For those that love spring skiing, today delivered a little taste of spring sunshine at Alpine Meadows. Tomorrow, winter will return. We can’t change it so all you can do is enjoy it. Today we were loving the spring-like conditions.
After a couple of warmer afternoons this week, things started like a typical spring day, with firm slopes and groomers that were heavily tilled. With a little hunting around and knowledge of the mountain, you could find some fun turns on piste. Our primary goal at this time was people avoidance, as it takes some time for people to spread out across the mountain. There were definitely plenty of people to avoid today. All parking lots filled, including White Wolf and Deer Park. Even the Hidden Valley lot (aka the rafting lot) was used today.
It was fortunate that today was the Ski California Skier Safety Day. Many visitors stopped by the event tent and earned schwag by answering questions about the Skier Safety Code. Although “head on a swivel” is not officially a part of the code, it was certainly applicable today. The runouts from Sandy’s Corner to Roundhouse and Summit and along the Trail Of Tears down into Roundhouse and Hotter Wheels require 100% attention to avoid collisions.
By 10 o’clock, temperatures started to moderate a bit and off piste terrain started coming into play. Terrain that was breakable crust just yesterday turned in to delightful soft fresh snow turns. You pretty much couldn’t lose skiing anywhere from South Peril to Sweet Spot to Tower 19 and over to Alpine Bowl. But even more delightful was that perfectly timed lap over Upper Saddle to High Traverse, where the south facing CB Chute had some awesomely smooth transitional corn snow, and very few people taking advantage of it. We saw some other nice photos farther out on High T.
Unfortunately, the corn just doesn’t get enough time to cook this time of year. There’s a very fine line between super fun almost corn conditions and super sticky mank. Depending on the exact exposure, those perfect conditions may only last an hour. Being in the right place at the right time just requires some experience with the mountain, or following someone whom has that experience.
In the early afternoon, the relatively intense sun was causing sticky conditions in most sunny areas. Temperatures at the base came close to 50°. Then a layer of high clouds moved in, cooling the snow and setting things up a bit. It signaled a temporary end to our spring like weather.
Believe it or not, the forecast still looks solid for a quick shortwave to move through overnight and into tomorrow, bringing back winter for those that prefer those conditions in January. Forecasters upped the amounts of moisture from the storm, but have also slowed the cold air from joining the party. So we may see a bit more rain early in the system before snow levels drop. Things may still be a bit soggy at the base as lifts spin in the morning. My earlier forecast of 6 inches for this storm still stands. Winds should be less of an issue than we have seen with most storms this season.
We were excited to see that a new series of Alpine Meadows avalanche rescue dog trading cards were released today. We especially love seeing Watson on patroller Carl’s shoulder, a position you will often see them in heading down the mountain. Even better was seeing the Alpine Meadows logo return to the cards instead of that stupid blue logo. Well done AARF!