From Zero to Hero: This "Finicky" Palisades Tahoe Line Just Opened After a Huge Storm
On Monday morning, the “Chimney-sense” of Lake Tahoe ripper Ryan Faye started tingling.
After a long and often snowless season at Palisades Tahoe, California, winter showed up this past weekend, dumping feet of fresh powder. That meant some of the ski resort’s most iconic lines might finally be accessible.
Faye’s intuition proved correct. He got word that ski patrol had opened the Palisades, an imposing headwall stuffed full of test pieces. This included the Chimney, a rocky, steep zone that isn’t always open. That’s particularly true during tough seasons like this one.
Dropping the ropes on the Chimney is “finicky,” Faye noted, because the “right kind of storm” needs to plaster the area with snow, and its cornice needs to be blasted off, shoveled, or naturally recede on its own.
The weather Gods delivered, though.
“This resort has the ability to go from 0 to hero in just one storm, and that’s exactly what happened here! Perfect combination of fresh snow, favorable winds, and low temps,” Faye told POWDER.
So what did he do?
First, he took a warm-up lap on one of the runs, Chimney Sweep. Then, after conducting some “cornice mitigation”—you know, pole thwacking—Faye dropped in on a true classic: Center Line.
If you ever needed a reminder to never count winter out, let this be it. Tap or click below to watch Faye hit Center Line.
The 2026 POWDER Photo Annual is here! Look for a print copy on a newsstand near you, or click here to have a copy shipped directly to your front door.
According to Faye, Center Line “is deceivingly simple” and “kind of the big brother to the Chimney Sweep.”
“The cornice drop is only 3 to 5 feet, then your skis briefly touch down on a 50° strip of snow before flying another 40+ feet down to a perfectly steep landing,” he continued. “It’s one of my favorite lines at Palisades, and I’m very stoked to pull it off again!”
Ryan Faye
Faye wasn’t alone in taking advantage of the conditions.
Another Tahoe diehard, Andy Hayes, shared footage from the Chimney session and had a similar message to Faye.
“Raise your hand if you didn’t expect to ski the Chimney this season,” he wrote in a social media post. “A friendly reminder that April is the ultimate zero to hero month.”
Related: I Skied Palisades Tahoe’s “Miracle” April Storm, but Mother Nature Made It Challenging
Leave a Reply