Whats up newschoolers, longtime browser, I was hoping i could get some info on squaw/alpine. Heading there Feb.10-14th, Its a sun-thur trip, never been there (clearly). Did alot of research before booking, looks like historically feb gets a decent amount of snow but nothing like the spring. What has snow been like in recent years in Feb? Also best areas not off kt-22? Best things to do in the resort? Any input is much appreciated; thanks in advance!
Squaw
- Thread starter eskeet
- Start date
Traffic_Cone
Member
13947476:JoeF2661 said:
It’s pretty empty weekdays you’ll be fine
SofaKingSick
Active member
What kinds of terrain are you looking for primarily?
Non_State_Actor
Active member
13947520:tcurle said:
This right here. There are fun spots all over but those are the big three, if you will.
13947530:SofaKingSick said:
I enjoy everything, get plenty of good tree skiing in steamboat so maybe some more wide open, big lines you can really open it up on. Also enjoy fun natural features, mediumish cliffs and such. I'll be skiing for four days so a little of everything the mountain has to offer.
SofaKingSick
Active member
13947621:eskeet said:
Word well of course it depends on snow but Silverado is dirt nasty if they have the snow (doesn't always happen), granite chief is sick as hell, palisades are super fun and offer everything from pretty tame to balls to the wall, KT is awesome of course, broken arrow is beautiful but doesn't always have snow, headwall etc has all kinds of great stuff
But dude I'd def suggest exploring Alpine Meadows. Same pass, same ridge of mtns, and has some insanely sick zones, more of which are traverse-to's and hike-to's, which adds to the fact that Alpine somehow just doesn't get as crowded as squaw. Definitely worth exploring, plus it kinda has more bowls and longer descents than squaw in some cases. Super super underrated mtn (thank god)
13947531:mystery3 said:
Excellent, some go pro videos of those areas look like a lot of fun.
Obviously this depends on snow, but I feel like my bibbys might be the best option to bring with me, I'm flying so I'd like to keep packing to a minimum. Any input on preferred skis out there?
SofaKingSick
Active member
13947727:eskeet said:
I'd say just go to the top and head north or south on the traverses/ridge lines. My fave areas there were estelle bowl, keyhole, wolverine...there are tons of sick zones tho, you'll have a ball just exploring
BayAreaJerry
Member
As long as you dont need park, go to Apline. It's a lot less crowded and skiers are generally more experienced and dont get in your way.
ThaLorax
Active member
Don't forget Red Dog/Squaw Creek chairs. Some really fun terrain there, especially if the upper mountain is on wind/snow hold.
Chute 75 is just long. It's not actually that difficult.
Uhh, Alpine has an awesome park with a dedicated lift.
13947711:3mania said:
Chute 75 is just long. It's not actually that difficult.
13947873:JeroenBreneman said:
Uhh, Alpine has an awesome park with a dedicated lift.
SofaKingSick
Active member
13948371:ThaLorax said:
agreed. lots of good stuff in there including poulsen's gulley
BayAreaJerry
Member
13948371:ThaLorax said:
Lol not anymore. They have a tiny as dork with 3 boxes and like 2 jumps. That’s it. Every since they have merged with Squaw their parks have gone way down hill
montanabandits
Member
Best thing to do in the resort? Ski Naked hands down. Squaw being the Diplomatic and reasonable resort that it is actually encourages nudity, and patrollers will actually give you high fives for that sort of thing. Make sure you tell every gaper you see how cool you are. OH and wait till 4 o clock when everyone skis down mountain run at the end of the day, makes for a great human slalom course.
