Barren slopes [r] [s]

I took a midweek trip up to Tahoe's fabulous north shore. Apparently all that Wii Weather paid off, or I just got really lucky:

1. An hour after our flight left San Diego, the airport was shut down on account of heavy fog. My roommate was in a holding pattern for an hour before they redirected him to Vegas.
2. A snow flurry arrived for our first day of skiing. It created a slightly treacherous powder-on-ice situation, but was preferable to hot weather and a thin, icy base (experienced by the same roommate the days preceding).
3. The second day was very mild and clear with great, fresh snow.
4. We returned to Sacramento as a nasty storm was approaching, escaping Tahoe at precisely the right time.

The first day we skiied Squaw Valley, then Northstar on the next day. Both resorts were virtually deserted, leaving vacant slopes and nonexistent lines. In fact, the only significant population consisted of rainbow-scarved Google employees on their annual ski trip. It probably goes without saying that most of them took advantage of complimentary lessons and could be seen wobbling down the flats, so the mountain backsides were wonderfully barren.

Connie had her little point and shoot, so I had a some fun shooting a couple runs. I couldn't coax her into the snow park, but the vids definitely show what a nice day it was. Next purchase: auto-stabilization.

And finally, it was this trip that I realized how much better the Northstar runs are. Squaw's runs are short, the chairs are slow, and the lift/run setup is just lackluster (like Mammoth). Northstar has some long runs, a great all-diamond backside (see first video below), and lots of fast, high-capacity chairs.