Blue World Blog 4.06.09

April 6, 2009

Spring Conditions on the slopes continued this past week with lots of sunshine and warming temperatures. Many resorts are starting to reduce their reported snow depth bases. There is still plenty of snow, but start watching for bare spots and obstacles, especially on the lower elevation runs. These are usually marked so you can avoid them, but they are starting to pop up – just be aware and ski or ride with care.

“Spring Conditions” is a blanket surface condition statement that can mean anything, but for skiing and riding purposes it is usually referring to Hard or Firm Snow, which freezes at night and then softens during the day. This freeze/thaw cycle creates what is called Corn Snow or Frozen Granular type snow that can be very delightful to ski and ride on – sometimes the feeling of skiing on a smooth and buttery surface.

Spring Corn Snow will form on South Facing Slopes and the general rule of thumb is to follow the sun on the slopes as those surfaces will soften first in the morning and more so during the day. As the day progresses, the warming temps can also make the snow too soft and sticky and I would recommend carrying a bar of rub-on ski wax and apply it to the surface of your board(s) through out the day to help you slide better.

But, what am I talking about… according to the National Weather Service, it looks like a chance of fresh snow and winter conditions this week. According to Snowforecast.com there is the potential of as much as 10-15”. Keep your fingers crossed for that!

Last Saturday, Heavenly’s Spring Loaded ’09 continued with the 6th Annual Gunbarrel 25 event hosted by Glen Plake. I was there to assist and call the play-by-play, which is a good thing and great excuse for me to not have to embarrass myself in attempting 25 runs down the famous Gunbarrel Run. Over 120 participants signed up to take the challenge and this was the largest field since the event started. Skiers, Snowboarders, Men, Women, Boys & Girls all participated in this annual event. World famous extreme skier and former local, Glen Plake, started this event in celebration of keeping mogul skiing and the challenge of skiing the Gunbarrel Run alive. Negotiating the 1600+ vertical foot Gunbarrel Run was challenging to start as the bumps were brutally hard but within an hour, conditions started to soften and continued to soften throughout the day. It is not only challenging but a grueling marathon as many who finish the 25 runs continue in the “Iron Man/Woman” category to see how many runs they could complete during the allotted time. Former Slovenian Ski Team member and local resident, Janez Demsar, continued his charge down the Gunbarrel to retain the championship of this event, completing 25 runs in 3 hours, 8 minutes 47 seconds. Congratulations go out to all who participated. The results are posted below:

Men 17 and up
Janez Demsar 3.08.47
Dave Sannazzaro 3.21.07
Karl Unterleitner 3.56.55

Women
Kay Bradford 3.40.09
Ivana Burkett 4.39.58
Lauren Payne 4.44.40

Snowboarders
Jonathan Hirschfield 4.07.50
Jen Menzel 4.54.51
Dan Weiss 5.21.50

Boys 16 and Under
Shanti Koskinen 3.47.55
Sage Wright 4.02.09
Zak Shearer 4.27.05

Girls 16 and Under
Taryn Baker 3.49.36
Skye Kidd 5.35.52
Sinead Danagher 6.01.27

Experimental
Jay Chung 5.21.50

Iron Woman
Kay Bradford (41)

Iron Man
Dave Sannazzaro (42)

The Heavenly Pro Ski Patrol hosted their annual Fundraising Party Sunday evening in a new venue, the top level of the Public Parking Garage at the Heavenly Village. It was well attended with at least 200+ folks attending. A San Diego based group, Tribal Seeds, laid down the Raggae as all enjoyed this spectacular views from atop the parking garage. It was a very social event with folks enjoying beer & wine, conversations about ski tales and a lot of fun with a variety of great prizes given out through the raffle. This annual fundraiser helps support a variety of organizations which include Tahoe Special Olympics and the Sierra Avalanche Center. Heavenly plans to stay open through Sunday, April 19, 2009.

Kirkwood Jammin’ XVI kicks off on Friday, April 10 featuring 3-days of Pond Skimming Contests through Easter Sunday and they are hosting the Burton Banked Slalom on April 10 for qualifying, and the Finals to follow on April 11. Kirkwood has announced their closing date of Sunday, April 26.

Sierra at Tahoe is hosting another College Week through Friday April 10 with discount rates for College Students with Student I.D. They will also host their Salsa Showdown this Saturday, April 11 at the Baja Grill at the bottom of the West Bowl Quad. Participants are to bring two cups of their Homemade Salsa to be judged at noon with the winner taking home a 09/10 Season Pass. A taco-eating contest will follow as well as some Piñata-busting fun!

All resorts will host Easter activities on Sunday including Worship Services.

Don’t put the shovel away, just yet and keep your fingers crossed for at least one more Powder Day!

Ski yah later,

Curtis Fong
“The Guy From Tahoe”
tgft@bikethewest.com

Blue World Blog 3.16.09

Monday March 16, 2009

Skiing and Riding conditions held up this past week with several days of glorious sunshine and light winds. I was able to get out on the mountain at Heavenly last Tuesday and it was a beautiful day and the great weather seemed to bring out all the long time locals to enjoy the slopes. I skied all over the Nevada side and everywhere I went conditions were good… Milky Way Bowl, Mott’s Canyon, Comet Trees and even down North Bowl. The snow was mid winter with chalky packed powder, especially on the north facing runs.

