The nearly springlike weather continued today at Alpine Meadows. Once again the winds kicked up from the SSW, up to 40mph, that kept a chill on things. Base temperatures only reached the upper 40’s, while the crest stayed in the upper 30’s. That meant that the front side of the mountain continued to stay mostly winterlike, with only the southern exposures skiing like spring.
It kind of sounds like a broken record, if anybody even knows what that means anymore. If you love to ski corn snow: Look for southern exposures such as those found at Sherwood, parts of Lakeview and parts of Scott. If you like more wintery snow, that is currently more sugary: Stay on the frontside of the mountain. Groomers off of Roundhouse, Summit and Hotter Wheels will provide you with a lot of fun. There’s perfect corduroy in the morning, transitioning to loose sugary snow as traffic picks up on the mountain.
Then there’s still some parts of the mountain that are just frozen in time and have been for a couple of weeks now. Temperatures are expected to warm a couple of degrees tomorrow and Saturday, so more terrain could loosen up more. There’s some that won’t. It’s just not that warm yet.
I’m hearing more and more people talking about bring out their rock skis and that may be premature. If you’re primarily skiing groomed trails, you’ll find that things are still covered very well. The only exception to that is at Sherwood where things get more spicy every day. Off piste, you’re likely still fine as long as you understand that it is low tide and keep your eyes ahead of you.
Since this weekend is a blackout period, it would be reasonable to expect that tomorrow will be more busy than usual. Base pass holders may have an extra incentive to get out and enjoy the spring snow before cold temps return for Monday. If the previous blackout periods are any indications, things could be slightly less busy this weekend. Midweek skiing next week will be much more busy than this week do to many schools being out for a ski-skate week break. Word on the street is that occupancy rates are very high for the weekend.
Looking farther ahead, the models are calling for a couple of inside slider systems the last week of February, but no game-changers yet…
I’ll take the corn Mark…can you bring a few ears over? Should go well with our pork tonight. BTW, the ski area that shall not be named, was serving up some excellent corn today, but getting close to a side dish, with sun-fried bones as the entree…