California/Nevada 2016-17 Tahoe Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups Thread....

[4ster]

I know this isn't the thread for it, but can somebody explain to me why she is not "backseat" in this photo? Don't misunderstand me, I know I'm wrong. I'd like to understand how I'm wrong.

I took that photo quickly from the lift as she was passing by, so it is an uncommon angle for sure.

To me "backseat" implies that she is out of balance or falling backwards. My take is that she is not out of balance at all but in an extremely stacked, strong & powerful position to harness the extreme forces in the turn. Her hips are low, countered & to the inside of the turn which gives the appearance that she is back. The reality is that her center of mass is lined up almost perfectly against the inside edge of the outside ski as is demonstrated in Bob's excellent infinity move animation.
Do her feet occasionally get slightly ahead of her at times? Yes but rarely enough to say that she is backseat or out of balance to the dynamics of the turn.

Here are similar turns from a different angle:

Tip engagement...


As the skis slice ahead at completion...

 

[Andy Mink]

I skied at Mt. Rose on Thursday. I didn't get there until about 10 and it was still hard conditions. Once it started to soften, it got soft quickly, at least on the Slide side. I talked to a patroller on the lift and he said they'd had 100mph winds on Wednesday that pretty much scraped everything soft away, then it froze, then they got a skiff of snow on top. Looked good, skied tough. Was thinking about going up today but still sore from the crash a week ago.

 

[Andy Mink]

I took that photo quickly from the lift as she was passing by, so it is an uncommon angle for sure.

To me "backseat" implies that she is out of balance or falling backwards. My take is that she is not out of balance at all but in an extremely stacked, strong & powerful position to harness the extreme forces in the turn. Her hips are low, countered & to the inside of the turn which gives the appearance that she is back. The reality is that her center of mass is lined up almost perfectly against the inside edge of the outside ski as is demonstrated in Bob's excellent infinity move animation.
Do her feet occasionally get slightly ahead of her at times? Yes but rarely enough to say that she is backseat or out of balance to the dynamics of the turn.

Here are similar turns from a different angle: View attachment 23028

View attachment 23026

Hips back but torso/shoulders forward. If a line was drawn from shoulders to boots I'd imagine her mass is centered. Plus, even if she's not, she's so strong that she can crush her way through it. These guys and gals are so incredibly strong I can't even imagine what it would be like.

 

[4ster]

Maybe mods can move this to a new or different thread in an appropriate forum?

I know this isn't the thread for it, but can somebody explain to me why she is not "backseat" in this photo? Don't misunderstand me, I know I'm wrong. I'd like to understand how I'm wrong.

@skibob My understanding is that she's in the portion of the @Bob Barnes infinity animation where her feet have moved around and in front. The body now has to catch up by taking the straight path forward. So each turn is effectively body/centre-of-mass moving from back to front taking a short path while the feet/skis/base-of-support takes the long path and for some sections are ahead.

Edit: here is the animation-

Pure poetry

I took that photo quickly from the lift as she was passing by, so it is an uncommon angle for sure.

To me "backseat" implies that she is out of balance or falling backwards. My take is that she is not out of balance at all but in an extremely stacked, strong & powerful position to harness the extreme forces in the turn. Her hips are low, countered & to the inside of the turn which gives the appearance that she is back. The reality is that her center of mass is lined up almost perfectly against the inside edge of the outside ski as is demonstrated in Bob's excellent infinity move animation.
Do her feet occasionally get slightly ahead of her at times? Yes but rarely enough to say that she is backseat or out of balance to the dynamics of the turn.

Here are similar turns from a different angle:

Tip engagement...
View attachment 23028

As the skis slice ahead at completion...
View attachment 23026

Hips back but torso/shoulders forward. If a line was drawn from shoulders to boots I'd imagine her mass is centered. Plus, even if she's not, she's so strong that she can crush her way through it. These guys and gals are so incredibly strong I can't even imagine what it would be like.

 

[4ster]

Any snow reports for Squalpine or Sugar for this weekend?

Skied Alpine Today & Thursday. Thursday was a typical Spring day following the sun from Sherwood to the sunnier frontside runs to the shadier aspects off Summit then finally to Scott chair till finishing around 2:30. Skied off High T first run which was okay but the snow had not transitioned enough to make it good enough for a second lap. We did a couple out the South Bowl traverse but again it was only okay.
Today was a different beast after a deeper freeze last night & a cool NE breeze increasing during the day. Made multiple laps to the High Traverse & South Bowl traverse. It was really, really good! Where yesterday was mostly groomers, today was mostly off piste corn on the sunny aspects. The top of the frontside off Summit 6 never really softened & lower down was piles of sugar, so I only made one run there. The best runs of the day where at the end, hiking up from Scott Chair to Lakeview (closed) & all the way back down to Sherwood... Perfect corn!

Looking back at the High T bowls...

Looks like the wind is going to pick up from the east tonight, hopefully it will mellow in the morning.

 

[John Webb]

Any snow reports for Squalpine or Sugar for this weekend?

Any snow reports for Squalpine or Sugar for this weekend?

Sugar bowl was great today if you skied it right. Spring Skiing. Due to a freeze last night (good corn) and slow warmup today you had to wait 2 hours.

Early birds were leaving in droves at 11am as they had only frozen hardback. Starting at 11 I had soft corn snow on all slopes facing the morning sun. After 2 West facing slopes like Donald Duck were soft.

Same drill tomorrow but warmer so start an hour earlier. Sunday may be
Too warm. Start at 8:30 if open then. Quit when too slushy. Squaw also said wait an hour today.

