The last couple of days has been a bit variable when it came to the weather and ski conditions. Yesterday, neither Andy or I could bring ourselves to write a report. We both did nine laps in a misty sleet that made everything wet. After that, our posse looked like a litter of kittens left out in the rain overnight. That mist hung around most of the day Tuesday.
Today looked like it might be a carbon copy, but the weather gods had mercy, and the sun broke through just as lifts started loading. An overnight inversion left the upper mountain runs skiing perfectly, with snow that got firmer and firmer as you got closer to the base. Eventually the sun took control and the off piste runs softened, a bit too much in some areas.
We were a bit too late for Sherwood, unless you’re a fan of mashed potatoes. We timed our arrival at Scott and Lakeview much better. Ridge, Bobby’s and Outer Limits served up some pretty good insta-corn mid-day. Some of the less corn-like runs grabbed my skis like a suction cup. I guess I need to wax again.
The Thursday storm is turning into more of a Thursday night storm, so tomorrow should ski pretty well. With the storm just 24 hours out there’s some pretty large model disagreement for storm totals. The Euro shows the storm struggling to go south and limits snow to about 6-12 inches. The GFS has doubled down, taking the storm farther south and upping snow totals to closer to 1.5 to 2 feet. Snow levels look like they will run right at about lake level (6200′), so this is going to be the heavier “base builder” sort of storm.
The second storm for Saturday (daytime) has a bit more model agreement. It’s still a ways out there, but possibly up to a foot of snow could fall. Again this is expected to be fairly heavy as we are in a maritime flow, with not a ton of cold air support. A third wave is possible for the end of the 3 day weekend on Monday.
All of the talk of snow, whether it arrives as powder or cement, is sure to bring many people for the President’s Day weekend. I’m starting my mental preparation now…
Lol, I guess I need to wax my skis….. unless it’s cold winter conditions….. you of all people know better than to skip it. As far as being too Lazy to wax everytime it’s prudent, I resemble that remark. Because of my resembling that remark I always carry a tin of rub on paste. Not quite a good wax, but boy can it make for a nice day when my laziness kicks in.
I like the wend wax products the best for on hill quick slicks!
Unfortunately the waxing bench in the locker room is now off limits (at least for us rule followers). I did get a belt wax just yesterday, but new skis need a few hot waxes to get into sync. This afternoon was one of those wet snows where it would be more about base structure than wax…
Great shot Oscar M!
Thanks Pete! For pics, go to my Twitter at http://twitter.com/DevOpsOscar
See you on the mountain, my alpine friend!