Who knew it was going to snow last night? I usually check the forecast obsessively and set an early alarm for even just a dusting, but I completely missed the memo on last night’s snow showers that brought a modest but much appreciated 1” of fresh snow to the slopes of Palisades Tahoe. I suspect many of you missed the memo as well because there was hardly a soul around when I arrived at the base of KT-22 this morning.
Now, I won’t try to convince anyone that an inch of snow is worthy of calling in sick and busting out your powder skis, but I’d argue it did make a significant difference this morning. High winds had pushed last night’s cold powder into the trees and other wind-protected areas, providing some slightly deeper pockets of snow if you knew where to look. Ridge winds persisted through the day, along with relatively low temps despite bluebird skies.
We started our day on the KT Saddle and ducked into the trees and several gullies just far enough for a face shot or two. Along the cat track down KT Saddle, many side-hits seemed to have benefited from last night’s dusting and were filled in nicely.
After a great first run down KT-22, we loaded the Funitel and headed to Shirley via Big Blue. The groomers on Shirley were smooth and just soft enough all morning, so we took a handful of laps here, just enjoying the beautiful turns before traversing a bit further down the ridge to Solitude.
Solitude 
Off Shirley
Solitude was much more variable than Shirley, with pockets of soft, untouched snow spaced out among much less forgiving hardpack. The groomed run back to Solitude’s bottom terminal was in great shape, however, and would make for a couple of fun runs all on its own.
I decided to call it a day by early afternoon and head back down towards the base via Mountain Run. We made a pass through the Riviera boardercross course on our way, which was riding slow, but fun nonetheless. If you find yourself racing your friends down the course this week, I suggest taking the inside lane while they try to pump through the banked turns – thank me later.
The ensuing descent down Mountain Run was worth lapping a few times in its own right, with tons of fun side hits down its entirety.
It’ll remain breezy and relatively cold tonight before warming up into the upper-40s tomorrow. The weekend ahead is forecasted to be sunny and warmer, with a high in the mid-40s on Saturday and low-40s on Sunday.
