Palisades Tahoe, CA, Report: Fear, Anxiety, & Relief in “The Chimney” Report from March 20, 2025 “Scott Schmidt described [The Chimney Sweep] as being like a 90-meter ski jump. This is an appropriate analogy, particularly at low and low-medium snow levels. When viewed from above, the inrun looks long, and it feels even longer when you are skiing it.” – Dr. Robb Gaffney in Squallywood Difficulty: Medium Snow 8, High Snow […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 21, 2025 0 Comments
Palisades Tahoe, CA, Report: Backflips Off The Tram Building & Mainline Pocket | Big Hucks Off “The Drifter” & “Smooth Air” Report from March 18, 2025 When you’re old, you need a plan. And a friend. Or, better yet, a friend with a plan. I had local legend Aaron Fox guiding me yesterday and he had a plan. There are so many options on a sunny powder day at Palisades… You can get overwhelmed. You can easily make the wrong call. […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 19, 2025 0 Comments
Palisades Tahoe, CA, Report: “Best Day of the Year at Palisades (for me)” – Cody Townsend Report from March 17, 2025 “Best day of the year at Palisades (for me).” – Cody Townsend, 3/18/25 I think Cody is right. It was the best day of the year at Palisades for me so far for sure. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cody Townsend (@codytownsend) The day started cold, windy, and snowy. KT-22 skied […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 18, 2025 0 Comments
Palisades Tahoe, CA, Report: Sunny Wind-Buff Snow Fun in the “Ahhh Chutes” Report from March 16, 2025 Yesterday was a sunny, wind-buff snow day at Palisades Tahoe, CA. We weren’t sure what to expect, so we got out there early. The previous day delivered wind buff magic at Palisades that we sampled from 3-4pm after backcountry skiing. Right off the bat, the wind-blown snow was stiff and catchy. It wasn’t great. Then, […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 17, 2025 0 Comments
Lake Tahoe, CA, Backcountry: Powder Bliss Above A Shimmering Lake Report from March 15, 2025 “Beware the ides of March…” – Soothsayer, Julius Ceasar, Shakespeare Fox & Garret took us to a new zone yesterday. The unknown was high and we were willing to explore. Well, the unknown was high for me, at least. They’d been here before. Trail breaking was harsh in the deep, dense snow but I was […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 16, 2025 0 Comments
Palisades Tahoe, CA, Report: “Chute 75” | Saw The Skull & Crossbones, Skied It Anyway Report from March 14, 2025 After backcountry skiing in the morning, we rallied for a few laps at Palisades Tahoe, CA. We bubbled directly onto KT-22 looking for windbuff. We were told Chute 75 was smooth and flat we we went there first. It was perfect. Wind blow snow, no moguls (on the upper part), good turns, high speeds. Our […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 15, 2025 0 Comments
Lake Tahoe, CA, Backcountry Report: Deep Powder Snow Exploding Off My Skis & Jacket Report from March 14, 2025 Yesterday we went for a zone that takes a bit of a walk. We were the only people in the entire area. All day. The skinning up was brutal at times. Deep, dense snow up to 3 feet deep had slathered the mountainside. We took turns bashing the snow down in 7-minute shifts. The wind […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 15, 2025 0 Comments
Lake Tahoe Backcountry, CA, Report: Happiness = 27″ of Deep, Dry Powder Report from March 13, 2025 We woke up at 6 am today completely confused about what to do… Backcountry or Palisades Tahoe? We agonized for about 30 minutes then finally decided on backcountry when we heard that it snowed about 32″ overnight up top and there was a slight chance of lightning and thunder this afternoon. The UC Berkeley Snow […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 13, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: The Secret Zone Chutes Report from March 7, 2025 On my last full day in Courmayeur, Italy, I decided on a secret zone I’d found the week before. It hosts north-facing terrain and holds recrystallized powder (I hoped). The trip out there wasn’t bad but the skin took me longer than anticipated. It takes about 1.5 hours to the top. I had a plethora […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 11, 2025 0 Comments
