the season yields some radical mini-golf action in the classic Fingers, Wagon Wheel Bowl, Oops & Poops, Lightning, All the Way and of course all of Thunder Saddle.
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Firming up a Solid Base @ Kirkwood – 12/11/16

Just like that another ski season around the South Side of Lake Tahoe is up on us. With strong wet storms providing much needed drought reducing rains since mid October, all signs are pointing to a solid year…my unscientific opinion of course.

After a busy Thanksgiving, I finally was able to grab the kids and head to Kirkwood for our first day to ‘Ski at a Higher Level.’ While most resorts were reporting top to bottom rain the previous day, Kirkwood was reporting snow…albeit in the wet variety. In any case, since my daughter had a mini-Jets evaluation, we were going to ride regardless of rain or snow.

As we pulled into the lot, the upper mountain ‘looked’ liked creamy goodness. However, after we took a few runs on Chair 7, it was obvious that rain fell on the mountain overnight. The groomers were in decent shape but a bit frozen and ideal for cleaning off your rusty edges. We headed over to the Village at 10am and ran into Coop who said straight up ‘it is FIRM up top but the positive is that we know have a solid base.’ With a massive crowd on Chair 11 due to some de-icing on Chairs 5 & 6, I headed over to Timber Creek to rail the groomers on Chair 7 until I was informed of the opening of Chair 6.

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‘Turns’ out Summer is ‘Pretty’ Awesome @ Telluride, Colorado

Summer is pretty darn rad in Telluride, Colorado.

With some splendid summer skiing options combined with some of the best hiking trails on the planet, its hard not to love a place like Telluride.

Just like last year, after a quick acclimatization hike up to Bear Creek Falls, the following day I rented a trusty Jeep and headed up Imogene Pass searching for summer snow. On July 26th, Ashton joined the party and we were pleasantly surprised by the coverage. Unlike last summer, a chute connected to the summit above Savage Basin. Aston took a lap followed by a scenic ride on his motorbike while I headed up the chute. How were the conditions? Summery but with minimal suncups provided a perfect descent for late July. After a few laps on the lower patches, it was time to head down for some snacks at Baked in Telluride.
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Juneuary Jaunt to Mammoth Mountain, CA – One Last Wintery Blast!

With our third child arriving into our family around mid-May, life has been a tad busy for family ski trips the month prior and after his entry into planet Earth. However, given the amount of snowfall in the Sierra this season, the two older kids and I still wanted to get in our annual late season trip Mammoth and that day happened to land on June 12th, 2016. After almost two weeks of scorching high altitude temperatures prior to our arrival, my main concern was packing proper sunscreen let alone even a proper ski coat. Well, a few days before our departure, the weather forecast shifted and took the sun completely out of the equation. The day prior displayed ‘sun’…the day after displayed ‘sun.’ But, our day of planned skiing displayed ‘rain & snow’ with a high temperature of 38F.

Fast forward to the morning of June 12th, 2016…after a night of thunder and lightning, we awoke to pouring rain in the Village of Mammoth. The older kid is yelling at me that ‘he doesn’t ski in the rain’ and my youngest is only concerned about the promised massive doughnut at the Main Lodge prior to skiing. As we made our way up to the Main Lodge, the rain did not let up and we were soaked by the time we dropped off our gear by Broadway Express. However, Dad was overly optimistic…probably because from McCoy Station and above was showing new snowfall. He studied the animated satellite image and thought to himself ‘I think we may just get a gap in the storm.’ After a hearty breakfast, dad proceeded to walk onto the deck to take a look at the weather and by some sort of miracle, the rain had stopped. Granted, it was still cloudy, but you could see to the top of Broadway and we wouldn’t get soaked ‘trying’ to ski.
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