First off, Andy Wertheim checked in with his report today, which is great because skiing was not in my schedule today. We also note that Summit is on the schedule for tomorrow, as is an east wind. Then we look ahead for answers on more snow…
Andy Wertheim: Cold Winter Snow
Hello Skiers and Riders,
It looks as if they are getting ready to open Summit Six soon (Friday). Skies are blue this afternoon clearing after a cloud covered morning. Temperatures have been low overnight keeping the snow surface in good condition. Most of the lower mountain runs at Alpine packed powder. Blue, or Werner’s Schuss to the younger crowd, was covered with small, rounded, soft bumps today. It was a pleasure for making slow easy turns.
I ventured off the main track a little today hoping not to encounter early season obstacles. It was a success. Soft cut up conditions existed on God’s Knob, which can hide rocks this time of year. I skied it slow and careful. The short area under Sympathy Face below the road was also quite nice. Yellow Trail proved to be a narrow skier packed slope today with another slope of soft moguls. A glance up into Wolverine Bowl from the top of The Face was not something to get excited about. I am sure there are some good tracks to be made, but it still looks rather bare. The Face, on the other hand, was another small mogul field where I did not scratch the base of my skis. Dance Floor was being blasted with snow guns all day. I found the snow to be nicely groomed with a firm surface. Weasel, on the other hand, was softer, groomed and fun for the carving crowd.
Of course we need a lot more snow and nothing seems to be on the horizon in the very near future. Perhaps a good storm in another week.
Enjoy your day,
Andy Wertheim
A look ahead at Winds And Weather
Yes indeed, the Mountain Operations blog did announce that Summit will be on the schedule for Friday at Alpine Meadows. But in that same post they also cautioned that high winds are also in the forecast for Friday. Depending on the speed and direction of those winds, we might have to wait until Saturday for Summit skiing. We applaud their honesty.
The Reno NOAA office has called for Sierra ridge winds up to 75-95 mph. If that happens, it won’t matter what direction the wind blows. Summit would not open and combined with very cold temperatures, any exposed skin would likely be subject to frostbite. This afternoon, the NAM was trying to push the heavier winds more to the south side of the lake and points beyond. That model would keep winds in the 25-50 mph range, in which case Summit could operate, if the wind stays more northerly rather than easterly. Still, expect some bitter cold for Friday.
If you don’t want to bet on Summit, new terrain will also be offered at Squaw with the Belmont and Solitude lifts opening tomorrow.
Temperatures and winds should moderate a bit for the weekend to roughly seasonal norms. Hopefully we will see both Summit and Hot Wheels on the schedule for the weekend, as kids’ teams also start this weekend. By Sunday evening, another inside slider doubles up on the cold and brings a chance of snow showers to the mountains again. As of now that new snow would be nothing more than a nuisance.
The next real chance of accumulating snow is now about 7 days out. An atmospheric river event has been appearing in the models off an on sometime around December 10th. Snow levels would be higher, depending on the exact location the jet. Things looked very strong on the first three runs of the GFS today, with the last run being the outlier, bringing about 1/2 as much precipitation. We honestly haven’t been mentioning the models much lately because there has been so little run to run consistency. So we’ll just have to be patient and enjoy that fact that there are some very capable snow making teams around Lake Tahoe.
