Perfection in the Valley, aka Hippie Thoughts on Tuesday
Posted by Big Al on April 14, 2010 under The Weekly Deal | 
2 Comments to Read
Heaven, Not Dearth
Tuesday was one of those days. If you’ve been in the Valley on a perfect morning you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t…suffice it to say that the place is its own heaven – both aesthetically and physically – for everyone here. On the drive in, the Valley view opens up wider and wider with prominent peaks like Tram Face, Headwall and KT-22 jutting skyward. As you adventure to different parts of the mountain new and incredible vistas are laid out in front of you. Clouds march through the many smaller valleys like Indians paddling up the Lake. From the chairs you see tracks from all the various critters who call this home (last spring there was a marmot and her baby watching the human zoo near the hot tub). Then there’s the not-too-natural stuff that rounds any perfect morning at Squaw. Booting up you get some thrasher metal from that pick-up; a bit of Grateful Dead from that van; if you’re lucky there’s a little Michael Jackson coming from somewhere! Then the sweet bass of avalanche bombs going off and rumbling around the entire valley. Greeting a couple friends and chatting with strangers in the lot. Then the internal chess game of deciding which of the six (yes, six) lifts to start your ski day from. It’s a festival every time and, man, it’s great to have this happening in April!!!!
John L said,
I know this request is a little left of normal, but who else to ask but old Squaw Valley friends. I am trying to locate the grooming crew group photo from the 84-85 season. The crew and machines were shot at the top of Siberia, with the photographer shooting from the bottom of the bowl. The picture was the greatest crew shot I have seen and a great momento of a great job and a great bunch of people at Squaw. All of those Pisten Bullys with their blades hanging over main chute and the rest of the wall. Squaw Valley is without a doubt an inovator in whatever field of the ski business the corp. decides to get involved with. The grooming at Squaw then and now was and is the best in the business. I would be greatful for any help finding that 84-85 season crew picture. Norm Simmons was the boss at the time and had a lot to do with the state of the art grooming Squaw is known for.
Thank You & Smoothlines
John L.
Livia Simmons said,
Hi John,
I’m Norm’s daughter, and I have all his old papers. We do have a bunch of photos of the crews, all from the same year, but I don’t know what year they were from. There are quite a few at the top of the Palisades (a couple of moon shots too). I could send you some of them if you want to contact me.
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