It turned out to be a social day recalling ski days of the past with local long-time skiers. Mitch from Mitchell’s Jewelers, Rich Botini from Pyramid Peak and Bill Killebrew, former owner of Heavenly, Mark Gant from Tahoe Sports Ltd, Jerry Raye and others were also enjoying a relaxing no pressure day on the slopes. Beth Gebhardt was in town this past week hanging out with all the old time bump skiers and Steve Peache was working his new High Def video camera and shooting video in the Comet Little Dipper bumps preparing a promotion piece to air on KMTN to promote the upcoming Glen Plake’s Gunbarrel 25 event at Heavenly scheduled for April 4.

Spring like weather continued thru out the week and Thursday, I found myself along with Michael McKinney meeting my buddy, Dan Giesin from the SF Chronicle and On the Snow, at Homewood Mountain Resort for a day of re-discovering their slopes. It has been many years since I have had a chance to ski Homewood. With Emerald Bay Road (Hwy 89) open, the journey around beautiful Emerald Bay and along the West Shore was scenic and only about 20 miles from the South Tahoe Y. McKinney brought the infamous Slope Cycle along and after a discussion with Homewood’s Ski Patrol, was allowed to take it up the Mountain. I must say that this Bike Board does draw a lot of attention with lots of folks watching in awe and many asking questions about it. Even their Ski Patrol took turns riding the Slope Cycle. The runs were surprisingly fun and scenic as well with beautiful views of the Lake, and from highway, 2/3rd of the Mountain is “Out of Sight”.

I continued to test my new VIO helmet cam and shot video of many of our runs and even mounted the cameral backwards and had Dan ski behind me so he was skiing towards the camera and not me shooting down from behind… the video came out great. Look for it soon.

Heavenly hosted it’s second in their series of Jackpot Rail Jams on Saturday evening on World Cup with another event coming up this Saturday, March 21 and the finals the following Saturday, March 28. Heavenly re-introduced their Heavenly Season Pass Sale this past weekend, rolling back pricing to the 2007/08 rates… with the offer to purchase now and ski / ride for the remainder of this season as well as all of next year. Check out the great season pass deals at SkiHeavenly.Com.

Sierra at Tahoe had several events this past weekend as well with their Highlander Event, a USASA Super Pipe competition and their “Flaunt it Like a Girl” Slopestyle and Rail Jam. They will be hosting their 3rd Annual “Buckle Up Big Air” event on Saturday, March 21, in Memory of Greg Smith and to help spread Seat Belt Safety Awareness. This also benefiting the Sierra Education Foundation. Sierra has also kicked off their 2009/10 Season Pass sale so check their website for the early-preseason prices at SierraAtTahoe.Com. It’s also College Week thru March 20 and again March 23-27 with $51 lift tickets with College I.D.

Kirkwood continues to offer “Screamin’ Deals” on their website as well and they are hosting the North American Free Skiing Champions this week with some of the best professional Free Skiers and Riders competing in the infamous “Cirque”. Competition kicks off March 19 and continues thru this weekend. They will host their “Experts Only Spring Break” College Week, March 23-27 with $35 Lift ticket with valid I.D. Check out their website at www.Kirkwood.Com.

This past Saturday evening, David Spade was performing at the MontBleu Theater and it was a great comedy show. Prior to the show, I decided to try dining at the Horizon’s Town Square Buffet, now open Saturday, Sunday & Monday. It was all good and you can’t beat the price, only $9.95 for adults and $5.95 for kids. David Spade was scheduled to be a guest on my Après Ski Show but went skiing at Heavenly all day and was too tired to join me in the Studio. His show was fun and looked to be pretty much sold out. After the show, I was fortunate to be invited to meet him back stage and I had to give him some S**@! about not making the TV show… He said he had too much fun skiing at Heavenly and needed to rest up before his performance. He was kind enough to take pictures with me and the other invited guests.

Don’t miss all the fun – Corned beef & Cabbage Feeds, Parties and Pub Crawls on St. Patrick’s Day. Tahoe Douglas Rotary Club is hosting their annual St. Pat’s Celebration at Harrah’s from 6pm-10pm; Montbleu’s Opal Ultra Lounge is hosting a party with Blue Turtle Seduction performing; Of course, Murphy’s Irish Pub is hosting a Party and helping to celebrate the 46th birthday of KTHO AM590. McP’s Irish Pub & the Tudor Pub are also hosting St. Paddy Day parties with live music as well.

Also don’t miss the Northern California Special Olympics “Polar Bear Plunge” coming up Saturday, March 21 at Zephyr Cove Marina at 10am.

Spring will officially arrive this weekend and there’s plenty of skiing & riding offered. There are no announced closing dates from any of the resorts, as of this week, and all resorts are expected to remain open through at least Easter Sunday, April 12.

Have a great week and be safe.
Curtis Fong
“The Guy From Tahoe”
tgft@bikethewest.com