blob-less

you already know what the lines at squaw are like on a weekend powder day.  in case you were wondering what the lines look like on a school day, please see below:

taken by kilo - who is playing hookie from work on a "55 degree blue bird day"

a prelude to spring skiing

closed roads (I-80) + closed upper mountain (gold coast) + beginner skier (me) = we did not end up making it to squaw last weekend

and here's what we missed:

buried lift chairs @ headwall

all this snow might mean bad news bears to me now, but, i might have the last laugh since squaw will now be open until the last weekend in...  MAY.

lame, but very colorful!




current weather map, courtesy of the national weather service forecast center

 when you're trying to go skiing over the weekend and the forecast tells that you in order to get from san francisco to lake tahoe, you will need to conquer the following obstacles:

- "hazardous weather outlook"
- "flood warning"
- "flood advisory"
- "winter storm warning"

what do you do?

--
oh, and then this weather alert email just came through:

[IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & THE SIERRA NEVADA]

IS CLOSED FROM COLFAX (PLACER CO) TO THE NEVADA STATE LINE - DUE TO ZERO 
VISIBILITY  

no visibility, no... problem?

to pullover or not to pullover

--
course played:  presidio
holes played:  all 18!
balls lost:  1
balls found:  11 (yes, 11, i did not just accidentally press "1" twice)
--

when you leave your apartment to go golfing, thinking that it will be 70 and sunny, the san francisco rain and wind can really dampen your day (pun-intended).  however, if i were back east, i would have been fully prepared - raincoat, rainboots, and a clear umbrella that i received (upon request) for my birthday.  things have changed since the move west.  instead of using my better judgement along with weather.com to determine the weather-appropriate attire, i have turned to "experience"* and "optimism" for what-to-wear cues.  for example, when i leave my apartment for work at 6am and step into my yellow cab, i ignore the drizzle/drops/downpour and maintain that i don't need a jacket.  my optimism and i are just fine, thank-you-very-much.  15 minutes later, i arrive at work, shirt wet and hair fro-y, hiding in my office until everything airs out.

my n'importe quoi attitude extends to the golf course.  this past sunday, i knew that rain was in the forecast.  but, did i dress accordingly?  no.  obviously not.  dressing the part is weak.  i was not about to let my swing be restricted by a few extra layers.  i was all:  polo? check.  sweater? check.  khakis? check. 

this sunday, i was playing with a certain someone (kilo) who was all about the layers and their ample usage:

when it was above 60 degrees:
hat?  check.
khakis?  check.
polo?  check. - comfort layer -

when it was above 55 and under 60 degrees:
pullover 1?  check.  - warmth layer -

when is was below 55 degrees:
pullover 2?  check. check. and check.  - protection layer -

as you can imagine, the weather at the presidio changes quickly and changes often - sometimes 10 to 15 degrees in the span of 20 minutes.  during this round of golf, kilo performed more layer changes than stefani germonatta at a lady gaga concert.  layer upon layer, he morphed before our eyes.  first it was just the simple pink polo - preppy kilo.  then, all of the sudden, it was a black half-zip pullover - athletic kilo.  the next time you looked at him, it was a red windbreaker - country club chic kilo.  rewind and repeat.

but, when it started pouring on hole 18, he got the last laugh.

*  experience = getting used to the same temperature everyday because it is the same temperature everyday.

the blob

- elliot -

with this post,

i introduce you to elliot,

ski expert,

golf expert,

and guest blogger extraordinaire.

-christina

--

fact:  when it snows in tahoe, it “dumps"

fact:  when it dumps in tahoe, all of california shows up at squaw

not to piggyback on christina’s last entry, but excited for west coast powder doesn’t quite do it justice.  my “work day” on friday was devoted to the caltran website, tahoeloco weather page and google maps as I monitored highway cams, followed weather patterns and plotted alternate routes around road closures and avalanches. I come from a place where crust is king and I was NOT going to miss 11ft worth of accumulation.

the one thing you can’t account for on your journey to the promise land is the lift line, or as we now like to call it, the lift blob.  having dropped Christina off at her level 4 lesson, kilo, franimal and i set-out on what we thought was going to be an epic day.  here’s how it played out along with a “how to” on navigating the lift blob for anyone planning on making the trek to Squallywood.

KT-22 on the left, black blob around tree = "line"

1.  don’t take shortcuts

we had a decision to make, the lines at KT-22 and Red Dog were daunting and the Funitel wasn’t scheduled to open for another hour.  exhibition was screaming our name with nary a line, we went for it.  suckers.  we were back at the bottom within 5 min and the lines at the aforementioned lifts had only grown.  F   

2.  don’t actually go to the end of the line

if you want to sleep at night, by all means, go to the end of the line. if you don’t want to wait in line for an hour, casually cut through the line as if you are only passing by and then jump right in once you’re at least an arms length away from the people you just walked by.  you’ll filter towards the front while the peeps in the back stand motionless muttering under their breath (remember; words can never hurt you).  we waited in line for an hour, after a couple skis to the back of the head and narrowly avoiding a toppling girl who started a domino-like chain, we made it onto the funitel.

