Squaw Valley USA: A detailed guided tour of where the locals ski

The world turned their eyes to Squaw in the 60's for the Winter Olympics... Free ski X-gamers and Extreme Skiers call it home for a reason. It's one of the top resorts in the country!

The picture above shows the nose, the slot and the light towers. If you look at the big black chunk of rock in the middle of the picture, just to the left is the slot. It's a long steep fall-line run. It can get bumped out, but usually it is awesome smooth skiing. If you follow the fall-line all the way down, you will come to another small cliff band. This is called Classic Chute. If you ever pictured a narrow fall-line chute between the rocks, this is it. Make sure you ski it if you're in the slot. Just to the left of that, between the slot and cornice 2 chair, is the Light Towers. This is a true 50 degree pitch between the rocks. You lose it in here, and you'll go all the way. On the others side of the big rock wall is the Nose. This area is usually wind scoured and perfect smooth chalk like snow. I have had some of the best skiing conditions for chalky, grippy snow ever right here on this short 400 foot section called the nose. Take Headwall chair to get there. if you look 50 feet before you get off hte chair, you will see the hiking path to the garbage chutes. It's called that because unless there is alot of snow, small rocks litter the snow, but after a big dump, this area is a must ski!

Let me tell you about the best skiing at Squaw and how to find it. The West Face of KT22 has some of the best skiing in Tahoe. It's a 1000 feet of vertical that streams over cliffs and smooth powder corridors. "Dead Tree" is one of my favorites. It's a quick 8 foot drop into 35 degree slope. To get there. go right off the chair, follow the cat track left for 200 feet and look over the edge on the right. you will see signs that say danger cliff area. Spend some time skiing all the runs off this lift, you can't go wrong here. When it starts to get to warm and the snow gets too heavy then head up to granite chief.

Below is the map of kt22. On the very top of the map you can see eagles nest. It's an almost unskiable 60 degree pitch. If you get in here, you are one of the ballsiest skiers on the mountain!

The only problem with kt 22 and the west face is it's skied out fast and the lift line in the morning on powder days is unbearable. People get there 2 hours early just to get a good spot. Here is where they go. Straight down the face to the fingers. The fingers is a 60 foot cliff band directly under the chairlift. If you get there early, you can see the huck fest. Some will straight run the whole face and launch off the 60 footer into the huge berm of powder that fills underneath. There are 5 separate chutes in the fingers, hence the name fingers. If you want powder, but don't want to wait in the line, head up red dog lift for a run, and by the time you get back, the first round of skiers has gone up kt22 and now you can get on.

The Palisades pictured above are famous world-wide. You hike past the sign at the ski patrol shack and straight up the road. If you happen to be up there on a powder day, you will see skiers launching 70-80 footers. Chutes like the box, the tube, the groove tube, are fast, scary and not for the intermediate skier. You have to hike up for 10 minutes to get there, and on top you will see an FAA relay building used to guide commercial airplanes away from the peak with a collision avoidance system. Looking in from the top, all the chutes start with a cliff / cornice drop and end with a fast outrun. There is an easy way out, so you can take a black diamond skier or better.

Silverado pictured below is one of my favorite areas. now it only has a slow regular speed triple chair coming out, but the terrain is so good, it's where the extreme skiing contest was held a few years back. Gate 6 opens up right below high camp. Here the steep 35 degree pitch steepens to 50 degrees for a 300 foot section. If you get here first on a powder day, you have to charge down it and stay ahead of the sluff as it will always slide with you. If you kick off the slide and wait for it, you'll be left on the top with no powder.

Granite Chief Peak has some awesome steep skiing. You have to hike 15 minutes to the top of the peak when it's open, but the steep chutes and deep powder is incredible. You can launch 70 footers up there or ski untracked down to my favorite cliff band, the VIPs. If you hang left from the peak and follow the ridge for a 1/4 mile or so along the boundary line, you will come to a cliff band that starts super small and goes up to 50 foot. It's the last rock area on the boundary line on the map. I like it because you can choose your comfort level and build your confidence and skill with each jump. Over the course of the season, you will get only a few days where you can launch the big one, but the powder here is always untouched three days after a storm.

After lunch chute from Emigrant chair. If you take a right off the chair and stay high, you will come to a chute which is steep, but short. This is an awesome chalk filled treat which is always welcome. From here you can cross the cat track and go into the split tree area. This can be some of the best skiing on the mountain and often is. When the crowds are fighting it out for kt22 and headwall chair, you can be sure I'm in here living the good life.

Let SkiNow.net guide you around Squaw. If you have one person or a group, we can show you the best skiing at squaw. We know where to go and when to go there.skinow email