Record Breaking Tahoe Winter | Scott Kessler | E3

The last couple weeks in the Lake Tahoe region have been historic, adding to an already crazy winter, this episode is all about SNOWMAGEDDON and the mayhem of relentless storms. Scott Kessler, owner of Truckee Overhead Door, has lived in Tahoe since 1976 and has seen a lot of big winters here. Scott declares 2023 to be a “1 in 50 winter”, so we sat down in his Hirschdale workshop and talked about the shovel quiver, snowmobiles, Telemark skiing, the early days of Squaw Valley, the Alpine Meadows avalanche of 1982, snow loaded roofs, minimizing property damage, snow removal and playing in the best quality snow we’ve ever seen in Tahoe. 

Notes:

 2:30 – Olympic Valley calls “interlodge”
4:00 – Welcome Scott Kessler, owner of Truckee Overhead Door
5:00 – Snowmobile talk – “a pair and a spare”
7:50 – Shovels for sledding, skiing and digging out parking spaces
11:00 – When it snows, Interstate 80 will close
13:15 – Scott talks about his early days at Squaw Valley
15:30 – Scott gets into Telemark skiing in the early 1980s
20:05 – Hazards of such a huge snowpack – PowBot shovels his roof
22:45 – What is an ice dam?
24:00 - Shoveling vs Packing
26:00 – Couch vs Season’s Pass
26:56 – The Shovel Quiver – different types of shovels and tools to have for snow removal
29:18 – Broken CalTrans snow removal equipment woes
31:08 – Snow load carnage in Tahoe Donner
32:50 – Snow statistics and how 2023 measures up to previous winters
35:45 – Be kind to your local snow removal worker
39:00 – Viral videos of snow carnage in Tahoe on social media
41:20 – Henness Pass/Dog Valley Road – NOT an alternate route
43:00 – Palisades Tahoe Base to Base gondola derailment
45:05 – Henness Pass/Dog Valley Road Part 2 – Guy gets RV trailer stuck all winter
48:10 – Scott and his sled rescue mission with Nick Bailey at Avalanche Technical
53:10 – Trail Whisperer’s friend flips his UTV plowing snow, ends up in hospital
55:25 – The 1982 Alpine Meadows avalanche and the BURIED documentary
1:04:30 – How winter 2023 stacks up to every other winter Scott has seen since 1976
1:05:30 – Massive Atmospheric River on the way to destroy the pow
1:09:10 – PowBot’s last two weeks of chasing all-time, deepest pow in 23 years in Tahoe
1:13:10 – Trail Whisperer’s Verdi pow chasing adventures
1:16:35 – Scott declares 2023 to be “a 1 in 50 winter”