Chimney Sweep

Recounting the Late Season Radness @ Squaw Valley, CA

Chimney rounds in mid-May?

Skiing KT-22 through Memorial Day (end of May)?

Father's Day (mid-June) shred weekend?

Open until July 15th???

SAY SOMETHING?

THIS SHOULD BE ARCHIVED!!!

MAY 10, 2017

After watching the Squaw boys do their laps on The Chimney in the Palisades on social media on the days of May 8th and 9th, I knew I had to get up there before the steep lines melted away. So I decided to take a day trip from San Francisco, arriving after a one-way, summer-like drive of 2 hours and 35 minutes. With nervous anticipation, I entered the second funitel of the day on the way to the Chimney… using a flannel shirt as a ski coat.

The day was warm… incredibly warm. How long does the chimney stay open? Will the snow be sticky? Will the exit go smoothly? After one round the answer was clear. The conditions were perfect.

I was greeted by the usual Snowbrains crew of Miles Clark, Andy Hayes, Bevan Waite, Aaron Fox, Alex Knuuttunen, Josh Anderson, Ethan Kizzia and Nate Kushlan. Each line was marked “The Chimney Sweep” on the skier's far left to “Schmidiots” on the skier's far right. Heck, there were even party trains filming as we rode one after the other. It's been a long time since I had so much fun skiing on May 10th.

On my sixth lap I was greeted by a patrol who told me that this would be my last chimney line for the day. Of course I had to do stupid things. Both Alex and Nate have done it in one piece before, so I had the right beta to do the same thing. After a speed check I was able to bend the top, hold it together and cross the exit with ease… thrilled!

We spent the rest of the day lapping KT-22 until 2:15 p.m. From the West Face to Chute 75 to the Nose and the Alternates to under Olympic Lady…the corn snow was smooth and fast. When my legs gave out, I knew it was time to jump back in the car and head home… and I was grinning from ear to ear.

I see that KT-22 looks more white for May…

KT-22 – May 10, 2017

This will be our first twist of the day…

Chimney Sweep – Palisades, Squaw Valley

It was a party for steep ski nerds…

Chimney draft sessions

The sweep drove like a dream…

Squaw Valley, California

It's hard to believe it's almost mid-May…

Casey sends it – Photo: Jay Tierney

Bevan doing what he does best…

No tele-turn here…

Alex follows the speed protocol…

Alex K comes over…

Josh gets unconventional away from the mighty big cornice…

Josh A is a certified skier…

Round after round the boys continued as long as the patrol kept it open…

California ski lemmings…

Alex K shows us why chimney sweeping is so much fun…

Alex K comes over…

Party in the Palisades…

Extreme skiers go extreme…

Now it was my turn to finally get off Schmidiots…

Skiers about Schmidiots…

So the plan was to stay left and drive fast…

Oh boy!

It's time to slow down a bit to keep control…

Hey mom, look at this!

The decisive curve and luckily it was perfect corn snow…

Just one more round here…

Ok, now it's time to let them run…

Skier gets aggressive in the Palisades…

Time to ollie this bergschrund…

Isn't skiing fun?

Nate and I celebrated our Schmidiots rounds with a Red Bull and a Gatorade…BALLER!

Did you just ski Schmidiots?

After the stressful laps were over, we finally made a few turns…

Nate shares some carvings for late spring…

Over at KT-22 there was an incredible view of the amount of snow on the upper mountain…

May 10, 2017 – Squaw Valley USA

Time for some Chute-75…

Slide 75 – Squaw Valley – May 10, 2017

Mandatory stop at the Eagle…

Eagle's Nest/McConkey's – Squaw

Oh, hello, Alpine Meadows. You sure have a lot of snow!

Alpine Meadows – May 10, 2017

Olympic Lady skied quite well in the afternoon…

Oly Lady slides…

But then again, the corn snow in The Alternates was silky smooth…

The alternatives – Squaw Valley

Ultimately, KT-22 went well on May 10th… but my legs told me to stop… and I always listen to my legs.

KT-22 – May 10, 2017

But on May 24, 2017, Ethan Kizzia decided to lay the final Chimney Sweep tracks of the season…

I'm getting a little skinny there, buddy!

Chimney Sweep – May 24, 2017

And he does it…

Ethan Kizzia stops by… Photo: Aaron Fox

There's enough snow, right?

Threading the Needle – Squaw Valley

My God, I think he did it!

May 24, 2017 – Chimney Sweep – Photo: Aaron Fox

SUCCESS!

Aggressive Alpine Skiing – Photo: Aaron Fox

MAY 27, 2017!

After the infamous KT-22 (The Mothership) chairlift was “closed” on Saturday, May 20th, ski patrol decided there was enough snow to keep it open a little longer. Well, the chair is finally closed for the upcoming season May 28th at 7 p.m but not before I was able to do a few laps in some of my favorite zones.

The Olympic Lady, The Nose, Chute 75, West Face to The Alternates areas were fantastically calm in the warm spring temperatures. Essentially, if you decided to ski anything that was behind or below the chair line, you would end up walking down a patch of dry topsoil. Otherwise, an easy transition to the Mountain Run from Chute 75 to the Saddle gave you access to the base of the KT. Ultimately, given the date, I was beyond thrilled that Squaw kept the iconic chair open for my visit.

