Northstar Report
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2005 10:33 pm
Saturday was pretty much like the week before. I think they had Arrow, Comstock, Rendevous, Vista, and the bunny slope lift running. Coveraged on the open groomed stuff was ok.
Backside had Burnout open.
They had a terrain park setup underneath Arrow with rails, and a couple jumps (small tabletop with little kickers?), and the small half pipe underneath Pioneer/Arrow.
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Sunday, I think the only thing they groomed was Village, the runs below Arrow, and the bunny slope area. Same lifts. Towards the end of the day they opened up another run on the backside (Sierra Grande or something?)
Super pipe was closed.
Lookout was closed, although I thought it looked like they were grooming home run in the morning...
Backside first tracks was rad. But after a couple runs, it was tracked up enough to make it much more difficult to keep a straight line. The snow was really heavy, and visibility was low.
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p.s. tip once there is more snow: Park in G or H, I forget which, right below Home Run. If you arrive a little late, take the 2nd parking entrance (err exit?), and you can approach from the end of the parking area and avoid the parking traffic. Try to get as close to the run as possible, walking sucks.
If you're looking up Home Run, to your left there will be a trail that drops down to the road, and continues on and drops you out at the gondola area (at least it did before they started new construction, need to check it out). Great if you have a pass, and actually, the ticket office is now right next to the gondola entrance anyway, so no need to walk back to the bottom of the village. You can ski/board on this trail if you really want to, but it is usually pretty hard/icey and narrow.
To access Home Run, take the Pioneer chair (the double off the mid-mountain base area). I forget the exact route, for the most part we would instead take Pioneer, hop on the tow rope to get to the Lookout area, head down to I think Martis. Where it starts to get steep, there is a cat trail or something through "gladed area". You can drop through the trees and meet up with the cat trail (that you will take if you take the pioneer route anyway). Study a map before trying the gladed area/tree route.
p.p.s. $62 for a lift ticket at N* is way too much.
Backside had Burnout open.
They had a terrain park setup underneath Arrow with rails, and a couple jumps (small tabletop with little kickers?), and the small half pipe underneath Pioneer/Arrow.
--
Sunday, I think the only thing they groomed was Village, the runs below Arrow, and the bunny slope area. Same lifts. Towards the end of the day they opened up another run on the backside (Sierra Grande or something?)
Super pipe was closed.
Lookout was closed, although I thought it looked like they were grooming home run in the morning...
Backside first tracks was rad. But after a couple runs, it was tracked up enough to make it much more difficult to keep a straight line. The snow was really heavy, and visibility was low.
--
p.s. tip once there is more snow: Park in G or H, I forget which, right below Home Run. If you arrive a little late, take the 2nd parking entrance (err exit?), and you can approach from the end of the parking area and avoid the parking traffic. Try to get as close to the run as possible, walking sucks.
If you're looking up Home Run, to your left there will be a trail that drops down to the road, and continues on and drops you out at the gondola area (at least it did before they started new construction, need to check it out). Great if you have a pass, and actually, the ticket office is now right next to the gondola entrance anyway, so no need to walk back to the bottom of the village. You can ski/board on this trail if you really want to, but it is usually pretty hard/icey and narrow.
To access Home Run, take the Pioneer chair (the double off the mid-mountain base area). I forget the exact route, for the most part we would instead take Pioneer, hop on the tow rope to get to the Lookout area, head down to I think Martis. Where it starts to get steep, there is a cat trail or something through "gladed area". You can drop through the trees and meet up with the cat trail (that you will take if you take the pioneer route anyway). Study a map before trying the gladed area/tree route.
p.p.s. $62 for a lift ticket at N* is way too much.