La Thuile, Italy, Report: 37,500 Skiable Acres, 94-Miles of Trails, 4,728 Vertical Feet, 39 Ski Lifts, 2 Countries Report from March 7, 2025 On Friday of last week, we skied La Thuile ski resort in La Thuile, Italy. La Thuile, Italy, is part of the Espace San Bernardo ski area, which connects to La Rosière ski area in France. Related: Ski Resorts Where You Can Ski or Board in 2 Countries in 1 Day The first thing we […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 10, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: Day #2 in the “Alaskan Velvet Snow” on Tête d l’Ane Report from March 5, 2025 On Tuesday I had a conundrum. My wife is in town and I need to ski with her and there is powder out in them thar hills… The compromise reached was that I’d run out and ski one run in the powder zone, then go backcountry skiing with her in the afternoon. I blasted up […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 10, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: The Tête du Grand Mont Couloir Report from March 4, 2025 There’s a chute the looms over the town of Courmayeur and the ski resort. We can see it from Martin’s house, from town, Dolonne, the ski resort, the Skyway, and just about everywhere else. We knew we had to ski it. Motivations and conditions appeared to line up on Monday and we set out. 4 […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 9, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: Skiing “Alaskan Velvet” In Terrific Terrain A Week After The Storm Report from March 3, 2025 Yesterday, Marco and his buddy Shanty took me to a new side-country area at Courmayeur Ski Resort in Italy. The zone holds nothing but couloirs. It hasn’t snowed in a week but this zone is holding delectable Alaskan Velvet (recrystallized snow). We got excited as we started up and felt the good snow. Our original […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 5, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: Amazing New Terrain, Powder, Wind, & Old Friends Report from February 26 & 27, 2025 Thursday and Friday at Courmayeur Ski Resort, Italy, were powder days. Thursday we ventured into a new sidecountry zone I hadn’t been to before. Twice! Friday we returned to that zone and went back to our old side-country zones only to find them getting blasted by 50mph winds. Thursday was surprisingly deep in […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 2, 2025 0 Comments
Skyway Monte Bianco, Italy, Report: The Craziest Thing I’ve Ever Done = My First & Last Time Ever Speed Flying Report from February 27, 2025 On Friday, we headed up the Skyway Monte Bianco in Courmayeur, Italy in the afternoon. My old California Ski Team buddy, Big Z, was in town. He’s a professional tandem speed flying and paragliding pilot. He talked me into a speed flight with him which is completely against my rules. No human flight. I’ve just […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | March 2, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: Powder Skiing in Terrain that Dreams are Made of Report from February 26, 2025 Yesterday was a powder day here in Italia. We started the day with 2 lower mountain runs on the spectacular Skyway Monte Bianco. Skyway was fun but the upper mountain was fogged-in and the lower mountain was deep dust-on-crust. From there we hopped the fence over to Courmayeur ski resort and found good powder. Then […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 27, 2025 0 Comments
Skyway Monte Bianco, Italy, Report: Deep Dust on Crust On Spectacular Terrain At The End Of The Storm Report from February 26, 2025 Yesterday morning we awoke to new snow in Courmayeur, Italy We elected to start on the legendary Skyway Monte Bianco hoping for a bit of sunshine. The mountains had other plans. The upper mountain was socked in so we snuck out of the mid-station for a lower mountain lap. We tried the Val Veny side […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 27, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: Moody Mini-Powder Day Fun in Awesome Terrain Report from February 25, 2025 We slept in and rested this morning and watched the storm hit the mountain. At times it was dumping chicken feathers and it was inspiring. We waited until 2 pm to give the mountain some time to fill in before venturing out. Martin and I rode 2 gondolas then slipped into the trees. It had […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 25, 2025 0 Comments
Small Ski Area, Switzerland, Report: Skiing an Invisible Chute in Powder Snow Report from February 23, 2025 Yesterday I awoke early and hit the road. Down from Courmayeur to Aosta then up over the hills and through the tunnel into Helvetia (Switzerland). We met up with my old buddy from Japan, Zach. He’s a ski instructor in Switzerland now and has been living out here for over 5 years. Z’s got it […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 24, 2025 0 Comments
Courmayeur, Italy, Report: 360s, Backflips, & 720s in the Sun-Splashed Terrain Park With Simonas From Lithuania Report from February 21, 2025 After skiing backcountry for the past 6 days, it felt like it was time to ski the resort. Specifically the terrain park. I started the day doing laps on the Aretu chairlift and hitting the park each run. I started just hitting one of the 2 big jumps then evolved to hitting them both. The […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 22, 2025 0 Comments