Timeless

Awesome trailer and even better web-site. They should pay you. I like the fact that you are clinging to Big Mountain.

East coast season pass prices are unbelievable. They've just announced a tie up betweeen Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows allowing you to use both resorts on one ticket or pass (and yes, they are "linked" by KT22), a combined unlilmited season pass is $799 for adults, with the christmas and presidents day/MLK blackouts but still 7 days a week, this drops to $599. Might be the first time I buy a season pass in Tahoe. $735 to ski Elk is ridiculous,

Depends on your interpretation of intermediate, but I've been to snowbird with people who considered themselves intermediate and they spent most of the day complaining about the lack of terratin for their ability level. If you are a true intermediate (ie, nothing in the east coast resorts scares you anymore) then you will be fine there but it is not a beginners hill. Snowbasin and powder, or solitude and brighton would be a much better kids if you or your kids are still happier on east coast blues. Personally, I would avoid PC and the Canyons at weekends mid season, not that the crowds would be terrible but there are just better options. Whatever you choose to do, try as many resorts as you can, Utah is awesome for pretty much every ability level.

That's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. Wish it would be true (about the snow, not about the flat mountains), after the last 2 winters it would be hard to see another epic one. Accuweather sucks balls according to the long range last year, we (California) would get average temps and average to below average precip, not expecting a big snow year. We got >800" The map shown above from suck-u-weather has us on the edge of the "worst cold and snow" band, but it was actually quite a warm winter and has been a very cool wet spring/ summer (this is all relative). let's just see what it brings: I'm forecasting some snow in the sierras and some great snowboarding from December to May.

either, both, who cares?

Camelback will buy one so that they can groom the sunbowl in one hit, then claim their "green-ness" and get extra tax breaks for their new developments.....

If we are near the areas with the BIG trees then we make the effort to go see them, they really are very impressive, especially the ones that have lived through forest fires and in many cases are completely burnt out inside but still living / growing. There are some that are apparently still slowly smouldering (sp?) inside for years after the fire has past. Yes, camping in tents, a little nervous about this in Tahoe due to the seemingly high incidents of bears (higher even than the poc's it seems and we came across some there). For this weekend we are planning some trout fishing, horse riding (from Alpine Meadows), cycling and maybe some rafting depending on time.

Thanks Sib' , lovely picture, can't wait for the (new)snow to return. I'm camping near Squaw valley this coming weekend, it will be interesting to see how much snow is left in the higher elevations.

Ride D'ware, Have you ever been out to the western resorts? If not, and you are seriously considering a life as a ski patroller, I would highly recommend that you spend a week or more in a western mountain area before you make any moves into Vermont. I fully understand that people have ties to the east coast, and I really enjoyed my time there (8 years with no family ties to keep me there), but for a career in the ski industry, the options both in and out of season (which are much longer out here) have to be much improved, with bigger resorts, more opportunities, bigger terrain and hence more varied experience, more options to do guiding etc etc etc. Not that I would knock the eastern resorts but I would just imagine the ones out here would offer a much better career path. Move to Tahoe, live in Truckee, ski patrol from November to May/June, backcountry a little longer, mountain bike and rafting for the summer months, start your own Cat/Heli/Guiding operation. I an sure CO has similar options. The only things you would miss are fresh (maine) lobster and frostbite and mosquito bites.

LMAO it's about as hard core out here as the pussycat dolls If you enjoy skiing and any/all other outdoor activities, you could do a lot worse than CO or CA. Fear of the unknown and family ties are the biggest things that stop people moving, one of those is easy to overcome.

I will always look back with good memories of riding at Camelback, Blue, JF etc aswell as many trips to Vermont, but from a pure snowboarding perspective, nothing would make me want to move back east. I have ridden more fresh snow in 2 seasons here than I could have even imagined back east, and have witnessed some truly spectacular snowfall (way more then needed for decent skiing), there is simply nothing to compare to the storms we see passing through here. Anyone who thinks they should move, should move. If you are not happy over there then do something about it.

