Old man winter has made his long-awaited return to Tahoe! This morning’s unofficial report indicated three inches of new snow in the morning, accompanied by cold temps and winds from the West. (Palisades Tahoe reports their official numbers at 5am each day, and this snow started piling up after 5am).
We arrived mid-morning and were greeted by the Tram Face peeking out from the clouds just long enough to consider swapping out our storm lenses. Another inch or two had seemed to pile up since this morning’s snow alert, as the parking lot was now covered in about 3-4 inches of snow per my estimation.
Our first two runs of the day brought us to KT-22, where the powder wasn’t quite deep enough for our liking to send anything big – so we enjoyed some more playful low-angle terrain on the KT saddle. We came across some great rock drops and deeper pockets of snow in wind-protected zones on the saddle, but we mostly found dust on crust in more open areas.
As snow flurries began to fly again, we caught Headwall Express to Chicken Bowl, where the cat track was just about ready to be sent deep into the bowl below – but we decided to wait until tomorrow when we’ll have a much more forgiving landing. Our next run down Siberia Lift Line was surprisingly fun and deeper than expected. We decided to head over to Solitude in search of some more wind-protected terrain where the snow might be just a bit deeper.
We caught Big Blue and traversed across the top of Shirley, assisted by some gusty ridge winds from the West. Our hunch was rewarded as we dropped into Solitude and scored some deeper turns in the trees. The many side hits and rock drops of Solitude are finally back to being their alluring selves following Tahoe’s long dry spell and kept us coming back run after run.
One final run down Summer Road and Sunnyside had us frothing for the days to come as bare spots continued to fill in, and the hardpack below last night’s snow became less and less detectable.
We’ll see some heavier snowfall this evening, with lighter snowfall through much of the day tomorrow. As exciting as it was to score some fresh snow today, even better days are on the horizon. See you out there tomorrow!
