Palisades Tahoe Skiers Engage in 'Coordinated' Snowball Fight

The May Blizzard brought not one, but two feet of fresh powder to skiers in the Lake Tahoe region. At Palisades Tahoe, the stoke--and waiting times for lift openings--were high on the consequential powder day. 

On May 5th, or Cinco de Mayo, lift lines at Granite Chief exceeded an hour, and skiers grew restless... and creative. Snowballs were thrown as Ski Patrol assessed terrain. Watch below.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
by u/Friskfrisktopherson in skiing

We spoke to local skier Alex Spychalsky who was part of this hilarious event. She told us that she had experienced events like that before, but this particular snowball fight was mostly just a "fun way to pass the time when [everyone was] waiting for Granite Chief to open." 

Granite Chief is an iconic triple at Palisades Tahoe, servicing backcountry-style terrain and a couple of groomed trails. It is extremely popular on powder days for its extensive glades, allowing skiers to find powder stashes long after the first chairs have unloaded and people have gotten first tracks. 

Many skiers had been lined up for a half hour already when Ski Patrol finally communicated to the operations team what was going on. Alex recalls that "a lifty came over to the line and said 'it's going to be another hour.' At that point, a bunch of people left." 

But her motivation to stay stemmed from the desire to get fresh tracks. The rest of the resort was tracked out, and given the date, it could be the last opportunity to ski powder for the season.

Alex said, "anybody who was still there was in it for the long haul. So they were just kicking back, having fun. Everybody had their skis off. People were laying on the ground. It looked like a beach scene." 

She also noted that it was a perfect spring day, saying, "any powder day in May is awesome. A two-foot powder day in May is incredible. A day like that is going to have a lot of standing around, which is totally expected." 

While Alex doesn't remember who exactly started the snowball fight, she could recall that "some kids started throwing snowballs around, a snowball here, a little snowball there. It escalated into the front of the line versus the back of the line. It became a coordinated effort."

"Everyone was getting their snowballs together and then counting down, you know, '5, 4, 3, 2, 1,' and then all launching at once. There were a huge wall of snowballs going in one direction and then returning in the other direction."