3.  keep moving up the mountain

due to avalanche control, squaw opens in stages, bottom half, top-half, headwall then granite chief and lastly silverado. headwall wasn’t spinning yet, groomers off siberia / gold coast simply weren’t what we drove 8 hours for and granite chief wasn’t open so we gambled and headed towards silverado.  CLOSED. at this point we may as well just shoot ourselves in the foot b/c we have one option now, broken arrow, underneath the funitel all the way back to the b o t t o m.

4.  avoid europeans and south americans

in the blob, people will undoubtedly cut you, it’s going to happen.  the only thing worse than watching someone get the jump on you with their 1980s rossignols wedged in front of yours is having them yell “hola avila, ven aqui” right in your ear at the top of their lungs.  “cierra la boca!!!!”

5.  9 times out of 10 go for the edges

really squaw?  you’re only letting 3 people at a time up the 4 person lift on the busiest day of the year?  REALLY?  sorry, bottom-line, you’re better off on the edges b/c it’s a lot easier to move the 5 oz PVC piping a little to the right creating the effect you’re in line than it is the 300lb boarder who somehow has a jacket stuffed with PBR tallboys

by the time we got down broken arrow, up squaw one and made our way 300yds to siberia it was 12:15, time for one last run before meeting up with Christina.  for those keeping score at home;

hours of skiing:  3+
runs:  2.5

despite that atrocious ratio above the lap down broken arrow made everything worth it.  all it takes is a few turns of thigh high fluff (and with snow piled so high that the funitel was dragging on the ground, fluff we got) and you’ve forgetten how you wanted to wrap your pole around avila’s neck. 

until you realize that your gf got 5x as many runs as you b/c ski school skips the lines.  F



funitel = gondola, line at 9:15am



*a big thank you to christina for making these pictures extra funny and cool.

boom boom pow

--

mountain:  squaw valley, lake tahoe
normal time it takes to get there from sf:  3.5 hours
time it us took to get there:  8 hours

--

snow-mageddon has arrived

rain in san francisco means snow in lake tahoe.  after a few dry and sunny weekends in sf, around president’s day, it finally started to pour.  eleven feet of snow later, it was time to pack up and head back to the mountain.

the weather became increasingly worse as it got closer to departure time.  maps showed the main roads to tahoe as being shut down due to the severe conditions.  did that stop us?  nope.  a friend had driven up the weekend before in his new 4runner and somehow got  into three separate accidents along the way and, to top it off,  concussed himself walking down a snowy hill.  did that deter us?  nope.  we even got this ominous email from {gasp} stanford university {gasp} warning us of the conditions:

“On Feb 25, 2011, at 8:56, "xxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxxxx"

<xxxxxxxx@GSB.Stanford.Edu> wrote:

> Roads are terrible. Visibility is terrible (at some points you can't

> see 20 feet in front of you) and it is still snowing hard. When

> Charlotte and I went through there were no exits plowed from just past

> colfax to sugar bowl. There was a tree sitting across the road that

> people waited 30 minutes and then dragged open one lane themselves.

> There is no way I would ski today because of visibility and how hard

> it is snowing and the wind. I don't think tomorrow is going to be much

> better for skiing. I would recommend not trying to drive up unless it

> lightens up.”

did that stop us? no.  also, would you trust someone who implied that skiing wouldn't be good after a big storm?  muy suspicious, if you ask me.  we put our faith in the snow gods and drove towards lake tahoe.

*having been in scottsdale when the first big flakes started to fall, elliot was – in.one.word – DYING to ‘shred’ some fresh west coast powder.  nothing was going to stand between the man and the mountain.  i, on the other hand, was just trying to continue LIVING, which would have been very difficult if i had fallen off the edge of siberia (click here for full story) or been involved in a pile-up on the way.

it was all smooth sailing for the first 3 hours…  and then we got close to colfax…  where we hit bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper to bumper  traffic.  per the trusty gps, we were 63 miles away from our destination.



ants marching towards lake tahoe

to quote tim mcgraw,  the whole thing was little “six lanes, tail lights, red ants marching into the night,”  but even little more like “two lanes, tail lights, red ants putting chains on in the night.”  cars were pulling over left and right to put on their snow chains.  people were on the side of the road walking their dogs.  every once in a while, there would be a sad car with a sign that read something like:  help!  need gas.  ß but really, what idiot doesn’t fill up a full tank before heading into snow-mageddon?

luckily, it is 2011 and we have ipods.  accompanied by a mix of top 40 hits, we slowly moved forward with the bass bumping.  hour by slow hour.  mile after slow mile. song after awesome song.  fist-pumping – for 4 hours – all the way through the chain patrol, around the lake, up john cain drive, to our destination.

view from the front seat, where dancing was happening

in the end, the drive was worth it, because the next day, i got a lesson, a goggle tan, a chapped chin and skied in powder for the very first time.

boom boom boom, now

boom boom boom, now

boom boom pow{der}

boom boom pow{der}