Without any snow in northern Nevada’s valleys, the hunt for a white Christmas has taken some up into the mountains.
Palisades Tahoe recently got a dusting that one Olympian says has put down a carve-able layer on the mountaintop.
“We’ve had a slow start to the season. It’s been sort of an anemic snow year, but we got really lucky recently with that little storm, and it really filled in the top, and I think we were all a little bit surprised,” said Jonny Moseley, Olympic gold medalist and frequent skier at Palisades.
He said in over four decades of shredding powder at the resort, he’s seen big changes.
“We have stuff that we always wished would happen like the base-to-base connecting Alpine to Palisades,” Moseley told 2 News on Christmas Eve. “For me, that was something that was always just this mythical idea, and to see it happen is pretty amazing.”
While the mountain continues to grow, Moseley says some features remain unchanged.
“It’s got that same vibe. It’s very heavy on racing, freestyle, and big mountains, so that culture is strong here,” he said. “Skiing is really at the heart of this mountain, being able to experience all those good feels when you’re skiing steeps and moguls and getting better and improving, and that whole ethos is still really strong here, and I love that.”
Skiers seem to agree that the mountain has a certain draw, but there’s one thing they want to see before they come back.
“More snow! More snow,” said visitors Richard Huang and Jonathan Liang, simultaneously, when asked what they want for Christmas.
