Drizzlefest…and More Terrain Opening?

It was a pretty short ski day for me and most of my usual ski friends this morning. That 30% chance of a half inch of snow did come to fruition this morning. Then the clouds hung in for much of the day. While it looked like snow for the first hour our so, as daytime temperatures rose, it became more of a foggy drizzle. A wet, wet, wet drizzle.

That actually improved the skiing in many areas of the mountain, softening up the crusty surfaces of yesterday. During my short morning, we toured most of the mountain and found pleasant turns just about everywhere. That’s great because I was struggling with vision at times due to fact that goggles do not yet exist with a practical wiper system. I had not pushed the “I believe” button on this little stormlet, as the skies were bright blue on my end of Truckee this morning. I didn’t have a Skigee. I didn’t even have a proper outer layer…for the second time this week. You would think I would learn.

Today, both Bobby’s and Ridge Run offered nice grippy snow for high speed arcs, and less drizzle than in Alpine Bowl. Randy ventured to Expert Shortcut and reported softer conditions, while Andy took a run in Chicken Leg and found it much more pliable than yesterday. I noted that this may be the first day in 46 days that I did not spin a lap through Chicken Leg.

More terrain possible?

I’ve been keeping a close eye over on Sherwood lately, looking for any sign of movement. Today was the day that I noticed some new activity. Grooming has been done from the top of the Sherwood chair to Robin Hood or Maid Marian (always confuzzled there!) and down to the return road. There was also a cat working on building things out at the base of the Sherwood lift. They have also built out the cat track to Upper Saddle from ABC. All of this would seem to indicate that there is a possibility that there is a plan to open High Traverse sometime in the near future.

It doesn’t look like there is enough snow to open the regular Sherwood terrain just yet, at least not any groomed terrain. But in the past, normally in the spring when Sherwood burns out, they have run the Sherwood chair just to allow a return from High Traverse runs. I asked some staff about that possibility today and got some waffling about just getting ready for when there is more snow. Since there is zero snow in the forecast in the next 16 days, I am not sure I buy that answer.

So it’s possible we may be seeing that terrain open sooner rather than later. I saw that patrol did open access to Lower Beaver and the Sisters yesterday. Andy reported that the sheltered areas of Lower Beaver were nice, things were not as nice once you dropped below the Sisters.

Mountaineer Service Suspended For The Season

The Mountaineer shuttle services within the Alpine Meadows valley and Olympic Valley area have been suspended for the remainder of the season. The Mountaineer provides free transportation within each valley “on call” via an app. It’s a valuable service in keeping local residents cars off the road and out of the parking lots. The program is funded partly through the Transient Occupancy Tax. Those revenues are down significantly this season due to COVID and various restrictions. Hopefully that service can be revived in future seasons.