by Judy Bracken, Newsletter Editor
It was April 25 at Palisades, as it was the only resort open on Mondays in the north Lake Tahoe area. Elaine and I were loving the sunny skies, cool breezy weather and no crowds on this late season day. There had been a few inches of new snow the week before, so coverage on the slopes was good. As the afternoon waned and the temperatures rose, the snow was becoming sticky–the kind that grabs and slows the skis suddenly. Elaine was quite a bit ahead of me, as I was cautiously making my way down to the base on Mountain Run upper road, when I heard a rumbling noise behind me as a snowboarder cried out “Oh, s*#%!” I initially thought the snowboarder had just crashed, but when the noise continued I turned around to look, and was gobsmacked to see a wall of slow moving snow continuing to slide down seconds behind me! I was no more than 20 yards away, and no one was buried in it, thankfully. The snowboarder rode down another run, so I was the last person to ski down Mountain Run that day.
Elaine and I decided to take the Funitel up once again, so we could get a better view of the slide. It originated about 2/3 of the way up the run (2nd Westface, next to Mosely’s) above the road. It was not a roaring avalanche like we see in films, but more like a slow slide full of big, heavy, wet chunks. When Elaine skied down next to the slide to glean more information, a ski patroller scolded her as he was probing the snow. Apparently, she was not supposed to come that close, although he was probably just following protocol. The slide was about 3-4 feet tall, and the road was, most likely, cleared by the next day.
Whether the universe was sending me a message, or I had an angel by my side, it was a good time to end the season. At any rate, that day was a day to remember…my last ski day of the 2021-22 ski season!
