There was a ton of rain overnight, and when my alarm clock went off this morning, I immediately looked at the NOAA Remote Data site to see what was going on at Alpine Meadows. Almost no new snow fell at the base and the temperatures were in the mid-30’s. After getting soaked yesterday, we decided to save skiing for later in the day today, once snow levels dropped.
Due to the challenges of high winds and rime ice, lift operations at Alpine Meadows were limited to Subway, TLC and Roundhouse. Scott also opened briefly in the afternoon, but closed by the time we loaded Roundhouse at 2pm. We busted out 10 laps on Roundhouse before finally stepping out of our skis at 4:12pm. About 13 inches of new snow fell throughout the day, but if you know where to look, there were deeper stashes to be found. We hot-lapped God’s Knob and various locations stretching from Chicken Leg all of the way out to Gunners Knob. Finding fresh tracks at 3pm during a holiday week is always a treat, especially when you’re skiing right on to the chair.
There’s still a lot of snow on the way, with some intense totals expected through Monday. Right now, Christmas Day looks like a doozie. Our family that has been in town has decided they will likely extend their stay. Winds will continue to be a problem in the upcoming days. Fortunately, we seem to be done with the warmer part of the storms. Snow levels should stay below lake level throughout the next 4 days.
I will be happy to ski whatever parts of the mountain are open. I am grateful to all of the mountain ops staff that will do their best to keep terrain open.
Hell ya Mark! Get it while the gettings good! Awesome to see that freshies continue nonstop until 2022!