It was a rookie mistake. I left the house this morning without checking the NOAA Remote Data page for Ward Peak. So the tweet announcing that Summit was on windhold, that arrived as I entered the parking lot, caught me off guard. Nonetheless, in an effort to keep my 30 day ski streak going, I went skiing and it was still plenty of fun.
First let’s talk about Summit chair. If you ski Alpine Meadows frequently, you should know that the Summit lift is susceptible to windholds whenever you have an east wind. If the wind is coming directly from the east (90°), Summit will usually go on hold if sustained winds exceed about 50mph. The same thing is true for a northeast wind, such as we had today. The lift is a bit more protected when the wind comes from the west (270°). I’ve seen Summit run with a west wind at 70.
You find these details by checking the NOAA Remote Data page referenced above. It includes data for the base area, mid-slope and the top of the mountain.
A day without Summit, ABC, Scott, Lakeview and Sherwood during a holiday period means that you can expect long lines at the remaining open lifts. Fortunately, the plan to have two extra lines coming from the west at Roundhouse was implemented immediately this morning and that helped keep the lines neatly contained in queues. Still there were some long waits. One wait for Roundhouse around 11 this morning turned out to be 35 minutes. Yet, what did I do? I did a run and got right back into line again.
Things are getting a bit firm, but it’s still fun. There’s some rocks popping up, and you avoid them when you can. All skis eventually become rock skis. Skiing is just fun, and I am super grateful to be able ride a lift and ski at this time when the rest of life seems so daunting. For what it’s worth, Summit opened at 2pm when the winds subsided a bit. I already had 17 laps in and the shade was overtaking the mountain.
The snowmaking team has been blowing snow for two days straight on Ridge Run and Bobby’s off of Scott. They seem to be making pretty good headway, especially on Ridge Run. Help is on the way from Ma Nature as well.
The models have been jumping around all over the place on a storm or two that is expected to arrive on Christmas Day. I’ve been watching the model runs over the last ten days as this cycle is evolving and chose not to say much about it yet. But now, we’re at 48 hours out and it looks like we can have a bit more confidence that this system will be enough to make a difference. Here’s the loop showing accumulated snowfall through Monday, December 28th:
That latest model run seems to indicate the potential for 15-18 inches of snow between Friday and Monday. There’s a pretty good bullseye just to the north of Tahoe that could see closer to two feet of snow. It’s possible that bullseye could slide just a bit farther south still to Alpine Meadows. Still, 15-18 inches of new snow would do a lot to revive the current pack, cover some rocks and allow additional grooming. My guess is that should be enough to get the Scott chair open, but not necessarily all of the Scott terrain. I would not expect Sherwood or Lakeview unless this storm really overdelivers, including delivering some more lifties.
Update: As with all storms this season, we’re seeing the models pull back on this one. The Sunday-Monday storm is getting shunted southward off the coast, cutting expected storm totals about in half…and that was as of Thursday morning. It is what it is. We will take whatever is offered.
This will be a little bit too late for those people with the Ikon Base Pass. Those passes are blacked out at SVAM from December 26th until January 2nd. Over the last few years, that week has been significantly less crowded. Hopefully there will be a reasonable limit set on the number of advance day tickets sold during that week. I have too much FOMO to consider having the Base Pass. For those that do, it will be okay, the skiing will still be there later.
KT opens for real on Thursday! Everyone needs to be there. Bonus points if you get to ride the chair with Cheryl.