Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Low Snow Gems

It’s tough to match the excitement of a historic snow year, when impassable chutes barely cleaved in vertical rock get choked with enough snow to have a go. That kind of energy takes a full season to build and savor. For the more impatient skiers among us, the real salvation comes from the low-elevation storm. They’re far from frequent, but can be counted on to happen a lot more often than a 10- or 25-year snow season. But what makes the low snow so gratifying is that the lines it occasionally fills in, are the ones that often taunt you day-to-day – within easy sight, within easy reach, if only it would just snow enough to fill it in. Just beyond town, behind the office, off the side of the road, the eye picks up the right undulation of terrain that seems to have the perfect profile to wind turns down. The demands are not huge – a wet start to cement over the rocks and weigh down the shrubbery, cooling temps to transition to powder, and reliable winds to fill in the perfect zig-zag of a gully or chute through completion. And when it goes, well, the window is short to leave your tracks for everyone else to admire.

That’s the spirit captured in the photos on a recent post from localcrew over at The Bacon Strip blog. If you haven’t seen The Bacon Strip, check them out. It’s a solid trail adventure – be it on skis, bikes, whatever – based loosely in Reno, Nevada. When the snow fell low in the Reno valley, Team Bacon Strip let lie the jewels of Tahoe backcountry and went right for a rarer local gem. Nice line!


(Peavine Peak, Nevada. Photo courtesy of localcrew at The Bacon Strip)

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, thanks for the props! I thought that line was pretty nice, too :-)

lc

snorider14 said...

This is the Nevada Gold Crew: We've been riding "The Vine" (the line you skied here on Peavine) and numerous other lines on Peavine for at least four years now. We've rode a quite a bit of Nevada in recent years. Desatoyas, Toiyabes, Peterson Range, and Peavine (at least 30 descents on Peavine) to name a few. I must say, You have great taste for a line. The Vine is our favorite line on Peavine! Props on a good low snow find.

More to come from the NGC soon

snorider14 said...

to see examples of Nevada Gold Crew go to.
http://nevadagoldcrew.blogspot.com/
"Low Snow Gems" really does capture what we do!
I love the phrase and will be using it frequently!

snowrider1034 said...

props on the find. hope to see some more nevada shreding from you guys. I know the NGC will post some more things from farther east across this great state.

snowrider1034 said...

If you would like to see some of the pics of our central nevada mission check out Nevadagoldcrew.blogspot.com we would like to know what you think about what we skied.

Thanks NGC