Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day to all. It was a short morning ski for me today. There was sun to start and then cloudy with flat light mid-morning. A cool breeze blew at the top of Summit Chair. The afternoon has turned into another beautiful sunny spring day.

South facing off piste slopes, at least on the Sherwood side, should be softening this afternoon. Off piste north facing slopes have remained frozen in most areas. Sherwood Cliffs, Counterweight Gully, and Our Father were closed this morning. The surface is too icy, steep, and full of moguls for safe skiing according to the Ski Patrol. Grooming on the other hand was excellent again today. Some trails were groomed very wide which is great for big wide carving turns.

Alpine was giving out Valentine’s Day buttons this morning.  I hope you picked one up.

I thought I would mention that we skied a few hours at Squaw yesterday. Conditions were very much like Alpine. Grooming on all the lifts we skied was very good. Conditions on the groomed areas were just fine. Off piste in the shade was not worthy. However, south facing slopes such as Tower 16, although not free of obstacles, offered up some nice spring turns. We checked this area out around 1 and enjoyed the soft snow. There are moguls, and some are large, but it was enjoyable. Sun Bowl also looked good, but we did not ski that area. Turns off Emigrant Chair also produced soft spring snow. I do think there is more spring skiing at Alpine when the sun is shining, the sky is clear, and the temperatures are warm enough to soften the south facing slopes.

Enjoy your day,

Andy

Addendum by Mark: I skied til 2:20, leaving only to get to SaveMart before it got crazy. Once the clouds passed by around 11, things did begin to soften quickly, making today just like the last few days. Even though some of the mountain is not in great shape, plenty of terrain is really, really fun. We also want to give thumbs up to the grooming crew for taking on the ice blockade on Red Ridge and Ladies Slalom. It was fun to get back on those runs today and they are a good quick exit from Dance Floor when it gets too busy. Word to the wise, those rocks that we know groomers are concerned about are still lurking so ski those two run with caution. As predicted, it got pretty busy for a Friday this afternoon.