Palisades Tahoe, CA - ◊ Red Dog Ridge to Heidi's (1-28-23) [4K]

Red Dog Ridge is a diamond-rated trail off the KT22 Express and Olympic Lady lifts at Palisades Tahoe (formerly Squaw Valley). Both are quite unforgiving despite being the "easiest way down" from the latter of these lifts and the ridge is much steeper than depicted on the trail map. Neither will probably ever be fully groomed, so if you're going up KT22 for the first time definitely take a right off the lift instead. This area (to looker's left of Olympic Lady) seems like one of the most remote parts of the resort (except maybe around Silverado) as it is pretty far away from most of the lifts and seldom touched by more than a handful of skiers at a time.
Technically I took an unnamed trail and nearby unmarked glades, but they're right next to Heidi's so I chose that for the title.
Advice: While Red Dog Ridge is technically the easiest way down from the Olympic Lady lift, don't be fooled by the welcoming groomed tracks because they will end abruptly in front of the steepest part of the trail. I would definitely plan on taking one of the offchute trails (e.g. Tamara's [super hard], Heidi's, etc.) at some point because the ridge line gets very flat (or goes uphill!) and takes a lot of effort to traverse. There will usually be some thin traverse lines made by skiers past, but they are extremely narrow.
Red Dog Ridge theoretically continues until it meets up with Champs Elysées but it's honestly hard to confirm this and, even if it did, it's probably a bit of a trek uphill if you've followed the traverses on the side of the ridge.
Overall Difficulty: 7/10
Relative Difficulty (Red Dog Ridge, Diamond): 7/10
Relative Difficulty (Heidi's, Diamond): 5/10
Accessibility Rating: 5/10 (Right off one lift that's barely open, as well as a long and flat traverse from KT22)
Open Trail Index: 4/10 (Only open with adequate snow, and definitely not a necessity)
Enjoyment Rating: 5/10 (Bumps were daunting but skied okay, traverse was scary and unaccomodating, Heidi's was okay)

[@peng4511]

the ridge looks so fun! Thank you so much for showing us the beauty of Palisade I can’t wait the new 23/24 seasons snow to go back and try various routes

[@archstanton_live]

Sweet memories. Then @3:34 you turn to get that view of where we came from and East Face of Olympic Lady. Then @4:38, past the obvious run, you turn to what we have been coming for... the part that has been a little more in the shade so far this winter...

[@Bram4Real]

This place is so cool dude. Wish I could have gone back this year especially with my improvement since this video. Glad to hear you're getting something out of it as well! Thanks for watching

[@archstanton_live]

@@Bram4Real This place may not be the best place ever, but KT *is* the Mother Ship.

[@stevefoltz3838]

Thanks for showing me where i wont be going.

[@Bram4Real]

Haha, I had a feeling of regret when the bumps came into view at 0:58 and 1:21, but not like I could go back!

[@stevefoltz3838]

@@Bram4Real No bad days skiing! Unless you get hurt that is.

[@KennethDuda]

Haha yeah, this exact same thing happened to me, I went east (turned left off the lift) from KT over the top of Olympic Lady, passed the point of no return, and my jaw (and stomach) dropped at the size of the bumps... four feet tall at least... I somehow managed to fight my way down East Face Gully and back to the safety of Champs Elysees, but boy was I tired! 😅

[@daneg]

the traverses out west freak me out.