Goals…

Many of you know that one of my ski goals for this year is to ski every day of the Alpine Meadows season*. So far I have made it happen, although today was super short. I skied one hour of Summit laps and then headed down the hill for my second COVID vaccination. Based on some other people’s reaction to the second one, tomorrow could be rough!

* If you’re keeping score, yes, I am one day short on the SVAM app Leaderboard due to an Apple Watch malfunction when I ran out of batteries. But my pass scans tell the truth.

But one of many people’s hero at Alpine Meadows is Dot. She didn’t start skiing until the age of 50, and she’s still charging in her upper 80’s. You’ll see her many days of the year, still staking lessons from Walter or one of the other senior instructors at Alpine, keeping her skills sharp. Today she reported to a friend that she hit 40 mph today. One of my new goals is to be just like Dot 30 years from now.

The warm temperatures have caused an adjustment to many people’s ski patterns. Many area’s of the upper mountain have been starting out really soft this week due to warm temperatures and the higher angle of the sun. I’ve found myself seeking out some of the more firm runs earlier in the day this week. Dance Floor (aka Red) has just been ripping this week around 10AM.

The expected rain and snow showers never materialized in the Tahoe area today. Although the point forecast is holding on to the idea of showers overnight, the futurecast portion of my radar app begs to differ. So conditions should remain pretty springy until Saturday.

Then on Saturday, colder temps arrive. On Sunday, a winter-like storm is still appearing on all three major models. I don’t really want it or need it, kind of like the gondola. The models seem to be focused on about a foot of snowfall from Sunday into Monday morning. Snow levels have not been projected just yet, but will likely be right around base level. So we possibly will see some heavy wet pow for a day followed by a significant mank cycle.

I know…water shortage and all of that. This one storm will not do all that much, as it’s more of a one and done and not a pattern change. These are the sorts of spring storms that just cause a quick surge of spring grass to grow, which will quickly turn in to dry fuel when it dries out again. Maybe some storms will follow, maybe not. But whatever happens, if the mountain is open, I will continue skiing, because I can, and I have ski goals. I’m super appreciative about that!