It is difficult not to be smug
29th February 2012 | James Cove, Lake Tahoe, California
Last modified on September 2nd, 2021
Our content editor is in Lake Tahoe in California. Up until last weekend it was having one of the worst winters on record. Then it started snowing and it hasn’t stopped. Check out his latest blog.
As I flew into San Francisco last weekend I had the distinct feeling of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even the powder resort of Kirkwood that normally gets around 17m of snow a season had barely managed 3m.
Meanwhile we all know what a good winter The Alps has been having.
Further north in Canada it has been chucking it down and elsewhere in US, in Colorado and Utah, the snow drought has ended.
Not in California though and we joked about golf, hiking and lazing by a hotel pool.
As I arrived in Northstar an enthusiastic hotel receptionist said about 5cm of fresh snow may fall.
‘Big deal’ I thought.
I am pleased to say that as I write this, three days later, my initial thoughts in the first blog have proved entirely incorrect.
Northstar has had 36cm of fresh snow since Monday and Heavenly almost 50cm.
As I look out of my hotel room in Heavenly there is no sign of it easing.
And it hasn’t just been snow we have had blue sky too.
Winter is most definitely back.
Blue sky too. Image © PlanetSKI
For a video of conditions in Northstar last Monday see this related PlanetSKI story.
I am not going to say it is the best powder I have skied and go over the top with hyperbole even though I am in the land of exaggeration and make believe…if another person tells me it is AWESOME I am going to scream.
It is though pretty damn good and I have certainly skied in some of the best snow of the winter here in Northstar, Kirkwood and Heavenly. Made much sweeter by the fact it wasn’t expected.
This being America and the land of eternal verbal optimism everyone is now saying it will carry on snowing in March and it will be the best late season conditions in recent memory.
“This is the start of some big snowfalls and we all feel it will be a great end of season with huge snowfall,” said the vice president of marketing and sales for Kirkwood, Michael Dalzell, to me as we tackled its steep terrain in some of the best conditions of the winter so far.
He of course has no idea what will actually happen. No-one does.
It may snow again or it may not.
This could be the start of a record-breaking end of season or it could be a blip in an otherwise very poor winter.
All we know is that it has snowed, another storm is hitting as I write this but the forecasters cannot really say what will happen after the weekend.
Once again it proves that the weather and the snow is a fickle friend.
It is though very nice to be in the right place at exactly the right time.
There is probably no better place to be right now than Lake Tahoe, California.
Never ending work at the moment. Image © PlanetSKI
I will be filming another video report of the powder in Heavenly later today so do check back for that if you want a look at some images of the snow.
Fact box
For more information on Vail Resorts then see here and for detailed information about Northstar on its web site then click here.
If you want to take advantage of possible better end of season conditions then take a look at this offer:
Eight nights in San Francisco with Virgin Holidays, including scheduled flights with Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow direct to San Francisco, seven nights accommodation at the 4V Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe followed by one nights accommodation at the 3V+ Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf both on a room only basis with car hire included starts from £1,339.
Prices are per person based on 2 adults. Prices are based on departures 19th March 2012.
For the spirit of the mountains
