We got a hard-hitting storm overnight that dumped about 15” of snow at the house, and a couple feet at the ski areas. It was snowing 2” to 3” an hour, the biggest single storm we’ve had this year, and our first snow in two weeks.

The snow was not especially wet, yet it was extremely heavy to ski in, except for the steepest terrain. You can see the conga line of stuck skiers as Nancy sits way back to keep her tips up.

Nancy went in for a couple of hours (she’s recovering from some nasty food poisoning two days ago), and I did laps on the the steeper runs on Lookout, getting the first over-the-head spitting-out-snow face shots I’ve had in years. I got fresh lines every run as people were afraid of getting stuck if they ventured past established tracks.

Squaw barely opened, and Alpine Meadows closed for the day due to scary avalance conditions.

They plowed our street while we were gone, so we had a nice big berm to deal with when we got back home. There’s our garbage can in front of the mailbox for reference.

The temps are staying unseasonably warm, which means soft bump skiing.

Tower 16 is fun with great big slushy bumps and the killer view of KT-22.

I went back to the Sunrise Bowl area for some more backcountry, looking to see if there was any dry snow left in the north-facing bowls. After a week of dry, warm weather, the pow was all gone, replaced by consolidated snow and crust.

Here I’m looking at Sunrise Bowl (Donner Ridge) from the top of Hawk’s Peak. The area Nancy and I skied last week is in the left center of the photo.

I traversed west from Hawk’s Peak and then south to the top of Donner Ridge. The snow in Sunrise Bowl was variable at best, so I skinned back up Hawk’s Peak and got some nice corn snow on its southern aspect.

Here I’m on top of Donner Ridge looking west toward Castle Peak and the Frog Lake Cliffs.

We made a rare foray to Alpine Meadows to take advantage of their soft snow.

The temps have warmed and there’s no snow in the forecast, so we’re starting to look at southern exposures and spring conditions.

We got some comp tickets to Homewood, my first time skiing here. It’s a funky little old ski area with awesome views of the lake.

Homewood is located on the west shore, a 5-iron from the waters edge. It’s very old school—slow lifts with plywood seats and no safety bars, and very few people on the hill.

It has great tree skiing and open boundaries to the west, so you could bring your skins and take off for the higher ridges. The whole place has the feel of lift-accessed backcountry.

The ski areas have started creating banked courses that they call “family fun areas.” Unfortunately, the banked turns aren’t steep enough or tight enough to be much fun.

We took a Saturday off from the crowded ski areas to do some backcountry skinning at Sunrise Bowl on Donner Ridge, just west of the Tahoe Donner Ski Area.

On top of Donner Ridge where it drops off into Negro Canyon, looking southwest toward Highway 40 and the peaks of Sugar Bowl.

The northeastern aspect still has dry snow, despite it not snowing for a week.

Putting the skins on to head back up.

Skinning back up.

Sunrise Bowl is a popular area because it’s right off the road above a neighborhood and it holds a lot of snow.

It felt good to spend a Saturday away from the liftlines. You get about 500’ vertical with each run.

It hasn’t snowed for a few days, but the snow is staying cold and dry.

I coaxed Nancy into a rare bump run on Stampede, the steepest run at Northstar.

We had a nice day skiing Squaw, getting soft snow in Sun Bowl.

Afterwards, we went to an open house at a title loan company in Truckee where a friend of Nancy’s works.

We got out to Northstar early, not really expecting much. We got another inch of snow at the house and about four inches at Northstar.

However, a cold north wind helped fill in the tracks from yesterday, so we did a bunch of really fun laps in the trees on Lookout.

Once again, we were pretty much the only ones skiing out by the boundary, so we got untracked snow for a couple of hours.

We got a few inches of new snow on a crusty base. After a few runs on Lookout, we went looking for some deeper snow.

We slid in the side of the Backdoor cat track to sneak into the White Rabbit area for some freshies. Not a poach, per se, since we didn’t cross any CLOSED signs.

