Shredfest 2023

[Baldybob]

All Tahoe resorts CLOSED today -- HVLY, NSTR, KW this is the big WET ONE -- 89 and 88 both closed --best have food til Thursday --

Read KW twitter conditions

https://twitter.com/KWconditions?ref...s%7Ctwcon%5Es1

I'll give you a portion:

"Anyone at Kirkwood needs to be prepared for being isolated here for up to a week."

South Lake Tahoe and El Dorado County declared a State of Emergency. EPIC abides.

[shortydude]

Here's a trip report from my ski club that tried to get into Mammoth.



Trip report for Mammoth Mountain, Feb 25 through Mar 4, 2023

Each year the Chicago Metro Ski Council hosts a “Chicago Week” trip to a western ski resort. This year Chicago Week was scheduled to be held at Mammoth Mountain ski resort in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Eighteen club members from Champaign Ski and Adventure Club joined 165 total people from 16 different Midwest ski clubs for the big week of skiing and socializing. Unfortunately, all the planning and expectations quickly fell apart as Mother Nature had other things in store for us this week…

Lack of snow wasn’t a problem this year at Mammoth. Several big storms hit the area in January and 500 inches of snow were received up to that point on the year. On Thursday before the trip, another big storm hit the Sierra Nevadas dumping another 24 inches of snow. This storm continued through Friday night dumping yet more fresh snow on the resort and surrounding areas.

Outgoing travel day was Saturday, Feb 25, and eleven of us flew out of O’Hare airport with a connection in Denver. We also had seven from Wisconsin, one from NW Indiana, one from Vermont, and one from New Hampshire join us and we all converged at the gate in Denver. It was when we got to Denver that the reality of what the weather had in store for us really started to sink in. During our layover in Denver, the California Highway patrol announced that highway 395, which is the only way into Mammoth was closed and would likely remain closed for at least 4 or 5 days due to the massive snow accumulation, blowing winds, and multiple avalanches in the high-altitude regions of the road. Doug had been visiting his son in California and had driven to Bishop, CA in advance of the rest of the group. Doug was in constant contact with the Bishop airport and highway crews and was informing us that the situation looked grim for getting to Mammoth. Then as feared, all flights to Bishop were cancelled.

As the hours ticked by and we waited and waited for more info, we were informed that the whole group was going to be flown into Reno, NV and we would stay at the Silver Legacy hotel/casino until the road to Mammoth could be opened. Some of us caught an evening flight to Reno and others had to stay in Denver and catch a Sunday morning flight to Reno. None of our checked bags made the connection to Reno though and several had to spend Saturday night without fresh clothes and toiletries. The fun was just getting started.

On Sunday, the remainder of the group arrived along with our luggage. Meanwhile, a new storm was pounding the Mammoth area with another 2 feet of fresh snow. We got word that we wouldn’t be going to Mammoth this week and the decision was to offer an option. Individuals could either opt to fly home on Monday or take a chance and hope we could get some skiing in at the Lake Tahoe resorts near Reno by taking a bus each day.

Our Wisconsin contingent, having ski resorts near home and losing faith quickly in the tour operator, opted to fly home on Monday. The rest of us decided to carry on knowing we didn’t have many options for getting any skiing in at home this season. Debbie and Joanna live in New Hampshire and Vermont and do have good skiing nearby but decided to take a chance with the rest of us anyway. Nevertheless, it turned out the Wisconsin folks made the right choice.

On Monday, another storm hit the Tahoe area and we were unable to ski. We tried to make lemonade by going on a walk through downtown Reno.

Tuesday and Wednesday were kind of like the movie “Groundhog Day” as yet more snow pummeled the Tahoe area and prevented buses from getting to the resort. Joanna and Debbie decided to go rogue and rented their own car and condo at Palisades resort so they could get in some skiing on the fresh powder. Sue also managed to hitch a ride with some friends who had a rental car. They were able to sweet talk their way past a checkpoint by knowing someone who was a local in the area. But the majority of us spent the days trying to stay busy but slowly losing the battle.

By Thursday, Alice, Rita, and Steve had had enough and decided to try to catch a flight home rather than sit around another day. The remainder of us finally caught a break on Thursday morning as a bus was available to take us to Palisades for the day. Our optimism was quickly cracked though when the pent-up traffic caused I-80 from Reno to Tahoe to become a massive traffic jam that delayed the short ride to a 2.5 hour headache. Despite the traffic, we made it to Palisades around noon and got a warm, bluebird afternoon of skiing on great conditions.

On Friday, we were optimistic for a full fun day on the slopes. But the rug was quickly pulled out from under us that morning when we were notified that a bus to a resort wasn’t available. Sue and Odile were able to snag a ride and Joanna and Debbie were still there. But Rick, Susie, and I were town-bound. We made the best of it and saw the movie “80 for Brady” at a local multiplex. It was a light and cute movie that took our minds off all the bad luck we’d had this week.

By Saturday, we were all pretty much done with Chicago Week and ready to fly home. I hadn’t gambled anything all week at the casino so I put a dollar in a slot machine at the airport and made a 25-cent bet. I wish I could say I hit the jackpot and salvaged a tough week. But after 6 pulls on the one-arm-bandit, my dollar was gone and with it, my desire to continue throwing my money into a toilet. So I boarded the plane and headed home. Thankfully, the flights were mostly uneventful and we arrived at O’Hare around 9:15 Saturday night. And with that, Chicago Week 2023 was mercifully over.

Here’s hoping this series of misfortunate events satisfies the travel gremlins and CSAC gets a string of headache-free trips in 2023 and 2024. I’ll see you at future adventures!

[shortydude]

Homewood is forecasting possibly another 36" at the summit through Tuesday.
https://www.skihomewood.com/mountain/snow-report/

[shortydude]

The Heavenly Snow Stake is finally visible again.

[shortydude]

The Heavenly Snow Stake is finally fully exposed 4/28/23.