Fresh Snow at Squaw Valley

Squaw was a white paradise on Saturday. Fourteen to 16 inches of snow had fallen, and it was my first time skiing the resort on a powder day. Chains were required on Highway 80, but the Bay Area Ski Bus made it to the resort in good time. Before de-boarding the bus, I layered my clothes, because the weather can be temperamental at Squaw (my suspicions were right–the conditions ranged from cold and foggy to sunny and slightly slushy).

Squaw Valley Resort

Because of the snowfall, lifts were gradually opening at the resort. We rode up the Funitel (a rare treat, since it is the only funitel in the U.S.) to the midmountain and then skied over to the Gold Coast Express. Because it was becoming crowded, we took a slight detour to Mainline, a small two-person lift adjacent to Gold Coast.

The runs were filled with strings of youngsters in ski schools–aka, snow cubs as they call them at Squaw. One ski instructor was telling her pupils to stay in the french fry and let their skis turn uphill to slow themselves down. One little boy exclaimed that he did it, and I wished for a moment that adults could celebrate small accomplishments with such exuberance.

Next, we skied to Shirley Lake, an area that hadn’t been groomed and was full of powder. Again the lift lines looked long, so we headed for Solitude and skied around the trees a bit.

Riding the Funitel at Squaw Valley

One of my favorite lifts at Squaw is Red Dog. It takes riders to Lake View, which as the name suggests has lovely views of Lake Tahoe, to Twin Pines. It makes for a nice, long run down the mountain that we lapped twice before breaking for lunch. The run is long enough that I could feel my legs burning when I got to the bottom. We decided to try the barbecue at the Resort at Squaw Creek. The food was delicious and cheaper than anything we could’ve found at the main lodge.

Refueled, I was ready to take on Red Dog. The snow was a bit choppy, but I made it down the black run without any problems. Feeling perhaps overconfident, I tackled Cushman’s, which was steeper and scarier than Red Dog. Once down, I realized our day was almost done. I couldn’t believe how fast time was flying! We took Exhibition and then headed back to the base to call it a day. I enjoyed a great day at Squaw, and I left a lot more terrain to explore for when I return.