So the word is follow the Sun. Temps and wind (high winds when warm can keep snow from thawing) are also factors.

 

[Mendieta]

Sugar bowl was great today if you skied it right. Spring Skiing. Due to a freeze last night (good corn) and slow warmup today you had to wait 2 hours.

Early birds were leaving in droves at 11am as they had only frozen hardback. Starting at 11 I had soft corn snow on all slopes facing the morning sun. After 2 West facing slopes like Donald Duck were soft.

Same drill tomorrow but warmer so start an hour earlier. Sunday may be
Too warm. Start at 8:30 if open then. Quit when too slushy. Squaw also said wait an hour today.

So the word is follow the Sun. Temps and wind (high winds when warm can keep snow from thawing) are also factors.

Thank you, John, heading there as we speak ... well, about to start my drive

 

[agreen]

Incredible day at Squaw today! So much snow there should be some great days to come.

View attachment 22863

2 Funi's, 10 Headwalls, 2 KT's & 3 Red Dogs between 9:30 & 2:30. About 7" fresh dense snow up top & maybe an inch down low. Broken clouds all day & above mid mountain never really got sticky. Even Sun Bowl although heavy in the afternoon, never got grabby. Everything a little lower than say bottom of Siberia was sucking pretty bad by 1pm.

The bonus for the day was running into Mikaela Shiffrin training & testing skis on Red Dog! Same hill as the World Cup race last month.
She had quite the entourage & a full length GS course all for herself.
View attachment 22864

View attachment 22865


After her training was done, the hill opened for public so we skied a few runs. Gives even a greater appreciation for what top racers can do. That hill is a MONSTER! & that young lady is other worldly!

Whoa dude! Your ski got pretty close to her ski... and then you pulled it back. It was like you wanted to take some of her magic and harness it. You will now ski like a God.

 

[Mendieta]

Thank again to @John Webb for the info from yesterday, and prediction for today, for Sugar Bowl.

I started 9:30, I went to Disney and it was all frozen. So I spent some time on the blues off Christmas Tree. Then headed to Mt Lincoln and it started to soften to small, and then slightly larger soft bump off Rhalve's Run (if I am not mistaken). My last run was epic: I took East Face off Disney. IT was all bumps and most people including myself were going down carefully. It was steep with soft bumps and a few frozen areas in the troughs. Of course, there is always the expert coming down like it's no big deal, but even that guy slowed down mid way. And another guy almost got his ass handed by ice. but I was so happy to be able to take the run. At the beginning of this season I would have puked from the top.

Ok, as for the pics.

Rhalve's run


East Face:




Sugar Bowl gas station! Expensive, but happy to support them:

 

[Alexzn]

Squaw is still skiing well, the east wind keeps the snow firm, some areas didnt even soften until 2 pm or later. Try to spot US Ski Team training on the mountain ( they are in a different place from the kids speed racing camp).

 

[rizcorpl]

 

[Mendieta]

Welcome to the forum, and nice turns! Is that you and your ski buddy?

 

[textrovert]

We were at Squaw today. Great conditions everywhere, as long as you know to follow the sun. We didn't ski much today actually- just a little bit of Granite, Shirley, can and Siberia. We had a relative vising from UK who has skiing for the first time. Put her in a group class package- $79 for lift/lesson/equipment - good deal.

What I really liked about the Squaw first timer lesson was that they take them till high camp. Gives a beginner a "big mountain" experience to be inspired by and they are not stuck next to the parking lot.

After she was done at noon, spent a little more than an hour with her on the Green runs. It's been a long time since I had to explain the snowplow to a first timer. That was interesting

 

[TahoeCharlie]

Skied Heavenly Sat and will go again Sun as it's their last weekend. Really awesome day as it stayed cool and fairly firm until 11:00 when the breeze dropped off and the whole mtn turned to incredible corn. Everything in the trees off Dipper and Comet was super skiable corn - no stickies or slush. I think their altitude, 10k, really helps the snow.

 

[Tricia]

When we get back in 3 weeks we'll be skiing Squaw. Hope to catch up with you there.

 

[rizcorpl]

Welcome to the forum, and nice turns! Is that you and your ski buddy?

Thanks for the welcome! We are father and son. Here is a picture from the top of the ridge last Saturday.

 

[textrovert]

Cruising some nice corn snow at Squaw yesterday. This is my wife I'm following. She's made good progress to season- getting over some of her mental block to let the skis turn freely and not force them to bleed does off at the completion of every turn

 

[Mendieta]

We were at Squaw today. Great conditions everywhere, as long as you know to follow the sun. We didn't ski much today actually- just a little bit of Granite, Shirley, can and Siberia. We had a relative vising from UK who has skiing for the first time. Put her in a group class package- $79 for lift/lesson/equipment - good deal.

What I really liked about the Squaw first timer lesson was that they take them till high camp. Gives a beginner a "big mountain" experience to be inspired by and they are not stuck next to the parking lot.

After she was done at noon, spent a little more than an hour with her on the Green runs. It's been a long time since I had to explain the snowplow to a first timer. That was interesting

That's effin' brilliant. How do they bring you down, though ? Many first timers are still terrified after a couple hours ... cheers!

 

[textrovert]

That's effin' brilliant. How do they bring you down, though ? Many first timers are still terrified after a couple hours ... cheers!

Yes, no way first timers (or even green beginners) can ski down to the village from High Camp area. They take them up and down on the Tram. Great views there and gets everyone pumped for their first ski experience.

Tram to/from High Camp


Greens & first-rate area at High Camp-

 

[Andy Mink]

Rose was nice today. Squishy early.