Report from December 18, 2024

It’s incredible how quickly this place can go from catastrophe to damn fun.

For me, this happened in 24 hours, but I’m getting reports that folks were having fun off-piste in the sunshine at Palisades Tahoe as soon as the same day of the rain/freeze event.

What happened?

It rained to the top of the mountain on Monday and froze that night.

On Tuesday, the entire mountain was a crusty, frozen popsicle.

The patroller told us as we exited the first Funitel of the day on Tuesday, “If you go off-piste, you’re taking your life in your hands. “

Then yesterday, Wednesday, the sun came out, loosed up the snow on the south faces, and the skiing was hilariously great again.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so fun so quickly.

I was elated after my first run down Broken Arrow and went back for three more laps.

Once the sun left the zone I was skiing, it firmed up again, and I moved on to ski groomers and smiled.

What an impressive turnaround, Tahoe.

Thanks, California!

Snow Numbers

Forecast