Unofficial Rose

It seems almost everyone who had anything to do with skiing in Northern Nevada and Tahoe knew Rusty.  I met him after he had broken quite a few ribs in a bad fall on Silver Dollar many moons ago... he kept trying to get up despite his injuries and the excruciating pain every time he moved even a little. Still, he wanted me to help him up so he could ski down the hill and not ride in the patrol toboggan. It took less than 30 seconds to realize he was hurt much too badly to be skiing and and as he winced in pain he urged me to try again and get him up standing so he could get his other ski back on. He was bleeding and had labored breathing and was obviously in a lot of pain and I told him thats just not going to happen as I got his other ski off. He was not happy with me as I crossed my skis uphill to protect him from getting hit at the top of the Silver break-over. Patrol showed up and took over treating him for broken ribs and the open cuts on his face and mouth. He had fallen hard...

 A big shout out to Dick and all the Mt. Rose Ski Instructors who, (with Anne Shrakes coaching and organizational skills) threw the largest Birthday Ski Parade Mt. Rose has ever witnessed. Meeting in the Galena Flats, the nearly hundred celebrants extended congrats to Ray for being on skis in his 98th year and then followed him down Galena to the lodge for cake and ice cream (Phylis's Spice Cake was to die for and made quite a splash). Once there he smiled at the loud din of singing while blowing out the candles and visited with fans for a few hours enjoying every minute of it.  Humble as always Ray told the crowd "I am so honored to have you all here. Thank you so much." An avid reader, Ray was given the bible on American Skiing to which he held on tight. A great celebration for a true American Hero. How many WW II vets are still skiing? Only know of one at this point and he is our very own Raymond Joseph. If you see Ray's Team out on the hill make sure to stop and s

 Sponsored athlete Raymond Joseph hit 98 less than a week ago and is celebrating same on skis tomorrow at Rose. He will be attending the Silver Clinic in the morning and then party upstairs in the lodge about noon. Anyone wishing to ski with Ray can find him on Lakeview under Al's tree at 11:15 or so for a big photo shoot and then a ski down to his party. All are welcome! Sven Ray with his Harem...

 You heard right folks... Mammoth will be open daily through July... not weekends only, not Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but DAILY.  Way to support the skiing community Mammoth Mountain!  Sven

 Tim Briody has earned the Unofficial Rose Lifetime Achievement Award as a Slide Mountain Patroller (Ret: '63-'67) for amount of days and vertical skied. His stats speak for themselves as he has amassed in his 60 years of skiing 2400 days on Mt. Rose amounting to 27,000 plus runs skied for over 40 million vertical feet.  With all that being said there is no way to measure the smiles shared after the hundreds of miles of powder skied. He shared a story recently of three days of deep pow when only a couple guys on patrol and Smitty (the crusty Mountain Manager in the 60's) stayed up at the old Slide Lodge during a huge storm cycle for three plus days and skied bottomless pow while throwing charges on Slide and down Nightmare while yards of snow fell. Mindblowingly deep they would throw a few charges down The Chutes and then ski-cut the rest day after day. They would camp out on the medical cots in Ski Patrol and fortunately also had keys to the bar and restaurant for their h

 This photo was taken out the Operations Window at Mammoth this morning. Groomers are pushing snow under Chair 1 so it can spin. Thats right, snow depth is such that chairs are buried or too close to skiers to operate the lift. A massive amount of snow needs to be moved. A buddy grooming at Northstar said that he and a buddy spent 24 hours just pushing snow off the summit so their chairs could unload. Two more storms on the way... you can stop doing your Snowdance now! Sven

 With reports of 12 feet of groomed and compressed snow on the runs and a much deeper pack in the trees and backcountry it appears we will be skiing July 4th this year and maybe later! Check out this shot of patrol in Bear Valley in California with snow inching up toward the top of the tower followed by the load on the America lift at our very own Skytavern. With 3' to 5' in next week's forecast I think we can all agree that Doug Coombs was wrong... there IS such thing as too much snow! Sven

