December 26, 2004, Sierra at TAhoe

Greetings from South Lake Tahoe. After spending xmas in the Bay Area with the fam I'm now spending a few days skiing in the area that's been stealing our jet stream. Today's destination was Sierra at Tahoe which is a relatively (by Tahoe standards) small resort off highway 50 west of SLT. Sierra at Tahoe is not a great destination in and of itself as it lacks the size and interesting terrain of the other Tahoe resorts but there are a number of mitigating reasons to ski here including it being close to the Bay Area (which was where I was driving from that morning) and most of it being below treeline so it avoids high winds during a storm--which a small storm was forecasted to affect the area starting today thru Wednesday after which an uber massive storm is promised to dump massive amounts of snow all thru the Sierra to bring in the new year.<br><br>The snow showers forecasted to start in the afternoon did not materialize though the high winds did. The Sierra had not received new snow in a few weeks so conditions were firm; the groomers were carvable though skiing off-piste was lackluster. The crowds were thinner then what I'd expected on a holiday though there were a few moderate-length lines. As the day progressed soft snow was scraped to the surface, hence Ben's roaster tail:<br> <br>(Checkout Ben's ski tips, he's on a pair of short slalom skis with tele bindings)<br><br>We started a bit after 10:30, skied leisurely with the day's vertical being 29,440ft.<br><br>Jeff<br><br>PS: The day was my first time on my new Garmont Adrenalins. The boots completely rocked--mucho better then my Mega Rides (I wonder if I'll feel the same when the snow is soft?).<br>