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Showing posts from March, 2020

Any skiing globally?

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Believe it or not Sweden and Japan still have open ski areas if you are looking for a Spring Ski Vacation! In addition to your normal ski gear a full body condom is highly advised by the US State Department which should be worn when skiing and also during close interactions with the locals (see pics). And you thought people didn't like the feeling of a standard condom. Wait till you try this! Be sure to get the right size for your body type to be safe...  and be prepared to hold your breath... for awhile. Happy Spring Skiing Everyone! Sven

Something about powder...

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An untouched Northeast ridge line below you with a virgin couloir to your left facing dead North. You know the snow has blown in there silly deep and your conscious that nothing has moved all day. Despite the 36" dump, the snow is stable. Someone with a camera is off to the left and waves you on, you drop. And in those moments time stretches out for hours, is just as relative as Einstein said and you feel the pressure of gravity take you into the yawning powder cache below. You remember to lean into any fear you might have with your expectation of deep etched into your eternal memory turns. You swing your hips left and bank your skis toward the drop and then your tips hook up and you are in deep, holding your breath as you feel the powder whip up over your head and shoulders and take you into another world. Fall line but its hard to come out of gravity's pull. Again, your skis hook up across the fall line and back toward the top of the ridge and you drop into an even deeper wo

Social Distancing: Sven Style!

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Hope everyone continues to get out into raw nature to keep a healthy perspective. The purity of the experience alone is enough to inoculate you from the latest incessant "Breaking News Cycle." The absolute best thing you can do for everyone else is keep yourself healthy. Do it for yourself. Do it for God, Country and our Species. But... Do It. Sven

Slide Road Opens!

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The Slide Road gate was open today and some folks were taking advantage of the Executive Parking up in the Slide Lot. One fellow even thought parking in the North end would be a good idea. Hope he has a shovel. Chutes have been pretty skied out but the Slide side remained mostly open powder with several dozen tracks. You could definitely find mucho open pow if you looked around in the trees and on some of the runs. Sunny today so the March high angle sun is having its crusty effects on top on anything facing South and West. As weather warms expect a sun crust to start forming in many more places... it is late March after all. Age hardening has also occurred in The Chutes so be careful as some areas hit by sun and skis have reacted by making life "hard" on the skier or rider. The heavier the area is skied, the more likely the area will have glazed off. Beware and be prepared. Speaking of Being Aware... PLEASE keep in mind that there is no patrol assistance available wh

The Last Resort Standing in the United States Award Goes To:

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With almost everyone closed globally due to Corvid19 with the exception of a few small areas in Sweden, the unabashed winner of the Last Ski Area Standing in North America contest goes to (Drumroll please) 49 North. If you have never heard of them don't feel bad. Most skiers haven't. 49 North is located in the far North Eastern corner of Washington State just a few dozen miles South of the Canadian border and a few more miles North of Spokane. The ski area is about the size of Rose with more but way slower chairlifts. They did a great job of adjusting to the virus and encouraged social distancing and very limited food service. They stayed open as long as they could knowing being outside involved in athletic pursuits helps stoke up your immune system. They made it till March 24th but have vowed to reopen should conditions change. This is a skiers mountain in the middle of nowhere ready to go for more turns if the "All Clear" bell chimes. Way to go 49 North! Meanw

Earning those Pow Turns

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To all of you who have braved the Virus and hid from your TV and Cellphone news enough to get some skins on and go skiing. Hurrah! The skiing has been unbelievably good. And for those of you glued to the latest ''Breaking News" I say... GET OUT. Get out in the mountains and let them beef up your immune system. Did you know that fear, anxiety and stress actually lower your immune system response and make you more likely to come down with a stronger case of the Virus? So, for your own mental and physical health go out and find some Stoke on a mountain near you! As you can see below... this is how I am maintaining my own immune system with my ski family! Sven

A rough ride into Spring is a coming...

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Colorado: Where Backcountry Skiing is now Illegal

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San Juan County in Colorado, home of Silverton Mountain Ski Area and the Highway 550 backcountry mecca has just decreed backcountry skiing illegal in their County. Any vehicle parked along the passes will be towed and owners subject to fine and imprisonment in an effort to protect Search and Rescue from having to expose themselves to victims of the virus. I certainly agree with the sentiment to protect SAR members, there is no argument there. Rather than make a sport that has always had risk attached to it forbidden, why not just stop all SAR missions and advise folks that they are now on their own from now on. Put responsibility where it should be, on the American that makes a decision to go out beyond civilization into the wild. In the tradition of our forefathers... let freedom ring. Will some people do stupid things, get injured and possibly die? Yes, of course. But the Darwin in me says maybe thats not such a bad thing. Our Gene pool is weak enough as the new virus is pointi

Keeping My Social Distance (On Skis)

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The powder has kept in the chutes till it was skied out. The Rose side skied out before that. Whole families were coming off the pass skiing out to the Rose lodge. Nothing like a 5 year old kicking butt in the pow to put a smile on your face. Enjoyed some of the best skiing of the year this week and hoping this next storm can (with the winds help) at the very least cover our tracks. I know you are probably practicing your social distancing but I hope you continue to also take care of your mental health and get outside on your bike, skis, feet and soon boats or sups and keep your spirits up. Be careful. Not fearful. There IS a difference! Sven NOTE: The large group was not "my" group so please no hate mail about how "irresponsible" I am. They were just super stoked at the bottom of Slide access and I could'n't resist.

Powder Hog Heaven!

