Christmas Day 12/25 at Squaw Valley
Good weather kept the valley and upper mountain at Squaw nice and cold after Friday’s storm, even when the beautiful California sunshine came out. With a daytime high of mid-twenties for Sunday everything that had been skied on Saturday was still skiing relatively well. Nice and soft, almost chalky, with the occasional patch of rain crust poking through where previous skiers had passed.
The hike to Granite Chief Peak opened first thing in the morning and skied superb all day long with blower boot-top powder, and for those willing to work a bit very fresh long runs out towards the Smoothies back to Granite chair. The Reverse Traverse to Headwall also supplied some great snow and a few fresh turns with the Slot opening and skiing great right until closing. Everything off Emigrant and Siberia was also soft with chances to score fresh lines from the hike to Mainline Pocket.
Monday 12/26 at Alpine Meadows
Another mild day on Monday kept the skiing soft and smooth at Alpine. Chalky soft snow was abundant for everyone in all sorts of places. Scott chair opened for the first time this season and granted many skiers and riders an opportunity to score some more fresh laps. The top skied extremely well, but it was very evident that Tahoe is still in low tide once about halfway down Scott Chute.
The Hike to the Lower Saddle from Alpine Bowl Chair offered up a great deal of fresh powder and good snow as well with access all the way to Counterweight Gully and Arts Knob, which were in good shape. The Upper Saddle and the backside drop-in to Sherwood remains closed for the time being as well as Idiots and all of the Pacific Crest Bowls. However, traversing out under Idiots to the Three Sisters and lower portion of the bowls was opened and still holding great snow as well.
All-in-all this storm delivered many good days to the people of Tahoe and it was a very welcome holiday gift. With some slight chances of snow in the forecast it’s starting to look up again in these mountains.
fyi: high traverse has not been open yet this season
Sounds like you need to spend a little more time at Alpine and get the names straight. Or not.