Scott Lucas’ Blog

It’s a terrible, obscene 4-letter word. But that’s what we’re seeing out the window this morning. We’re heading home…

What a great ski day we had today – Silverado is finally open, and the skiing is very fine. Lynn, Larry, and I went out this morning for a great session. We had a babysitter for Elena today (we’d forgotten she was booked and were surprised when she showed up at the door). So we had a rare opportunity for an all-adult session. We started off in the Funnel, which was in good shape. The rocks in the middle are still not completely covered, but the Elevator Shaft to skier’s left had some nice, chalky, wind-blown/consolidated snow. Then a few laps on Granite. Magoo’s was also in nice shape although I wasn’t happy with how I skied it. Readjusting to bumps after the heli trip I guess. Then a trip over to the Nose and out. I love the terrain in Granite but I have to confess I hate the chair. It’s slow and popular, meaning there’s just too much time spent either in line or in the seat.

From there we headed over to Silverado. We started in gate 3 and worked right a bit. I went over to Bailey’s Cirque while Lynn and Larry stayed a bit more to skier’s left. Bailey’s had a good 4-foot jump to enter where it looks like it slid almost down to the rock. The snow at that point was not great – it was a bit icy since the good stuff was in the avi debris field down below the run. Larry and Lynn had better luck and reported fine chalky snow. Then Larry headed in. He was dealing with the morning after the night before if you know what I mean. I know it’s not nice, but I think other people’s hangovers are just funny. So Lynn and I stuck with Silverado for 3 more runs. We headed over to gate 5 and did Tram Bowl. if you know the runout there, you have two non-cliff options. One to the right through some trees and one to the left that threads the cliffs. We took the left option and the snow was fabulous. So good we did it 2 more times. We started the second lap in Bungee Bowl, which was not in terribly good shape. A bit heavy and choppy (still fun, don’t get me wrong). The Silverado lift is slow and unpopular, so at least there’s no waiting in line like at Granite.

After that we headed over to Headwall. The wind was picking up as we got over there. Our first run was North Bowl, far skier’s right (where it’s steep, of course!). I skied over to see if the small chute right at the nose was working. Too many rocks so I headed back towards Lynn. I got into a tough spot right above a chocolate chip factory but managed to find a semblance of a clear spot to get down. Superb snow right there although I was still a little shaky after the exposure. Then we did Slot-to-Classic. I almost always go far skier’s right in the Slot because the snow’s better there and I like the pitch. That’s often rough to get to and today was no exception. A couple of spooky turns and then all was well. We headed over to Classic to finish off the morning.

Sushi for lunch (I love Mamasake!) and then I went in to get Elena ready to ski. She and I had a wonderful time. We always do! I tried to get her off of the harness but she was having none of it. Oh well, she is skiing with slack in the harness most of the time anyways. We got about 5 runs in and then she was ready for a snack at Wildflower.

Looking forward to tomorrow! There’s a big storm moving in, supposedly a bit warm and very windy. So we’ll see how much skiing gets done tomorrow. Not looking forward to the drive back with holiday traffic and a blizzard.

Lynn is heading up to Tahoe with Devin tomorrow night. I’ll fly up this Friday night to join her. Conditions look great! Squaw has opened Silverado so the coverage must be getting there. Later this month there’s an extreme skiing comp moving through Squaw. They’re going to go down Tram face (yes, the cliff below the first tower on the Tram). I want to watch but I may have to avert my eyes…

Lynn and I made it back home this afternoon at about 12:45. We were both really glad to get home. Once the fun part of a vacation is over, I think the urge to be home is pretty strong. Our last day of skiing was probably the best. We did around 26,000 vertical feet in nearly completely perfect untracked powder. We found some steeps and made a few high landings, which are great for the big, open bowls. I prefer tree skiing, but the feeling you get by going fast in the powder is really unique and best done in an open bowl. Smooth, fast, and fun. We traversed a couple of times through a slide path that had been hit in early January. Pretty sobering – there was a pile of 50 – 100′ trees that had been deposited like a stack of pick-up sticks when the avalanche came to a halt, probably 1.5 to 2 miles from where it started. Large, 2′ diameter trees were simply snapped in half and tossed aside when the slide ripped through. No one was around at the time but the clear power of the slide was apparent. I managed to get a few good minutes of video during the day as we had plenty of sun and we were all moving pretty well.

Can’t wait until next year!

Just got back from dinner after day 3 of some pretty incredible skiing. I didn’t write last night because, well, I was exhausted. We did nearly 29,000 vertical feet yesterday through some great powder. No incidents or drama of any kind, which is a good thing. Lynn and I carried the guest packs yesterday, which means we were usually in the  back of the pack. This often means you have some tracks to deal with but for the most part we had clear sailing and good snow. The clouds lifted as well so we had some incredible vistas. I’ll post some pictures when I get a chance.

Today was a bit different. Cloudy with a very low ceiling. We had to wait a bit to get out so the fog would lift and give the pilots enough visibility to fly. When we did make it out, we went to Happy Hour Ridge, which I recalled was a bit tame without much pitch. But today Dani, our guide, took us to the steeper part of the area and we had some great skiing. The weather started to close in so we stopped for an early lunch. Then the weather really closed in and we were down for about 3 hours. We had some fun building a fire and trying to stay warm. When the weather finally lifted enough to fly we were only able to get in one run and then had to head home. The last run was at Picadilly. Tough sledding at the top with lots of breakable crust, then some really nice powder for awhile, then a brutal traverse out. Trees, hard snow, the works. But it was fun and we were not nearly as tired as we were last night. I think we probably got between 12k and 14k vertical. We’ve been skiing with a 73 year old guy named Gunther (he’s from Germany) and he is an awesome skiier. A real inspiration for those of us who would like to be doing 3 weeks straight with CMH when we’re over 70 (like me).

We just got back from our first day heli skiing in the Selkirks. As usual, it was a great day. The snow was nice. We did run into a couple of patches of wind consolidated crust but that usually lasted only a few turns. Stability is iffy – we have a layer of ice under the snow and the fresh from the last few days has consolidated to create a slab. So we’re skiing carefully but we have been able to get into some steeper terrain. We had some down time this morning because of fog. We went up and flew around a bit trying to find an opening to go up the canyon. When the pilot couldn’t find a spot we landed and sat in the cabin a bit until the fog lifted.

Devin got sick last night and kept our friends up taking care of him. Poor kid stayed home from school today with a fever and the yuck. We miss them a ton anyways and it’s really a heartbreaker to talk to him when he’s sick. As much fun as we’re having here I’m kind of glad this isn’t a really long vacation. We’ll see him soon.

More tomorrow!