 34 degrees most of the day at 7640 feet has left the "snow" a little on the wet and mushy side and bottomless if you try to walk in it. Went up to my waist today on the ropes course shoveling between elements.  If you missed today you didn't miss much... and were able to stay dry. Good choice!  Had to shovel today like the day before and the day before that but did text my rain gear pretty well. The gloves didn't pass... Sven

 Sorry folks but the skiing has just been too darned good to sit down at the keyboard. If you have been able to get out since Sunday you know what I mean... its just been cold, deep and wonderful with each day being so different from the next. If you haven't had a chance to get out, GET OUT tomorrow as we have a huge weather change facing us with a monster Atmospheric River taking aim right at North Lake Tahoe as the Bullseye.  Our Pow Heaven is about to go to to the Laundromat and the Cycle is set for Warm, Long and Wet (your mind is in the gutter... come back out of there!) The rain line will be up somewhere within a thousand feet of 8K so even if we do get snow up higher it will be very wet Sierra Cement. If you haven't shoveled off your roof... now is the time. Get on it tomorrow no matter what! Friday morning will be too too late.  Get in some skiing while you can. This weekend might be a great one to do your taxes. Sven

 We are bringing back our cherished tradition of Rose Employee of the Week. If you have a submission please drop a comment and tell us why with a photo and we will see what we can do. Mt. Rose has always had some incredibly committed employees who really deliver to their customers and to the betterment of the resort. Excellent service is punctuated by hard work, enthusiasm, positivity, excellent communication skills, patience with the general public (which is not always easy) and the ability to answer every question with a smile, no matter how many times it may have been asked. If you ski Rose much I'm sure, like myself, you have had experiences on both ends of the scale. Rather than grumble about those staffers that have difficulty managing a smile much less taking the time to welcome and communicate clearly with the Rose community, we have opted to celebrate the winners in the hopes they might rub off a little on those who are "emotionally challenged" to work hard, have

 For the crowd at first chair this morning the excitement was palpable. Miles of Smiles and everyone on their best behavior (sans Little Red). A sit skier was pushed up for first chair to the raucous cheer of the crowd. All was perfect with deep pow, blue skies and zero wind. The first run down was ecstatic with every skier or rider finding a path that wouldn't cross another track, just pure unadulterated soft turn after soft turn with occasional face shots to remind you that it was really happening. If Joy had a place and time it would be 8:35 this morning on the Slide Side for sure. The only bummer, with a monster weekday crowd it was gone all too quickly.  Those that waited for The Chutes to open around 1:00 pm also had a great time. It was a day to remember all around. The shot below was taken mid-afternoon proving that you can still find a stash or two if you are willing to work a little for it.  May your turns be forever in your favor. Sven

 With just about seven new feet of snow up here I was overjoyed to see that NW would spin on time today and wrapped up my shoveling and took off. Noticed there were no vehicles on the highway but attributed that to bad roads in Reno and didn't think anymore about it until a friend called me at the Galena Blockade saying the road was closed again... feeling like pigs in a corn field the 20 or so folks cheered N-Dot and for the next 15 minutes just ogled the shortness of the line knowing that we would have many runs with the mountain to ourselves.  As I mentioned earlier the wind died last night up here and the snow was falling straight down for a change which made the skiing excellent, one could sail over the wind rows knowing the landing would be cushioned by 16" of soft, light, dry pow. The NE wind did kick up bigtime limiting vis (see pic) but if you stuck to the trees the skiing was magical.  The only note of caution, the tree wells are deep. Beware. Slide Side remained clo

 "It just isn't stopping" said my neighbor here at Skytavern. "Nope" was my reply continuing to shovel the doorways to avoid getting trapped inside. This storm was everything they said it would be and more. As I write this 80 and 431 are still closed along with a long list of other mountain roads. Total footage... probably between 4 and 5 since Friday. What is noteworthy is that last night the hurricane force winds did finally abate and the snow fell straight down for hours on end setting skiers up for an amazing experience once the road and resort finally do open. Authorities are talking about 431 opening later today and with the lack of wind that will most likely be possible. When... is anybodies guess at this point.  Avalanche danger remains quite high so be cautious in the BC. We have had a lot of wind transported snow and slides will be in the picture for awhile given the temps and heavy snowfall.  If you want future posts in your inbox please sign up and l