Report from January 19, 2023

Brought to you by Palisades Tahoe

Yesterday was a fantastical day at Palisades Tahoe, CA.

First things first:  breakfast at Wildflour…

We opened up the day skiing 4 laps KT-22 including The Fingers.

I was 3rd chair but The Fingers didn’t look good to me.

They looked like dust on crust.

I was very wrong.

People began skiing every line in The Fingers and it was obviously good.

After 3 runs of not skiing The Fingers, I couldn’t handle it anymore.

I dropped into a tracked-out Fingers and went for the line I would have skied my first run:  The Main Air Double.

The snow above The Fingers was soft but choppy.

I did my best to keep my flow right into the double drop knowing full well it was going to be a firm takeoff, a beat-up middle pad, and a bombed-out landing.

I went anyway.

I had to.

I was feeling so frustrated at myself for not going Fingers first run…

I needed redemption.

I dropped, bounced, and barely kept it together before the trees showed up.

It was rowdy.

It would have been smooth and easy had I gone for it first run…

After 4 runs on KT, I was talked into trying something new.

A little taste of Alaska in California:  spines.

We arrived on top in brilliant sunshine and a stiff, not strong east wind.

Bevan explained how the spines worked to me ending with “ya kinda gotta go down there and just figure it out.”

I was scared, but for some reason, I started to feel a bit fierce and I liked his instruction.

Eventually, I dropped in.

The snow was soft and firm and sluffing like crazy.

It looked and felt surreal sliding down with snow exploding on either side of me.

I worked down the steep spine with no idea what would be over the rollover.

It was more spines…

I chose the middle spine.

It had a healthy air attached that required clearing quite a bit of rock below.

I aimed a bit right and sent it.

I got off-axis immediately in the air and had to roll the windows down like crazy as I soared over the rocks.

I somehow was able to put my skis down at just about the right angle and pull off the landing.

I was pumped!

Everyone skied great.

We celebrated at the bottom and went back for more.

By the time we got back up there, the spines were beat up.

I found a smaller spine that hadn’t had much traffic and it was a blast.

From there we ventured back to KT-22 and Headwall and slapped some laps in good chowder snow.

I was exhausted by around 2pm and headed home happy.

Thanks, Tahoe.

SNOW NUMBERS

FORECAST

PHOTOS