The calendar may say that spring just begins this week, but conditions are about a month off. Today was a perfect spring day…if it were late April. There was good skiing all over the mountain today, and very few people out at Alpine to enjoy the day.
There was a little bit of traffic at Summit this morning, but we think Kate was out there just to be Irish, wear some cool sunglasses and dance to some Tina Turner. There was definitely a party attitude throughout the day, especially in the afternoon when Mojo Green took the stage on the Sun Deck.
As on normal spring days, we headed to Sherwood nearly right away, knowing that there had been a lot of heat last week and fearing the worst. You could see than quite a bit of effort was needed just to keep Ray’s Rut alive. But the Sherwood Run was a loss this week, with too many rocks showing to allow for grooming. Still, there were plenty of sneaker lines between rocks, brush and mud patches. The corn snow had smoothed out nicely and so had some of the moguls. We were surprised to find sun cups in less travelled areas, as they don’t normally appear so early in the season. Our favorite strip was just before the first gully on South Face. Many people reported great snow on High T today.
After lunch I did some park laps with a friend and found the park pleasantly busy, as one would expect in the spring. We also found some fun fast turns on Kangaroo Run. We then moved on to Scott, where just about everything was skiing well, albeit with thin coverage. Once the band started playing, the slopes really emptied. I would venture a guess that me and my ski partner were the only people to hit Promised Land today, other than a patrol sweep. It was that unbusy.
There was some discussion about the meager state of the snowpack today, especially on south facing slopes. Spring operations should begin this week. Sherwood will likely open only in the morning and only for the return from High T. Scott will open only in the afternoons once things begin to get soft. This is the same operational schedule that Alpine has done for years so don’t get all bent out of shape. The schedule may be starting a bit sooner than usual, but send that complaint to Mother Nature. The fate of Lakeview seems pretty uncertain. It’s getting thin there too.
Don’t give up yet, the season is not done. There is still plenty of snow on the front side terrain. Grooming continues to be great. The parks continue to be world class, and all skiing and boarding is fun. Storm totals for Wednesday have bumped up a bit. BA said 9-15 inches in his morning report. Snow levels are now expected to be at 7,000 feet at the start of the storm and drop to lake level by Wednesday. We’ll keep you posted.