There are certain lifts that do not operate often at Palisades Tahoe, CA. Olympic Lady seems to spin only on weekends, Headwall and Granite Chief are often affected by wind holds, and Silverado... may actually be opening soon.
Palisades Tahoe posted a video 2 years ago showing two skiers ripping some of the terrain off Silverado. Watch below.
According to a Mountain Operations blog posted by the resort on Tuesday, March 12th, officials at Palisades titled the post simply "Operations Update: Silverado Plans."
Liz Worgan wrote in the post that yesterday, (Monday, March 11th) Mountain Ops were able to put the initial access road in, following Oregon Trail to the bottom of Silverado.
"This is an exciting, technical task, and we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of snow that has collected in the zone. With the road put in, we have now started on the rest of the setup work: Completing full snow safety, building out the maze and ramps, marking obstacles and hazards, and placing boundary signage on the hill."
Officials at Palisades Tahoe acknowledge that they understand skiers are eager for Silverado to open, and they promise the mountain is almost there.
Skiers have often remarked that Silverado services enough terrain to almost be its own ski area. The runs offer a big mountain feel and the main draw is the bowl with eight access gates.
There is every style of line to choose from, including billy goating through rocks and straightlining down the bowl.
The named terrain on the map of Palisades Tahoe that Silverado services includes Tram Bowl, Kathmandu, Bailey's Cirque, Trail 90, and Medusa. See below.
Officials at Palisades Tahoe wrote, "we are planning to open it as soon as possible."
That being said, the resort predicts that east winds in the forecast could affect the chair, and the operations teams require adequate time to set up safely.
In other words: Silverado is coming soon, but the best way to find out exactly when that is would be by checking the app to see which lifts are scheduled for the coming day. The app is updated at 4pm daily.
So, who's going to get first chair?
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!