Looking back upon this winter, I’m proud to say that I pushed myself in aspects of my skiing that I haven’t really explored before. Last year in Colorado, I was pretty much only skiing jumps and rails with the occasional run through some trees if we got a couple of inches of snow. Granted, I was pretty happy with my arsenal of tricks and ability to ski the terrain park consistently, but the intimidating structure of Squaw Valley directed my attention to a grander scale of skiing the mountain top to bottom. I found myself on top of lines that really had me gripped, to say the very least. “If you fall here, you’re gonna be tumbling over some rocks” was a pretty common statement uttered at the top of some runs. Steep walls peppered with exposed rocks, mandatory cliff drops to get out of situations, and tight chutes that were about as wide as your skis were all on the menu this season. I’m proud of myself, but at the same time, I feel as if I could’ve pushed myself harder and gone a little bigger. I guess that’s what keeps us progressing though, right? Here are some pictures and explanations of some of the lines I ski’d this season.
Adrenaline Chute…Trust me, this chute is a whole lot steeper than it looks. The rock or two in the middle on the way down is also quite the wrench to throw into the situation. In this picture, the rock you have to hop over is actually pretty small. When I ski’d Adrenaline recently, there was two mandatory rock drops on your way down that you needed to hop over. This line is fast, straight, and requires commitment. Adrenaline Chute is a proper name.
Above are the infamous “Fingers” of Squaw Valley. This zone is pretty much a mini version of Alaska and it is located directly underneath the world famous KT-22 chairlift here in Squaw. Some of the most insane airs and absurd hangtime has been witnessed on these rocky spines that demand your A-game at all times. Due to the specific conditions that are needed to deem these relatively safe, I was only able to ski these once this season. I ski’d over to the left of where the skier is standing on top of the cliff near the middle of this photo. Skiing down toward these amazing spectacles of skiing is quite the experience and requires some steep, technical skiing in order to avoid tumbling violently off of them with an entire chairlift line of people looking on. Ha!
Shown above are the Palisades. These monstrous rocks have provided countless hours of footage and spots in ski films over the past 20 years and continue to drop jaws when Squaw skiers decide to get after it. Rarely are they open, but when they are, it goes off and some of the lines that people decide to drop in on are pretty absurd in terms of the consequences. I personally have only ski’d the middle section of this zone, where you can see the tracks coming down from the top. It involves an extremely steep drop in and, more often than not, a straightline out of the bowl that often exceeds 70 mph. Super fun. Below is a picture from the top of the Palisades that does a decent job of portraying just how steep it is. Being up there is a whole lot different than a picture, though. Trust me.
So those are just a couple of rowdy lines that went down this year. I survived and didn’t fall on these, so I guess that’s a plus. I hope that this entry allows you to get an idea of just how big and gnarly of a scale that Squaw is on. Now that I am a lot more familiar with the areas of the mountain and what to expect, I feel confident in stepping my game up to a much bigger level next season. More filming, more sending airs, and skiing steep/technical lines much more fluidly. At the end of this season, my skiing feels at an all time high. Looking forward to next season.
gerbyrnes 