I was out of town for a couple of days but returned to Alpine Meadows this morning, ready for some new snow. Things didn’t look promising at first as there were raindrops and puddles in Truckee. But as we got to the base of Alpine Meadows road, the rain changed to snain. As we arrived in the parking lot, there was a thick layer of sloppy sleet on the ground.
When we arrived in Locker Room #3, we were greeted by some less than positive attitudes about the weather and snow conditions. But we persevered and geared up. Although Alpine Meadows reported only 1-2 inches this morning, the first run down Rock Garden provided at least three inches of dense heavy cream cheese, which did a good job of insulating us from the solid surface below.
All runs were great today, as long as you were the one making the first turns. The super soft snow allowed skiers and boarders to dig deep trenches, pile up “insta-moguls” and release cascades of pinwheels. That made the second and third runs quite a bit less pleasant. We managed to make some of the first turns today on Skadi Hill, Bobby’s, Seldom Slides Trees and Gentian Gully. By lunch time, we were pretty overwhelmed with sogginess.
The storm for Tuesday, Wednesday and beyond is forecast to be much colder, with the snow level dropping to near 2000 feet. The wettest models are showing up to 30″ of snow at the crest this week. Many people will be very stoked if we get half of that…or even break the 6″ mark.
Sunny and 75 in poipu :0)
Coincidently that was the temperature in Chico on Friday. 😛