The prediction for a strong east wind event came to fruition today, proving again that those weather guys do get a lot of things right. As of 1:50 pm today, Summit still remained on wind hold. In the last half hour wind speeds have crept down ever so slightly. Temperatures were also chilly today, and that wind chill thing was the real deal for exposed skin.
That said, there was some excellent skiing today. While Dance Floor and Weasel continued to offer good high speed laps, today was not that day due to the face chilling effects. The skier packed runs offered some very nice winter snow. Obstacles are there, but they are more visible after a little skier traffic. Charity, Boomerang, and Werner’s offered small soft mogul skiing. There’s lots of questions when these slopes will actually be groomed. Previous administrations would have had it done by this point as there’s just a few areas that are still “iffy” – specifically in the choke at Sandy’s Corner. We also found some other slightly less travelled places that skied very well today as the base has set up a bit.
The wind was stripping snow in exposed areas. Rock Garden gradually turned into an ice rink today and we would assume that Alpine Bowl will be similar when the wind stops. The key tomorrow will be to find those areas where the snow was transported. Since you don’t want to ski off the backside of Alpine into the Granite Chief Wilderness, you’ll want to look for the places where that snow has blown inbounds. The obvious ones are the D Chutes and North Peril, but there are some other places where we watched a lot of snow being deposited today.
The weekend still looks good with temperatures running up to 40° and much less wind. There is a pretty good chance of significant crowds, and a slight chance of snow flurries Sunday afternoon. We’re guessing that Hot Wheels will be added to the schedule this weekend. We also heard that the Meadows Cafe will be opening with a limited menu this weekend – if it can be fried, it will be served. They must know that kids teams start this weekend.
Here’s one more reminder that the Sky Tavern Pray For Snow event happens tonight at the Sky Tavern Ski area on Mount Rose Highway. Don’t let a little cold weather and brisk winds stop you from supporting an awesome program that gets kids skiing and riding! Details are in this post.