Yeah, they seem to be able to to suck it up and look like they are enjoying themselves.... it actually wasn't bad at all, especially early in the day

+1 for this +1 for the pictures and for getting out there so much this late in the year, I think most of us on here have at least some degree of envy. Hope your friend recovers quickly, a reality check every now and again can be a good thing, as long as it doesn't cause any serious injury.

So we finally closed out our Tahoe season this weekend with a great day at Alpine Meadows on Saturday. They were open all weekend but with the traffic and other commitments we figured saturday would be the best compromise for us. Arrived at Alpine at 7.30AM, not too many people there before us but everybody in the parking lot booting up in shorts and t-shirts was certainly something you dont see every day. The view from the lift to the top was beautiful first thing in the morning with the mist still over the lake. There was plently of snow left and a good amount of terrain open and accessible from two lifts. Although it was generally looking quite "old", but hey it's July We took quite a few runs down through both the wolverine and alpine bowls until it got too hot Then we ditched the outerwear and rode in shorts until a little after lunchtime when we stopped for the day as they were going to close the lifts at 2pm anyway. All up this was a really nice way to wrap up the year, they had a pretty decent band playing on the deck, good food and a really nice atmosphere.

We saw the pipe up there the other weekend and figured they had cubed it to take it out of commission, very impressive looking piece of sculpture. You cant use it now though cos the bottom has been plowed into oblivion (at least it had as of end may).

That made me laugh..... I think I will make it.

They're still running but from here in the south bay, it's either a $200+ flight or an 8-10 hour drive. It's actually way quicker to get there from LA than from here as once the passes around yosemite are closed, you either have to go up to Tahoe and down the back of the sierras or go down towards LA and approach from the south. If I get serious withdrawal, it may still be on the cards for early June.

Amazing pic's, unreal conditions for the time of year. I think spring is officially cancelled this year, we are closing all the Tahoe resorts with 100"+ bases and it's still snowing in this last week. One of those pic's would have won the photo comp for me.

Pretty sure my season finished yesterday, squaw is only open one more week despite massive amounts of snow left. We had a mellow day riding KT-22, Headwall and Shirley lake, just enjoying the sunshine and still pretty decent snow. It was soft and slow but not yet wet and slushy, lots of fun and no liftlines at all. It's been an awesome season for us here in CA, for those able and willing to hit the backcountry there is probably a lot more still to come.

If great western was closed (clayton peak?) then this would severely limit your options, Brighton's not that big if you only look at the groomers. Each to their own but I cant imagine anyone not liking Brighton (except Alta snobs).

Down to what..... ?

looks cold, grey and sketchy in reverse order. Glad you all had a great winter this year, it's nice to see real snow in the east, especially in the more southerly places.

Yeah, my bad... no offense meant. But how often do most people (particularly kids) get to ride that kind of terrain out there.

Not to de-rail the important parts of this thread regarding who's the best skier, who knows the most about skis and the benefits of moderation on message boards....... However, in the Junior range, there seems to be little to choose between the gotama and the mantra in construction or width (both 80mm waist at 128cm length), only that the "goat" has the rocker. Does anyone on here have enough recollection of their younger days to know how bad it feels to ride overly long ski's in soft off-piste snow? How specific should I be about the length given how fast the little f'er is growing. And please let's not get back into the "my ski's longer than yours...." discussions.

If he has only the "east coast" experience of skiing down marked and groomed runs, you should buy him some mantra's in whatever size fits him. We bought Lucas the mantras when we moved out here as the first time we went out he was struggling quite badly to get his K2's to turn or float in the soft stuff off of the runs (where you will spend a lot of your time). The mantras were a huge improvement for him immediately, some of this might have been in his head, but who cares. Given Sibhusky's comment about the flex I may just get him another pair in the correct size, they go quite long still in the Junior range. The other option I was looking at were the Gotoma (sp?) Juniors as these come with their "ELP" rocker which should be interesting. I see Volkl hace discontinued the Junior Mantra this year, a real shame.