Sure we have had some mini-pow days over the last two months. Even yesterday reportedly offered up some pretty deep powder on limited areas of the mountains. But I had planned my appointment with Dr. White for today, and that was a good move.
Mountain crews and patrollers were able to get just about all of the key lifts open right at 9 AM this morning. Snow had started falling again overnight and winds were non-existent. Since Summit Chair opened yesterday afternoon, many locals chose Squaw Valley today, as they kept their upper mountain closed yesterday. We thank you for that choice. Alpine was not crowded at all today, and was downright empty when we left.
We skipped Summit and loaded Roundhouse for immediate access to Scott. Scott delivered very nicely with freshies in the Seldom Slides Trees, Gentian Gully and the Broccoli Tree areas. Scott kept us busy until lunch. In the afternoon, we took a quick run on Sherwood, where we noticed the view of Outer Outer, and we were sold. Off to Lakeview we went, where we made several laps on Inner Outer (meaning you’re coming back inbounds to the lift instead of ending on Courchevel Road).
We found the deepest snow, by virtue of not being wind affected, in the area of Ice Cliffs and Butcher Block Rock. I can love corn and I can tolerate groomers, but man, I love a good powder day! Thank goodness my boss is also a skier.
BA’s forecasts at OpenSnow.com were right on for this storm series as far as amounts go. He’s currently calling for ridging building in this weekend and then a return to storminess for the latter half of March and April. We like his thinking.