70 Reasons You Shouldn’t Go To South America This Summer: Another summer is upon us and another summer is here that despite my best intentions I will not be going to South America for the ski season. Why? I’m a loser, that’s why. Why should you go? Because, you are a winner, and that’s what winners do. In fact I have become so adept over the years at not going to South America that I have chosen to utilize the depth of my experience to compile a comprehensive list of UNACCEPTABLE excuses for not making the trip this year. 70 reasons you shouldn’t shouldn’t go to South America […] Andy Hays | March 25, 2022 4 Comments
Video: Andy Hays Hits the Gnarliest “Chimney Sweep” at Squaw Valley, CA We’ve Ever Heard Of… View this post on Instagram A post shared by SnowBrains (@snowbrains) Yesterday, local legend Andy Hays hit the “Chimney Sweep” in The Palisades at Squaw Valley, CA. This was the first and only time it’s been open all season. It was the gnarliest we’ve ever heard of: a huge cornice drop into an icy chute to a high speed 50′ […] Conditions Report SnowBrains | March 17, 2021 1 Comment
Squaw Valley, CA Legend Andy Hays Shares Pre-Season Workout Video [arve url="https://vimeo.com/478196889"] SnowBrains | November 13, 2020 Likes Tweets 2 Comments
VIDEO: G.N.A.R. Hucking, Squaw Valley, CA 2017 | Josh A. & Friends Squaw Valley local rippers took full advantage of the massive amount of snow this last season. Some lines were “in season” that folks hadn’t seen ripped in years. It might have been “high tide” for Squaw with all that snow filling in, but lines were still steep and drops were huge. Follow the boys through the game of G.N.A.R. as […] LadyBrains | November 4, 2017 1 Comment
VIDEO: Squaw Valley Local Legend Andy Hays Going OFF in Winter 2015/16 This video is proof of two very important things. Andy Hays has horrible taste in music. Andy Hays absolutely rips on skis and knows Squaw Valley like no other. SnowBrains | September 29, 2016 2 Comments
Tuckerman: Quest for the the Unknown The story doesn’t begin here, but many years ago. For as long as can remember the photograph hung on the living room wall. For a time I believe it resided over the fish tank. Then perhaps it was beside the door that nobody used. For close to three decades it hung without fail in my parents house. Then it moved. To our family camp, where it now remains. The point is not where, however, the point is what. The year was 1937, the month April, I believe. Not believe, know, being […] Featured Article Andy Hays | June 8, 2015 3 Comments
“Glory Road” | The Zen of Driving to the Mountain The headlights rapidly descending the hill behind me at first failed to catch my attention. It was growing late and it had been some time since I had last seen another car on this lonely road. It was then that they became noticeable and the pace at which they approached became concerning. As they reached me and shone brightly through my rear window the profile became recognizably familiar. It was the Highway Patrol. F*ck! I flipped the cruise control off and conspicuously slowed to the posted speed limit. I mean sure, I was speeding, but I wasn’t really speeding. […] Featured Article Andy Hays | May 20, 2015 2 Comments
Sending Squaw Valley: Palisades & Mainline Pocket Powder skiing Squaw is supposed to work like this: Day 1 = Storm powder skiing with upper mountain closed, ski alpine if Summit open Day 2 = Upper mountain opens after winds die down, ski pow all over the mountain Day 3 = Sun comes out, hikes (Palisades, Mainline Pocket, Granite Chief) open up, hike up and huck meat Day 4 = Go find pow in the backcountry This storm work almost exactly according to the old Squaw powder skiing plan. We got a fun storm day skiing Summit at Alpine, then an upper mountain powder day, right into hiking and hucking Mainline and the Palisades […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 26, 2015 1 Comment
Bottom of the Barrel: The Andy Hays 2013/14 Squaw Valley Edit Some good ol’ fashion self promotion. Is it a little early for edits? Absolutely, but I’ve been in a mid summer funk and well I’m ready for snow. Yeah, it might be a little gangsta for snowbrains, but you know me, that’s how I roll and shit. See how I did that? How I made fun of bros making edits and then I make one of my own? Is that hypocrisy or is that me being able to make fun of myself? It’s a tight rope spud…a tight rope. […] Andy Hays | September 3, 2014 2 Comments
Did Park City Execute the Greatest Blunder of All-Time? A recent court order all but seems to have closed the book on the struggle to control the resort at Park City, Utah. In what apparently was an oversight of the most colossal variety, the former operators of Park City Mountain Resort (PCMR) missed the deadline for renewing their lease. Always the opportunist, Vail Resorts swooped in and snatched it from their grasp. A shocking turn of events to say the least. Somewhere, someone at PCMR […] Andy Hays | June 24, 2014 1 Comment
Has “Soul” Become the New “Extreme”? It has been recently been brought to my attention that if I was looking for soul, I could discover it at Squaw Valley this summer. Pausing for a moment, I took in the significance of this. Skiing apparently also has a soul, and he currently calls the valley home as well, or as much as could be confirmed by the marketing department. Little is known if the two souls are in fact related in any way, nor was […] Featured Article Andy Hays | June 18, 2014 8 Comments
“City House, Country House” | Can Mountain People Really Run Squaw Valley? In their most recent advertisement the ironically named, Squaw financed coalition, Save Olympic Valley (SOV) enlisted a pair of second home owners, San Francisco couple Terry and Heidi Deveau, to share their concerns with the incorporation efforts. “We’re concerned that Squaw does not have enough qualified people to run a town…” Yes, they decided to go there, It seems Andy Wirth and his friends don’t think that you are smart […] Featured Article Andy Hays | April 23, 2014 22 Comments