Sierra-At-Tahoe learning about new west bowl after recovering from Caldor Fire
Twin Bridges - At Sierra-at-Tahoe, it's been a busy couple of weeks for lift operations workers like Sean Doyle.
Sean Doyle: In the morning we're digging out the lifts, de-icing shivs and just getting everything ready.
While the mountain teams work, riders like Scott Morales are able to get outside and take advantage of the feet of snow dumped by multiple atmospheric rivers over the last three weeks. Morales has been a longtime patron at Sierra-At-Tahoe and is trying out some terrain that is brand new to the mountain.
"It's kind of above tree line kind of skiing and now you gotta choose your own line which is kinda cool but different," Morales says.
The mountain took its destruction and turned it into something unique. After the Caldor Fire scorched significant parts of the resort and its' terrain, Sierra-at-Tahoe leadership decided to remake the West Bowl into something more akin to a European skiing experience. Because of the significant amount of tree removal, the bowl now has the look and feel of high-elevation skiing and riding.
"It's sad to see the trees gone but it's also a whole different perspective on how you're gonna snowboard it," explains Morales. "It reminds me of Canada."
"Pictures don't do it justice," he continues. "When you actually get on the mountain, the trail is missing almost. Where it's just like you're on top of a peak with no trees. And you're 'where used to be the runs at?' You're just so guided by the trees for where the lines are and the slopes unless you're tree skiing.
That's been both beneficial and a challenge. In today's world of winter resorts, it's rare to see a significant terrain change unless a mountain is undergoing expansion. The lack of trees creates a unique experience for those that come to Sierra but for locals it may take some getting used to.
"Most people when they go and ski west bowl they're like 'I don't even know what run I'm on right now' because everything is different but that makes it really exciting," says Marketing Director Katie Hunter. "We have more bamboo around this mountain that's marking different trails than we've ever had before."
With so much new open terrain, General Manager John Rice has been asked about the possibility of an increased avalanche risk in the West Bowl.
"We're finding this snow is relatively stable," says Rice. "[Ski patrol] gets a lot of potholes when they throw sticks of dynamite. They are getting some movement around Dynamite and those areas. Not so much in the west bowl yet. There's been some wind impacts up on the mountain up here that we didn't expect. Wind lipping some different things we're learning about."
And as the storm continues to dump snow with no end in sight, it's all hands on deck for lift ops like Sean...
"Everyone's helping out," Doyle mentions. "Ski patrol, lift operations, lift mechanics and we're all out there to get it going."
But all the snow is nothing but a paradise for longtime riders like Scott.
"We've been sitting in the cabin for the last three days so we got a little bit of fever so just to be able to get out on the mountain and do some turns was special today," he says.
And a lot of joy for those that have just been hoping for Sierra to get back to where it was before the Caldor Fire came up in the canyon.
"It's just been a long road to get here and we're back and mother nature blessed us with some snow so it's really amazing what happened," Rice concludes. "How we came back to where we are today."