The skier’s left side of White Rabbit is a big open field with lots of humps and rocks to play on.

Since no one had been in there for several days, we found some nice powder to bop around in.

We went out skiing in the rain, why I don’t know.

Oh yeah, now I remember. Today’s my birthday.

Nancy skiing upper Break-It-Out at Squaw Valley.

Mark and Steve were a little sore after skiing Squaw yesterday, so we journeyed to the mellow slopes of Northstar for some R & R.

Northstar does a “Töst” every day at 2:00 where you get a third of a glass of champagne to toast the winter gods.

Dave the Wave gave Mark and Steve comp tickets for Squaw, so we spent the day skiing excellent dry snow on the upper mountain.

We did a few runs with Don Lowder, who took us on the short hike to Mainline Pocket.

It was a bittersweet day for Dave, who was skiing Squaw for the first time since leaving to work at Northstar. After 26 years, it’s hard to let go.

I took Ryder down to the creek to try out some GPS apps on the iPhone. According to the apps, it’s a 2.3 mile walk with 420’ of gain.

Ryder is getting to be almost too old for it, especially when he goes postholing in the snow to pursue some smell. He can barely move after he gets home and lies down for awhile.

I went out to Squaw for some telemark skiing. The skiing was remarkably good, with all the steep runs (The Slot, Headwall Face, etc.) soft and smooth.

I thought KT-22 would be a sheet of ice because of the rain event last weekend, but a guy on the Headwall chair said that Chute 75 was great, at least until you get to the throat. I had to check it out.

It was great, in rare form with no bumps and a slough of soft snow in the middle. Until you got to the throat and ran into the slide rubble and ice bumps, which necessitated a traverse out to the Saddle.

It rained all yesterday morning and then froze overnight, so we were worried about how bad the skiing would be today.

We went out to Squaw, where the lower mountain was a sheet of ice. It was so bad that Ski Patrol had roped off and put “Experts Only” signs on the groomers.

However, the upper mountain had great wind buff snow. It was a little slabby until it got skied out, but then it was like skiing on soft chalk.

Here’s Nancy on Siberia Ridge and Hogsback.

After four years of drought, it’s strange seeing everything covered with snow and runs filled in from a normal snow year. A vibe of joy permeates the mountain—every chair ride is full of happy, happy skiers.

More storms ahead.

It rained all weekend, and our light fluffy snow turned into ice and crust with a couple inches on snow on top.

You had to stick to the groomers, except to take a picture to make it look a lot better than it was.

Nancy with her new glasses and a new hairdo while at work.

Another terrific powder day with nearly a foot of new snow, except today there were a lot of people out so it got cut up in a hurry.

Northstar opened the White Rabbit run, which rarely opens because it is west-facing and doesn’t hold snow.

People get excited whenever it opens because it has the allure of forbidden fruit, but the glades off of Lookout offer better skiing.

We had a great day at Northstar with untracked runs all morning. About 10” of new snow and nobody out.

I got first tracks on all my favorite lines off of Lookout, and then we took a bunch of laps in the glades, bopping and hopping through the trees.

We drove down to ski Heavenly, and I finally got to ski Gunbarrel after years of it being closed due to no snow and icy conditions.

The groomers were firm, but the off-piste was chalky winter snow.

We did laps in the Pinnacles, where the throat was thin, but excellent skiing below.

There’s enough snow on our trail for me to ski back home on cross-country skis.

Nancy and I went skiing and ran into Dave “The Wave” Pierce, who we used to work with at Squaw, and who has just started working at Northstar.

Dave was handing out Snickers bars to kids to promote wearing ski helmets.

I went to Squaw for a minor powder day while Nancy went to Northstar. Here I'm looking back at my tracks in Tower 16.

Yesterday, this whole area was nasty wind slab, the kind that grabs your edges and sends your skis every which way. I made my ugliest turns all year, fighting the slab the whole way down.

Much better today.