Unofficial Rose

The Rose 18/19 season ended with a bang full of fun, frolic and fast runs down The Chutes. Frivolity was at the forefront as folks feasted, flaunted and figured out how to ski steeps in costumes... or nothing at all. Husbands, wives, family and friends all got together on a picture perfect day to close out the season. The weather was perfect as were the spirits of those in the parking lot and on the hill. Of course last chair and run would not have been the same without the Werschky Posse sharing their Giant Flask of Fun with everyone and organizing the Whirling Circle of Death down Bonanza. There was definitely a very good showing from the Nevada Department of Adventure (NDOA). Dare I say everyone contributed something to the party that lasted all day. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did making them. And as a Mark I know stated so eloquently at the end of the last run as he was clicking out of his skis... "Let the Summer Chutes Season Begin!" And so it goes. The...

The pic above is NOT a part of the Me Too Movement... it's just udderly ridiculous. Wow. There was more than a crowd for the renewal party. If anyone doubted that Rose could sell enough passes without joining EPIC or IKON, well, doubt no more. The Biggest Little City Ski Area is not only holding its own but growing in leaps and bounds... felt like a little too big yesterday waiting in the beer line. More taps on the deck would be a good addition for next year so we can keep "Rollin out the barrel." In any event, Master of Ceremony Charlie once again did a stellar job of making us laugh, poking some fun here and there and leaving some innuendo's that left many in stitches and a few a little "offended". A word to you offended folks, if the intention was to make you laugh and you took it seriously enough to get angry, you might try loosening up a bit. There was no ill will intended. Besides, you may not be taking skiing seriously enough. Its a sport that l...

Your last runs are coming to a mountain near you. Hope you come on up, enjoy some righteous music and the end of the season Renewal Party get some of the last turns of the season in. Took one of my last runs down to lower elevations this week and had to connect the dots to make it happen... and on black snow to boot. The strong South winds last week blew ash and dirt making the snow black and mud cupped. Pretty ugly skiing for some of the turns, but then again, even ugly turns are better than none. The couple grand of nature's best corn above the ash and mud made it all worth it. And thats skiing right, even when its bad its better than no skiing at all. At least thats the perspective I attempt to harbor whenever possible. Makes for more gratitude and less bitching about life in general for sure. I even had a reader complain about the way I spelled her name. Hard to believe, I know after I lauded her positivity mountain wide. I can't know everyone's spelling y'kno...

Another great party at Rose today with German beer, an Austrian band and a Swiss server on BBQ made for a great day. The sunny afternoon didn't hurt either. As usual Charlie the Voice of Mt. Rose kept things light and laughable as well as his sidekick Cece. Although the North Wind kept the chutes from warming to a nice corn ratio, other parts of the mountain were in their spring glory. Corn was plentiful and there was room for all as many folks had Easter festivities going that precluded skiing (Thank you Easter Bunny). It made for pleasant parking, pleasant skiing and no line for beer (such a deal). Almost felt like the Rose we all remember back in the "old days" when snow was a plentiful and lines were something that Squaw had. There is something special when you hit a slope that is of course trackless and just come into its corniness. You feel like you really are a good skier when you arc that first turn and crank much tighter than normal and then counter rotate ...

Warmer than average temps are turning snow to slush earlier than usual. Do you know how to follow the sun? How to harvest the corn? A typical spring day starts with Silver, Sunrise (Toilet Bowl) and Outlaw (Sharngri La) softening up first, but then again, it's all about the radiation. If there are high clouds or temps are a little cooler everything moves back an hour or two. But... the rotation remains close to the same. Next to soften is typically Bruces followed by Bonanza and Zephyr. Central is seldom groomed but when it is it softens right after Silver and little before Bonanza because of the double fall line toward the South. At this point the Rose side will begin to soften with the left side of KC Bowl going off first followed by the other runs. Lakeview and anything facing more Westerly usually take a bit longer. The Chutes soften, again, according to their radiation quotient. The more sun they get, the less likely to be frozen coral. The left side of Jackpot is often th...

Skiing was better than anybody might have thought possible today given the DOC (Dust On Crust) and Golden Gate Fog conditions on the Slide side. Rose side was sunny and groomer perfect however with Aida's being the Jackpot of the day with many laps followed by the posse call of "Again" at the unload... The rest of the week will be sunny and much warmer. Looks like spring skiing is here for at least a little while. Break out the hula skirts and lei's. But that is not why I write today. Saturday the Passholder Party will feature the best dance band in Reno. Escalade alone will be reason enough to come up the hill whether you ski or not. These guys rock whether they are covering James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Commodores, The Dazz Band or  Parliament. Soul, R & B and funk, these guys got it covered. No matter the weather, plan on coming up and getting plenty funked up. I'm telling you... these guys will be doing it to your earhole. Sven

We have all been there. Not sure what we will find, low expectations of the day, the company, the snow and then voila! We come over a little break over and there it is... an open slope with no tracks. Whether it runs for just a few turns between trees that just got missed in the feeding frenzy or in my case yesterday, a couple thousand feet of untracked perfect corn... we all smile right before we drop in. What happens then is (dare I say) magical. As our skis feel the loss of solid snow under their tips as they slide downward over the hump, our speed increases appreciably and it is then that we feel the rush of a rollercoaster ride in 7th grade. That moment when we are taken, heart, mind, body and soul downhill to begin the first nudge against the pull of gravity into our first turn. We sink down and the snow flies as edges slide into the virgin surface and we lean into the turn like a porche 911 on the Mt. Rose Hwy doing about 65 around the corners. Yes, its visceral and all thoughts...

Happy Saturday Everybody! Its good to be back writing again. We may see a little sun this afternoon but, then again,  according to our weather lately that would be a small miracle. We just can't seem to get some High Pressure off the coast to give us some clear spring weather. Of course the same could be said of this winter as well. Rather than storm and sun, we had storm, then more storm, then clouds, followed by (surprise)  more storm. I suppose you are as tired of it as I am. I still believe as Doug Coombs said that "There is no such thing as too much snow." but there is definitely something to the fact that there has not been enough sunshine. We have had less than 10 days of completely sunny weather in the last 60 days. Wow. Thats a record I hope we never break. We should (according to forecasts) enjoy a partially sunny day tomorrow and then its back to more grey weather next week with a couple of weak disturbances lined up put in the Pacific. In any event the groom...

Sven Svenhardt is back on the air! My apologies to everyone out there. I'm sure you were as bummed as I was when the site went dark. I assure you the closing down of the site was out of my control. In any event, welcome back to the new site. I hope you make it a favorite and subscribe! This is really a test post to make sure all links are up and running. I will follow this with a new post soon. Thanks for taking the time to come back and visit. I know you love "The Rose" as much as I do. -Sven