The day started in South Lake Tahoe with a beautiful view of Mt. Tallac…

Mt Tallac – May 27, 2017

Emerald Bay looks as quiet as ever…taken from a moving vehicle…

Emerald Bay, Tahoe South

And then straight to Siberia to get a good look at the open terrain…

Squaw Valley – May 27, 2017

Siberia was COMPLETE, so we ended up doing a few high speed laps…

Siberia Express – May 27, 2017

The chimney still shows some life…as do the marks of Ethan's chimney sweep from a few days before…

Chimney, palisades – Squaw Valley

Today was a day with the grandmothers…and of course lots of sweets!

Skied to Gold Coast…

Of course we had to watch “Shirley Wiggle”…

Shirley Lake – May 27, 2017

And then it was time for a few KT-22 laps before lunch…

A little thin at the bottom – KT-22 – May 27, 2017

However, as the altitude increased, things looked much better…

Olympic Lady and Lake Tahoe…

Slide 75 still had the huge slush bumps…

Slush with the Groms – Chute 75

Reese met up with us to ski some of the steeper open areas…

Reese puts one down – Chute 75

I always enjoy the middle ankle from the top…

Slide 75 – May 27, 2017

Perfect weather and easy moguls… HELLO!!!

Fun Happens – Squaw Valley

When your 8 year old tries to compete against you…

Skiing to the base on May 27, 2017

Upper KT-22 still looks pretty buried for late May…

KT-22 – May 27, 2017

High-speed straight lines under Olympic Lady helped with seasonal depression…

Time to let them run…

The Mountain Run won't last long, but should it really? It's almost June!

Mountain running – May 27, 2017

KT-22 will be closed tomorrow and this time forever!

Another day KT-22

Time for one last run on the alternates…

Deputy – Squaw Valley – May 27, 2017

I can't imagine a more suitable drink…

Why not drink the beer that goes with my skis???

17th-18th JUNE 2017!

California's monstrous snowpack in 2017 continues to provide snow sliding fun for winter enthusiasts. Over Father's Day weekend I enjoyed fantastic days in the sun skiing in Siberia, the Gold Coast and Shirley Lake with my wife and children. Saturday ended up being a cruiser day to get a tan, do a few laps and enjoy lunch at High Camp before heading back to the hotel for the pool.

Sunday started with some quick piste laps on Siberia Run, traversing under the Headwall Chair to Hogsback to tackle some steeper sections up to the base of the Chair. After Siberia we headed to Shirley Lake to check out The Wiggle, ride some north facing groomers and mark some off piste just past the Shirley Chutes. The off-piste terrain was still fairly smooth with minimal sunbursts, making higher speed corners quite pleasant.

I'm pretty sure Red Dog is done for the season…

Summer morning in Squaw Valley

Yes, my 6 year old daughter is ready to kill some mud…

Young grom eye is her line…

The family that skis together… skis in Siberia on Father's Day!

Siberia Express – June 17, 2017

It snowed a little faster and more evenly on Shirley Lake…

Parker is doing a carving in mid-June…

I guess the kids are fans of The Warriors…

Summer Shirley carves…

A rare sight of the woman taking turns in front of the camera…

Shirley Lake – June 17, 2017

A few more laps and it was time to reach high camp…

Grom at Shirley Lake – June 17, 2017

No complaints here…

High camp with blue skies and snow-covered slopes…

Lazing around after skiing with the third child…

Hammocks are stressful…trust me!

A lakefront dinner on the West Coast for the win…

Boating Season – Lake Tahoe…

Paid a visit to the brothers at the Slot Bar…

Slot Bar Blanket Ski Mag Porn…

The third child may be young, but he still mandated a visit to the mothership…

First visit to KT-22…

The next day, my eldest son and I got in the Funitel queue early and headed straight to Siberia…

Siberia Express – June 18, 2017

We found that the crossing to Hogsback provided high quality corn with a steeper gradient…

Hogsback – June 18, 2017

Young Steph Curry takes a turn under the Palisades…

After some time in Siberia, we moved to Shirley Lake to explore as much as we could…

Crossing to Shirley Chutes…

The Shirley Wiggle has grown in depth week by week…

Dave Meters shows us how – June 18, 2017

POV from INSIDE THE WIGGLE!!!!

Welcome to the technology of the year 2017…

There's still snow in the Palisades (especially National Chute), but my son didn't want to hike…I think I was being nice on Father's Day

Palisades – Squaw Valley – June 18, 2017

And with one last look at Chute 75, our final trip to Squaw for the “ski season” was over…

Last Funitel ride of the season…

And then when my family's summer travels took us to Telluride until mid-July, Squaw stayed open until Saturday, July 15, 2017…not too shabby, Tahoe, not too shabby.

To see what it looked like on the last day of the season (JULY 15!!!!), click here:

Squaw Valley, CA Saturday, July 15th Weather Report: Last day of the epic 2016/17 season?

WHAT WILL THE NEXT SEASON BRING?

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