Dense Windblown Snow

Hello Skiers,

My sleep was interrupted a number of times last night with the roar of wind racing down our mountain valley. When I woke and looked out my window into the darkness I did not see much snow on my deck. I thought it must not have dumped as much as my dreams indicated in which I was up to my chest in new light snow.

I did hear my plow service cleaning the driveway well before dawn and figured it must have snowed at least 6 inches, but my deck said less. It was snowing when first light appeared, but the snow was falling sideways driven by rather excessive looking winds. A quick check of the remote data NOAA site indicated winds were pretty strong on the mountain.

Then I checked the Squaw/Alpine site, which indicated most lifts were on windhold, with weather delayed openings. Treeline Cirque appeared to be on schedule for a 9am opening along with Meadows and Big Carpet. Between the time I first noted the lifts that were scheduled to open and the time I left for the locker room Treeline was taken off the schedule due to high winds and then it went back on the schedule.

Soon, after a quick breakfast, I stepped outside and learned that more than six inches of snow had fallen and my exterior steps were filled to the brim. Shovel in hand and hopes for an easy clearing of the steps soon indicated that the snow was heavier than I anticipated. The high winds had compacted the snow on the steps and created a wind packed dense pile. This indicated the new layer of lovely powder I hoped for would most likely be somewhat heavier or denser than anticipated. It is also an indication of high avalanche danger.

I picked up a couple of friends in the locker room and headed out to Treeline Cirque where snow was blowing briskly. There were not many people at Alpine in the morning which was a blessing given that only three lifts were running and two were beginner lifts. I am not complaining. We were happy to have one lift running given the high winds and overnight snowfall.

We rode to the top of Treeline and headed into Sherwood Forest. Well that was a mistake. Winds had created large drifts making turning through the forest a little tricky and not particularly enjoyable. Heading back to the base we did enjoy the lovely soft groomed snow on Weasel Trail and some better powder snow to the sides of the groomed run. Next was Expert Shortcut which was cut-up by skiers and a little heavy, but nothing to complain about. I did find a few untracked shots in the trees to the skier’s right of Shuttle Cornice.

The best snow that we found this morning was under the Treeline Chair followed by a traverse through the trees to what I will call lower Sherwood Cliffs. Soft and just enough lightly tracked powder to put that smile on my face. We followed other skiers on a long traverse to mid Yellow Trail where we made happy turns.

Later, I stopped on the way to Yellow Trail and cut off the trail to ski Chicken Leg, which was still untracked and filled with very nice powder. It must have been missed in their rush to get further and further out to Yellow, Ladies Slalom, Gunner’s Knob, and Tiegel Cliffs. The attached photo was my attempt at catching skiers dropping into Tiegel Cliffs.

Just as we were heading into the locker room it appeared Roundhouse was soon to open as a crowd of people was lined up waiting. We decided to pack it up for the day with smiles on our faces.

Enjoy Your Day,

Andy