BayAreaJerry
Member
13948517:Profahoben_212 said:
yeah but I dont think they are going to make a good park this year, hopefully they do though. It wont have a dedicated lift and will probably off to the side though. Better than nothing
I lived in Tahoe and skied Squaw everyday for half a decade, but I left more than 10 years ago. I don't have up to date information, but I will say that as far as areas off KT go Headwall is insane. The Light Towers, North Bowl and the slot are awesome. You can also access all of Cornice II. One of my favorite laps was to hit the Slot and then cut skier's right into CII and ski classic chute or hourglass. Lots of good lines in the whole Headwall area even when there is no new snow. Light Towers is one of my favorite spots on a pow day. North Bowl can get great windbuff. Granite is also really fun. The peak is insane, and the chair has lots of fun stuff too. Siberia ridge is one of the really great places to huck on a pow day and the Palisades are awesome if conditions are good. Mainline Pocket is another great hike. You can hike Palisades or the Pocket without new snow and sometimes get good turns, although I usually waited for new snow to hike. Silverado is awesome, some of the best terrain on the mountain. It has low elevation and the chair is slow, so I rarely went there unless there was powder, but on a pow day it was one of my favorites. Broken Arrow has some cool lines too, although it gets sunbaked pretty early. That can be fun though, when it has not snowed in a while you can sometimes get good slush turns down Tower 16 in January because of the direction if faces. Squaw has lots of different exposure, so somewhere will probably be slushy in February while somewhere else will have wintery snow. I used to lap the KT alternates all morning and early afternoon some days, then go over and hit Rock Garden when it softens up. You did not ask about KT, but KT has tons of good terrain as I'm sure you know. Solitude is also a fun area with lots of 5-15 foot hits, it is underrated and rarely crowded. The bottom line is that Squaw has tons of sick terrain, so enjoy. I ski Mammoth 35-40 days a year now, and while I love Mammoth I do miss Squaw. I would ski Squaw over Mammoth given the choice, although it does depend on the season. In a bad season I would take Mammoth, but otherwise I like Squaw. February can be a great month, it can go either way. But if the season is average the base should be good when you go. If I had my choice I would probably go in March, spring turns or pow, but February can be a great month. It just depends, I saw some big February storms when I lived there.
Alpine is one of the most underrated mountains in North America. It is very steep and has lots of great hikeable terrain. Alpine blows Vail's doors off steepness wise, put it that way.
Have fun. I have not lived there in a while, so I can't tell you about night life, but I would concentrate on skiing, you can party anywhere.
Alpine is one of the most underrated mountains in North America. It is very steep and has lots of great hikeable terrain. Alpine blows Vail's doors off steepness wise, put it that way.
Have fun. I have not lived there in a while, so I can't tell you about night life, but I would concentrate on skiing, you can party anywhere.
SofaKingSick
Active member
13948604:dan4060 said:
excellent post, agreed on everything
13949178:eskeet said:
i would yeah, it's an absurdly good mtn that somehow flies under the radar while squaw sometimes gets whacked with crowds. both are amazing, just reading this thread makes me pine for them ha
13949178:eskeet said:
It certainly would not be a bad idea to spend some time at Alpine. I really loved that mountain. My pass was at Squaw, so I rarely went there, but it is pretty great. The only thing I would worry about is that one of my buddies who lives in the bay and skis about 40 days a year says that they don't always open all of Alpine when it is slow. I don't know how true that is, and I would expect they open it fully on weekends, but I would not want to commit a day to Alpine and have them not open most of the lifts. Maybe someone who is currently living there can chime in and give an opinion on how often this happens, I only have hearsay to go on.
ThaLorax
Active member
13949183:dan4060 said:
I grew up skiing Squaw and Alpine and I'm sure it's only gotten busier since then. That is not true. I've never been there on a weekday when they had lifts closed just because it wasn't busy. The only reason they close lifts is lack of snow, too much snow, or too much wind.
13949245:ThaLorax said:
I know for a fact that there were times that they closed lifts at Alpine last year during weekdays when it was not crowded. Now that Squaw owns it they are supposedly using it more like an overflow mountain. They were not closing things because of wind or lack of snow in the cases I am aware of, I heard this from a number of other people who currently live there. That is the problem with Squaw owning Alpine now, it used to be competition, now it is not. I don't know how often that happened, but I have talked to a number of people who had that experience last year, and it was not due to low snow or wind.
How many times have you skied Alpine since Squaw purchased it?
profa_212
Active member
13949304:dan4060 said:
Squaw and alpine both due money holds. They wont say it but they absolutely do. The lifts they close you can normally get to with a traverse or short hike though.
If I remember correctly a year or two ago they put out an email about how they dont do money holds and everyone kinda wtf'd. Everyone shut on them for blatantly lying for the next week or so
ThaLorax
Active member
13949304:dan4060 said:
Maybe 5-8 times since Squaw purchased it. Skied there hundreds of times before that. I'm sure things have changed. I don't remember the name of the lift, but I do remember there being one lift that was usually closed, but you could traverse/hike into that terrain pretty easily.
We have one lift here at Snowmass that closes when it's slow too, but it's a redundant lift anyway that only runs to help mitigate crowds.