Notes From a Few Days at Palisades
Selfie of author, Marc Liebman, at Shirley Lake
Let’s start with this is a piss poor snow year for Western ski areas. Yet, despite the lack of snow, Palisades was reporting a base of between 22 and 53 inches on the days we were there at the end of January, yet the ski conditions were actually quite good. SnoCountry was reporting that the area was about 80% open, and that was close to reality. What was closed were many, if not most, of the double diamonds.
Palisades, known to us oldsters as Squaw Valley, is a predominantly expert area. One look at the trail map shows why. The majority of the runs off Snow King, KT-22, Headwall Express, and Granite Chief chairlifts are expert runs.
However, you’ll find blue gems off Siberia Express, Gold Coast Express, and Emigrant, and a mix of blues and greens off the Big Blue lift. You can yo-yo off these lifts and will find runs that are delightful to ski several times in a row.
Most of the runs at Palisades are above the tree line and given the temperature and where one was on the mountain, they began to get soft. However, by skiing where there were lots of trees and shade, the conditions were fine. The snow on the runs off Snow King and Shirley Lake didn’t change much other than in the late afternoon when the sun started to go down, and the snow hardened.
More good news. Palisades is an IKON area, and if you are over 80, you ski for free. A quick trip to the ticket office and, depending on how many days you plan to ski at Palisades during the season, you’ll either get day passes or a season pass.
Palisades has spent a lot of money upgrading its lifts, and it shows. Most are quads, or six-holers. But, as a senior skier, the lifts are missing something important – foot rests. Not one lift that I rode had one. Safety bars yes, footrests, no.
If you are driving up to Palisades on a weekend, take advantage of a reserved parking place. It cost $30/day, but it saves you a long walk wearing ski boots. Locker space at the bottom is at a premium although there are a few at the top of the Funitel Gondola.
For me, walking in ski boots is energy-draining. When you need to make a potty stop, enter the Gold Coast Lodge, where you come out from the Funitel Gondola. There are bathrooms just a few steps inside which means not having to go up or down stairs.
If you leave your skis on a rack on the second or the lowest level means the bathrooms are two levels up. I found an elevator, but an employee said it was for use only by the staff.
On Saturday, the lift lines ran between five and 10 minutes, and the IKON app provided useful info on how long the lines were as well as a way to keep track of my grandkids. On Sunday, the lines were noticeably shorter, and by 1, there were none!!!
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Marc you should come to the Northeast. For once we have tons of snow. I’ve been skiing on packed powder at my small ski area in Massachusetts. This year I’ve decided to stay home instead of going out west. Our Bergers and a water with a tip is under $20 in our bar area.
I agree with Mariellen. Had a fantastic week skiing in Vt in January and am going back in March for more Vt skiing. By the way, I live in Florida.
I’d love to, but am going to Whistler for most of March. BTW, I laugh every time I look at the ski report for the areas like Ward Hill and Mt. Wachusett where I used to teach at see them with 100 inches of snow.