Greetings All, Another great day of Powder Hog Heaven up here with a parade on Slide Mountain and across the highway every wherever you looked. You had to hunt and peck a little for fresh lines but they could be found for the most part. After today though a longer hike will be needed to access the freshies and it looks as though only the North aspects haven't sun crusted so keep that in mind when choosing when and where you might go hunting! Saw a couple bring in their 4 and 8 year olds and ski around the world to the base in deep pow. Was pretty damn cute. The video doesn't show that but rather Nate Corona doing what he does best, go down fast! Sven

If the choice is fear about Coronavirus or Powder Skiing. I choose Powder Skiing.

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It has been a powder frenzy at Rose and everywhere else this week despite the resort being closed. At Hourglass skiers and boarders were leaving their trucks out in the traffic lane with the chance of causing an accident or ticketed and towed by the NHP just for a chance of fresh turns. Same at Slide Access road where NDOT didn't clear and closed the gate leaving lots of cars helter-skelter before coming down with one big push and actually berming folks in. Come on NDOT, that road is a Nevada State Highway paid for by our tax dollars. It should remain open whether Rose is open or not. Regardless, the skiing has been the best pow of the year and those that are willing to work for it reap the rewards. And there are plenty to be reaped! Sven

Corona Skiing (while you still can)

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Corona Skiing at its Best! The skiing has been exquisite as long as you were willing to work a little bit for it! Earning your turns allows for many more untracked runs. There is a hundred thousand acres of cold dry pow just waiting for you. Anything facing North to East is in great shape up high still and should hold for a couple more days. It was 13 degrees up high last night when it was snowing without a whole lotta wind so things were pretty much perfect this morning. FYI: Rose Patrol has asked that people stay out of the chutes since they are still conducting avalanche control in there. Sven

Mt. Rose Rises to a Standing Unofficial Ovation

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Mt. Rose has risen to the occasion and outshone so many of their competitors in the ski industry. Rose has notified its employees that despite the early closure, staff will continue to receive paychecks for the next two weeks. Way to go Management. In our small little community that means a lot. The folks who got laid off are our friends and ski brothers and sisters. It really means the world to them that you have helped them along the way toward paying their rent and buying groceries.  The management team also made the decision to stay open their last day and be the Last Resort Standing in Tahoe but that decision was countermanded by forces beyond their control so again, Rose was independent and was working hard to keep the skiing going for all of us Slide Mountain Lovers.  We are in unchartered waters now around the world and skiing plays but a very minor part in the current drama. And... skiing will continue for many of us. Just not riding up the lifts. And maybe that's n

Like Dominos They Fell...

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It all happened in a matter of hours yesterday afternoon while many of us were out enjoying one of the best days of the season. Once insurance, attorney's and the possibilities of lawsuits reared their ugly heads, the dominos fell one after the other. I was asking too much in yesterday's blog for Rose to be independent and hang in there. I was hoping for the John Wayne on skis, the "damn the torpedo's and full speed ahead" approach, I was hoping for an American Hero. I was hoping that the Greg Staffords and the Dave Hahl's would somehow rise up and keep things spinning. THAT is just never going to happen again. We have moved a long ways from when Stafford would catch chairs coming into the terminal to keep the lifts spinning in gale force winds... That cursing into the wind mentality, that great American, the buck stops here "get'er done" approach to life is slowing falling by the wayside replaced with fear and anxiety evidenced by the need to

Alterra and Vail Associates Shutter Areas on a Powder Day... No Gawd... NOOOOOOO

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Thats right. There goes skiing in Tahoe with the exception of Rose, Sugar Bowl, Diamond Peak And Sierra Ski Ranch and who knows how long these four will hold out. It may just be time to get out your skins and earn your turns! We shall now see how Independent Mt. Rose really is... A friend called and told me about Squallywood and Mammoth and I was bummed and a little argumentative and he kept saying "This isn't about you." I totally agree with his statement. Its about skiing and taking risks. In fact skiing has always been about taking risks. And always will be. Even if Ebola was out killing half the population you would still see the die hards out there... maybe riding on the upwind side of the chair, but still out there. Its just how we roll. So no Mr. Croley... its not about me. Its about all of us that love skiing and will take lots of risk to keep doing it... just ask Turnin Tim. I say to the last four resorts please don't cave and follow the hyste

Chute, Storm and Corona Ski Report

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The Chutes have been open this week for the most part and a storm is finally on its way. What do these two things have in common you ask? If you haven't been in The Chutes lately many rocks have reared their ugly heads. Be mindful when they do open after the dump you know where you are going and what is underneath you. Jackpot (pictured here), El Cap and many of the other chutes have rocks that are jagged like sharks teeth just waiting for you. A couple chutes where you might have a better chance of not hitting anything would include Miller, Nightmare (after the very top) Beehive, Chaos and O-niner although even here caution is advised on the steeper sections or off the sides of the run on side shots. This storm comes at an opportune time as we are as dry as dry can be for mid-winter lying less than 50% of normal. The coming storm (if it actually dumps) will be a big shot in the arm. Some of the best skiing this week was actually the sun warmed corduroy... if your timing was

Slide Mountain Wax: Keeping it Local!

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I sat down with John Hegstrom last week and he relayed the story of Slide Mountain Wax. Like most of us John was just getting tired of paying lots of cash for wax from Europe and elsewhere. Thats when the idea hit, "Why not do some research and make my own wax" he thought... and he did. But it wasn't as easy as one might think. A lot of chemistry lessons and research was involved. Like Edison and the light bulb John was been experimenting with ski wax for years now learning how to mix special ingredients in order to formulate an environmentally friendly hydrocarbon based wax that also delivers real world performance. After much work, he has managed to create a wax that works. One of John's testers is First Chair Doug (in the yellow jacket) who we've all had blaze past us on first run. At first we thought he was just really strong but... it turns out, its mostly the wax (sorry Doug) Doug has been one of John's testers and it shows... Doug leaves us in the du