Excitement is in the air. Reports from the weather gurus indicate this week will usher in winter with copious amounts of snow. Roll up your sleeves and get ready to shovel the steps and work the snow blower for a few days. I have seen estimates of up to 100 inches of snow over next 9 days (it might happen, and the estimate may be on the high side, but skiing should be a lot better very soon). OpenSnow claims we will have 63″in the next 5 days while Underground Weather believes it will add up to 99″ in the next 9 or 10 days.
We definitely need snow to cover bushes and rocks that have raised their ugly heads over the past couple of weeks. Freezing temperatures from last week create ice leaving the off-piste very unfriendly. Groomed runs have held up pretty well over the last couple of days. The few inches of snow that fell Friday created soft spots here and there with rock hard icy slick areas between them. A very low angle slope could be enjoyed as the new snow was just thick enough to keep skis and boards from scraping down to the ice. Mid-angle slopes required turns to be made where the scraped snow was piled up in order to keep from having skis slip out from underneath one’s feet.
I did not ski Saturday, but a little bird told me that the early morning skiing was better than it was today. However the crowd was larger Saturday than it was today and lines were frustratingly long. Alpine had a very large crowd on Saturday which sent friends of mine home very early.
Fingers crossed from enough snow in the next few days to give me a face shot or two as my skis sink into some nice deep powder. It is snowing lightly this afternoon, which is a positive sign.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
This is the first of two reports at UnofficialAlpine.com today…stand by.
Bring it on!!