We Need A Good Storm or Three

We’re 15 days into the ski season at Alpine Meadows and I have skied every one of them. I lost some of the tracking data on my phone, but by rough calculations, I’ve already put in about 200 laps on the Roundhouse chair. With each passing day, even my least traveled “secret” lines are growing bigger bumps and sprouting more rocks and brush.

Fortunately, those cold east winds over the last two days brought enough cold air overnight for the snow making team to lay down a few inches of new snow on Dance Floor. Although the underlying bumps are still there, the silky new snow covering them gave renewed life to the run…just as long as you could retain the vision of where those rocky spots were a few days ago.

The midweek crowds have been tolerable, although a few more people seemed to show up today after another ski blogger stupidly pronounced that “Alpine Meadows currently offers the best lift skiing in the Sierra”. I wondered with my friend Jamie, just now, if skiers that had reservations at Mammoth canceled due to the Southern California regional “stay at home” order will now pivot and plan their next weekend at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows. Say it isn’t so! The Greater Sacramento region continues to float between 18-20% of ICU availability, avoiding the imposition of our own stay at home order, for now.

There is still some weather in the forecast, as we have been predicting for the last week. While none of the storms currently look like a monster, it’s also not looking like a “one and done” scenario either. In fact, it would be more aptly described as a pattern change that will be around for awhile. The first wave, on Sunday, will just barely brush us, with first rain, then snow. This far out it’s tough to say, but it would be in inches, not feet.

As the trend continues, the storms slide a bit farther south, with the first significant storm out around the 18th. One thing that you can easily see in the GIF above is that this is a totally typical La Niña pattern. The storm track is actually well to our north, and we’re just seeing the tail end of the systems. Central and southern California could be shut out completely in this pattern. It’s probably for the better that we’re having a relatively dry year in the sense of keeping demand for skiing low. It’s a very bad thing when it comes to water storage and fire danger.

Reading the Mountain Gazette requires a good rainy day…or week

I finally got my hands on the newly reborn Mountain Gazette, Issue 194. My personal copy is still on a hero’s journey, traversing California with the United States Postal Service. So far it has travelled from Sparks to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Los Angeles (again) to Oakland, and now again to Los Angeles. The itch to read the magazine lead me on a Sunday afternoon drive to Downieville to pick up my mother’s freshly delivered copy.

I’m not going to sugar coat it. Owner and editor Mike Rogge has created a masterpiece. It is stunning. Not only is it huge on my coffee table, the photography is beautiful, and so is the writing. It’s not just a ski magazine, nor an outdoor magazine. It’s going to take several stormy days to really soak it all in, thus my request for a stormy day. Nope, print is definitely not dead.

Issue 194 includes stories about skiing and skiers, dogs, comet watching and birdwatching, and much more. There’s several great photo essays, my favorite being one about America’s oldest ski shop. You’ll also find an educational cartoon, poetry and some of the most beautiful advertisements I’ve ever seen. The issue closes with a letter from Scott Gaffney to Shane McConkey, two of my personal heroes. Unfortunately, Issue 194 is no longer available, unless you took our earlier advice and subscribed.

I offered Mike a free ad spot at Unofficial Alpine to promote the Mountain Gazette. He insisted on paying for an ad, and I refused to take his money. So until that standoff ends, you’ll have to use this link to subscribe to the Mountain Gazette, so you don’t miss Issue 195 next spring.