The first ever Nachtspektakl as held Saturday evening, Feb. 4th at Squaw Valley ski resort. A group of about 45 locals from Tahoe’s north shore showed up to skin up the summer road to Squaw’s High Camp.

It was rather fun to be part of the first crew to legally skin up the runs of a resort known in the backcountry world for having a rigid closed boundary policy. That was hardly the topic of conversation on the skin up, rather it was a typical backcountry outing, albiet in-bounds at Squaw, where a large group of like minded skiers were brought together and it became an excellent opportunity to meet and make new friends.

When everyone arrived at High Camp, which took over two hours for the stragglers to arrive, packs and skis were stashed, boots swapped for hut slippers, drinks were poured and dinner served. Even though the restaurant lacked a pot belly stove there was plenty of warmth between strangers to make it a festive event.

Just as we were all getting to know each other a bit ski patrol gave us a five minute warning that the mountain run back down would close in five minutes so everyone had to quickly say their goodbyes, cinch their boots back on and clip in for a fast ride back down. Though headlamps were recommended for the ski down, Squaw had the entire run lit with night lights and – wonder of wonders – almost nobody but us turn earning splitboarders, rando skiers and telemarkers to share the run with.

Have you ever bombed the mountain run at Squaw without having to play dodge-em with a couple thousand skiers? That in itself was a unique experience, but not as fun as the skin up.

Thanks to the Alpenglow crew and Dynafit for putting this great event together. May there be many more to come.