Downhilling in Tahoe.

Let's start with Northstar at Tahoe. It was a blast! Four guys from the shop and I all headed up to the Northstar resort for the Fox Clothing release event for their 2010 lineup. It was amazing. I had recently gone to Mammoth Mtn, where I did my first ever downhilling session. I'd never done anything like it before and it was super fun. Well, it was also a great prelude to Tahoe. The runs at Mammoth are longer, and often rockier than what we saw at Tahoe, but Tahoe had more burms and jumps, which was fantastic. I couldn't pick one over the other for fun factor.

Favorite trail at Mammoth: From the top hit Skid Marks, then find your way over to Velocity DH. The lower section is rad, with a wood wall ride, a couple killer burms, and some fun jumps and drops.

Favorite trail at Northstar: Live Wire. Jump, jump, burm, jump, burm, burm, jump, burm, jump, jump...all the way down. So much fun! I was stoked when I started clearing table top jumps and railing burms completely sideways.

So, overall, both locations had great things to offer. Mammoth has the all-day, 40 minute plus top to bottom run action, and the legendary Kamikazi. Tahoe has a bit more variety, but mostly shorter runs. Plus side: you can hit several runs in a row for the day, a bit easier to get to know the trails.

Next entry: race report!