We didn’t have high hopes for today. We knew that winds would be a problem, with the forecast calling for a strong northeast wind following yesterday’s non-storm. The first tweet of the morning noted that Summit was on windhold, followed by 4 major lifts at Squaw Valley on patrol hold. Still, we soldiered on, delighted to find nearly a 1/2 inch of new snow in the parking lot. This far exceeded the 1/32 inch of snow in my driveway this morning.
The view up Roundhouse on our first run was just a bit foggier than usual, but fortunately we had the advantage of experience and muscle memory on our side. Once you made it to the Sugar Shack, near the top of Yellow, visibility was fine and the snow surprisingly forgiving. We immediately headed to some of our favorite off piste locations around Yellow chair and found we were having a ton of fun.
After a few laps, we noted that the lines at Roundhouse and Weasel Express were longer than they have been in a week, thanks to the wind hold at Summit (totally justified with 60+ northeast wind) and a few shuttle buses from the other side. So we headed to a bright spot and found ourselves at Lakeview, where almost an inch of new snow had fallen. High speed laps on Twilight Zone made a happy on our faces for several laps.
The fog continued to lift and we moved on back to ABC and a run to the top. Besides the bone chilling wind at the top of Alpine Bowl, we found excellent packed powder conditions around Pygmy Forest and lower Palisades. By 2 PM, the winds subsided and Summit chair opened.
So there’s still a lot of good skiing on the mountain. But problem areas are developing with no snow for a week and no major snow storms since Thanksgiving.
• The major high traffic groomed runs are getting firm and slick, especially by the afternoon hours. This includes Dance Floor, Werners, Ridge Run, Weasel, Mountain View and Sherwood Run.
• Moguls are growing and some of them are quite firm. This includes the D’s, the Face, Hidden Knolls, Expert Shortcut and the entry to Gentian Gully. One of worst places is all of the alternates to Sherwood Run, above the Return Road.
• Low snow conditions are becoming more apparent with rocks and brush poking up. This is most apparent on Sherwood Run, Sherwood Face, Reily’s Run and the lower sections of most runs off of Scott.
All of these issues can only really be fixed by new snow, and we are not talking inches. Unfortunately, the current forecast is looking like the opposite of that. One sample of the GFS for the next sixteen days shows the potential for maybe 18 inches of snow, with none of that falling until day 14 of the forecast. Refreshing your memory for former readers, that part of the forecast is known as Fantasyland. This time of year, the GFS is always trying to provide hope for change in day 15 and 16. I spent some time looking for some positive teleconnections that may lead to a stormy future. They are not there yet.
The good news is that the temperatures are at least remaining relatively cold, and most areas of the mountain are still quite skiable. Over the last two years, weather patterns in winter seemed to have relied on a dipole model where only one half of the US sees winter at a time. Currently, it is not our turn.
Things can change with the models in a matter of days. We’ll keep looking for change, and we’ll keep skiing too.