Sierra at Tahoe after the Fire

[jjue]

Review to follow. Here are some recent photos from my visits. Sierra is my home mountain.

Sent from my moto g(6) play using Tapatalk

[jjue]

Sierra at Tahoe is the closest ski resort to my home and I consider it my home mountain. I have spent a lot of time this season because the big storms we have been having one after the other makes travel to the other resorts more challenging to hit those great pow days . Sierra suffered major fire damage from the Caldor fire last season and the resort did an amazing job in getting up and running this season and kudos to them for doing so. I wanted to discuss some of the changes in the way the resort feels . Many folks have great memories of having ridden there at previous Shredfests and have wondered why I have recommended we not go there this year.
Sierra is a below tree line resort. The groomed runs were all cut out from heavy forest and the open black diamond runs were also cut out from forest . Lots of trees were left throughout the resort when the resort was created and the signature appeal of the resort was the wonderful tree skiing both black diamond steep stuff off the Grandview lift and some milder wonderful tree skiing off the more intermediate pitched West Bowl area. The trees helped shield the resort from the wind and kept the signature intermediate runs off the West Bowl lift in good shape . There was a very nice terrrain park in the West Bowl area that was also protected from the wind and the elements.
The fire burnt essentially all the trees in the West Bowl area and over last summer all the trees were removed. This changed the West Bowl area from a beautiful treed intermediate area with nice groomed runs cut through the trees and nice powder in the trees to essentially a big bald open mountain. You can see the pictures I have posted that show the lift in the West Bowl area and no trees. .
The resort still just grooms the usual runs they used to when there were trees in West Bowl and leaves the rest ungroomed. Unlike wide open bowl areas like Mammoth and Palisades where there is very extensive grooming, Sierra has narrower groomed runs which are very hard to distinguish from the ungroomed snow on the side of the groomed runs . There is a little berm often between the groomed run and the non groomed snow which is often hard to see especially in flat light . The ungroomed snow is wind and sun affected and often is crusty and very difficult to ski . I have often been going down a groomed run at speed and not realizing run off into the ungroomed snow in flat light which is very disconcerting and somewhat dangerous. You always have to be concentrating where the groomed and ungroomed snow is now which is not very relaxing for groomer skiers. The off piste snow over on West Bowl (there is now a ton of off piste area ) is often unskiable because it gets wind and sun affected rapidly and gets very crusty. No terrain parks have been constructed over on West Bowl yet.
Over on Grandview some of the nicest tree skiing is now off limits because of burnt trees that have not been removed . Over the coming summer all those burnt trees will be removed leading to more of the same as West Bowl , open , sun effected crusty steep snow !. There still remains some nice tree skiing to be had off of Grandview in the unburned areas but that skiing tends to be very challenging with lots of boulders and tight trees . I love those areas and spend most of my time there but for the broad range of skiing abilities I think Heavenly , Northstar and Kirkwood are better . I will continue to get a pass at Sierra primarily because it is close and has good rates on season passes for super seniors over 70 like me and still has excellent expert powder skiing in the steep trees left on Grandview but I no longer would recommend it as a Shredfest venue going forward for our group with multiple ability levels.

[sempai]

What a shame. I remember the first Shredfest we attended back in 2012. Sierra turned out to be our favorite resort because of all the tree skiing we did in West Bowl. I always enjoyed my visits to Sierra after that first Shredfest. It was one of my favorite Tahoe resorts. I did not go there as often as I would have liked because of the distance from Reno, and because I frequented the Vail-owned resorts (Epic Pass holder).

Jack, do you think the resort will take a big hit in attendance being that it's so different from what it was?

[jjue]

What a shame. I remember the first Shredfest we attended back in 2012. Sierra turned out to be our favorite resort because of all the tree skiing we did in West Bowl. I always enjoyed my visits to Sierra after that first Shredfest. It was one of my favorite Tahoe resorts. I did not go there as often as I would have liked because of the distance from Reno, and because I frequented the Vail-owned resorts (Epic Pass holder).

Jack, do you think the resort will take a big hit in attendance being that it's so different from what it was?

Yes it really is too bad, yes it is way less crowded this season.They raised season pass prices to on par with the Tahoe local epic pass and people are wary about the effect of the fire. I think they sold way less season passes this year .

[Baldybob]

Sierra At Tahoe drew the unlucky card - - but as Jack says, it is the closest on Hwy 50 to Sacramento - -and the CalTrans map shows many cameras on the way. There are no cameras on Hwy 88 or 89 to Kirkwood after lower Pine Grove.
I used to go to SaT with my 3 sons. We thought it was small compared to our favorites, Squaw and Heavenly -- and it was -- but the 2 older boys loved the West side cruisers on snowboards.
I have the Epic Tahoe Value Pass Senior and Kirkwood grabs me the same as Baldy --

I will give it another try just to pay and keep them in business this season.

But SaT is the only mountain that I have ever had to need assistance from the Ski Patrol.
On Shredfest in near 7 feet of powder, the last time i ever wore Line Release Bindings - on 185 Line Elizabeth powder skis. Stuck with my poles up near the handles deep in snow, and my boots knee deep in the soft mush, I got the meatwagon and 2 patrollers to my rescue. One put my ski back on by forcing his glove against the base while i finally got the bindings to click. He followed me down to the base area and had to put a ski on a 2nd time.

That was the end of my ski and skiboard day. I sold the big skis I retired the skinny Line MNPs And became a fan of RVL8 skiboards with non-release bindings.