Tahoe Pro Hits Iconic Palisades Tahoe Line Made Possible By Latest Storm

Lake Tahoe's Trevor Semmens hit a line made up of a "combination as old as time" off the popular lift, Headwall Express, at Palisades Tahoe, CA.

With POV footage posted to Instagram yesterday, Semmens showed off some charging a line linking Light Towers to C2 Bowl.

C2 Bowl, or Cornice 2 Bowl, has been popular all season this year: hardcore skiers were traversing over to it before Headwall opened for business, and now that the snow has filled in (with the foot of fresh snow the resort got in the last week, things have really expanded), Light Towers opened just above it, making a full line possible, without losing hardly any vertical on the way over from the top of the chair.

C2 Bowl is one of my favorite areas of Palisades Tahoe. It basically has it all: cliffs, steeps, chutes, sometimes protected powder...

You can access C2 Bowl in a number of ways. You can ride up Siberia, hike the Palisades, and come down Kitchen Wall into Sun Bowl, or you can just get off the top of Headwall and drop into CII Bowl through Light Towers, Classic chute, or Hourglass chute and then run out into the bowl.

Basically, no matter how you got there, you probably had a good time.

CII Bowl also used to be serviced by its own chair, The Cornice II Chair. According to Chairlift.org, the lift was built in 1974 and made by the same company as the rarely-turning but epic Olympic Lady lift to looker's left of KT-22.

You can see Cornice II Chair to looker's left of Headwall Express in the beginning of the video below. 

Cornice II Chair was removed in 2014, much to the dismay of Palisades Tahoe skiers (at that time referred to as Squ*w Valley).

According to Skiing Blog, the chair "rarely spun in the last decade since the Headwall Express serves the same terrain and more, making C2 virtually obsolete. Practicality aside, C2 epitomized the slow, spectator friendly lifts that helped define Squaw’s reputation for rowdy terrain."

Does anyone else have a place in their heart for two-seaters and older lifts? I know the hype at Palisades is mostly around KT and Headwall, but smaller lifts have their very-much-deserved place.

The bummer is that often, when it storms at Palisades Tahoe, the upper mountain (including Headwall and Siberia) close, making Cornice II Bowl unaccessible to skiers of the resort on the choice powder days.

Cornice II Chair was more protected than the other lifts, and could have run on days Headwall was not able to, allowing skiers to access the terrain.

History aside, Trevor reminded us all how good it gets over at that part of the resort.

Light Towers has not been open most of the season, as even The Slot is still, unfortunately, hike-to terrain (and if I remember correctly, pretty icy at the top right, with patches of dirt and ice everywhere making for quite the billy-goating situation).

The storm last week rectified the situation, opening up Light Towers for those looking for a thrill. Right after a storm, pros show up to straightline the steeps. On a regular day with hard or unpredictable snowpack, the area is truly gnarly.

There are many ways to go down Light Towers (some of which could be accessed by a quick hike off CII Chair): Hairy Traverse (a fun one), Patrol Chute, Mr. Chipper (respect if you hit that line), Easy In, Middle Line, Arc Chute, Left of Talus, and Tree Air (also, respect).

SkiTnB breaks down the routes below. 

It's also a Squallywood zone... wink wink. See you out there, unless I'm so much better than you...

Related: Skier Wins $10k For Blistering Line Through Tight Couloir

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