If I remember correctly the weather forecasters indicated high winds, or at least moderate winds, over the ridge tops today. This morning NOAA indicated winds to be in the mid 30 per hour range atop Summit Chair. As you can see from my photo the winds were light at best this morning. It also felt warmer this morning than yesterday. We headed for Sherwood at 11:30 hoping it would consist of corn snow. What we found on Sherwood Face was soft spring snow, but I found it sticky which is not the best. Today I was not impressed with the conditions at Sherwood when I was there.
It was another beautiful day with excellent grooming and nice snow in the shade. I particularly enjoyed the area under Alpine Bowl Chair and lower Palisades. Oh!! By the way, Alpine Bowl Chair was in operation today. This was the first day of operation for ABC this season. In addition, Yellow and Kangaroo were in operation.
The only lift off schedule at Alpine Meadows today was Lakeview. The reason Lakeview was not running, or at least this is what I believe the reason to be, was that snow was being farmed from the north side of the hill beyond the top of Lakeview to the south side of the hill (Outerlimits Trail and areas around it). As many of us know the area at the top of Outerlimits melts out quickly in warm weather often exposing rocks and bushes. During a storm wind blows snow over the ridge and off the run to the north side of the mountain leaving the south side vulnerable to burn-out. It takes a lot of effort to move enough snow to create good coverage and a wide trail for us to enjoy. Three cheers to the snow farming crew.
I want to give a shout out to the skier in the orange outfit and Atomic Skis who stopped to apologize to to my friend Vickie. This skier cutoff Vickie at the top of Wolverine Bowl causing her to “loudly” use a word I will not repeat in this article. We all stopped at the bottom of Wolverine Bowl in our rather large group to listen to her recap of the near accident when the fellow who cut her off stopped and apologized for his action. We were all impressed and many of us could not remember anyone ever stopping and being so polite. We need more people on the hill like this gentleman.
Now for my most current idea. I was standing atop the Summit Chair staring out at the incredible view we all enjoy every day. It was very clear today. I could see far out into the distance. I wondered what peaks, or mountain ranges, I was looking in the distance. Some photos are attached of various mountain peaks visible today from the top of Summit Chair. The thought came to me that it would be of interest to other skiers and boarders. Perhaps a map at the top of Summit, and perhaps at the top of Scott, with a photo or similar of the mountains with names of many of peaks indicated on the map so we would know what we were looking. We know Ward Peak and Scott Peak and over course many others that are not all that far away, but many are not known even to locals. For those that do not live here it might be interesting. I have included names of some of the peaks that can be seen from Summit Chair.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
High Winds Still In The Forecast – Late Addition
The high winds forecast for Friday and Saturday are still in the forecast. For tomorrow, Friday, Sierra ridge winds may exceed 100 mph. That will almost certainly put Summit, and potentially other lifts, into a wind hold status. It’s not the mountain’s fault. East and northeast winds are a real bummer when it comes to lift operations at Alpine Meadows.
Those winds will decrease going into Saturday, but maybe not enough to avoid additional wind holds on the mountain. If a big crowd shows up for Saturday, that may not be great. Typically, demand for skiing drops off when it hasn’t snowed for awhile, even though we have consistently been saying that conditions are still quite good due to the efforts of the grooming staff. By Sunday, things should just be breezy.
The long range models are finally hinting at a change in the pattern again, showing a storm out around the 3rd of February. At 13+ days out, that is way out in Fantasyland and not something you can count on. But it is about time for that dipole to shift again and bring us a snowy February.
Mark
P.S. Big thanks to mountain managers getting every lift on the mountain open on a Thursday when a less than huge crowd was expected. I also appreciate the effort being put in to rehab the topside at Lakeview. The alignment of the three main runs at Lakeview mean they really get hammered by both winds and the sun. I can’t wait to enjoy some high speed laps on Outer Limits again soon.
I love the idea of having maps of the topography and peaks with their names! Great idea!!!
That peak diagram Andy posted came from a very cool app called PeakFinder…check it out here: https://www.peakfinder.org/mobile/
Andy, the above mentioned peaks are in the “near distance”. The peaks in the far distance are, from left to right:
1) Babbit Peak, SE of Loyalton, once OK’d for ski area development by the USFS in the early 80’s, but never developed. Also, Babbit was the name of the first AM Ski Patrol dog, owned by Patrolman, Ray Belli.
2) Crystal Peak
3) Verdi Peak
4) Peavine Mtn. , the barren one
These 4 are in the Sierra Nevada Range
5) Sunflower Mtn., all the way to the right, located in the distinct Carson Range, north of Mt. Rose
Today, the Coast Range was visible from the top of Mt. Lincoln @ Sugar Bowl. Probably the Yolla-Bolly region, as the mtns. were very white. English Mtn, Sierra Buttes, Castle PK, Independence Pk, Signal Pk, as well as Anderson, Tinker’s, Lyon’s Pk, Mt. Rose, Devil’s Pk, Adams Pk (in the Diamond Mtn range north of Chilcoot) were also very impressive with the clear skies.
Ok, I’ll take a shot from memory, which is always suspect. I have to differ with Corky on one, but I’m not betting more than a nickel. Pretty sure #2 of his is Ladybug peak, as Crystal peak is down in the valley to the east of Ladybug and much lower. Just to the right of Peavine Peak, in that saddle area is another peak further off. I think that is Virginia Peak (no, not near Virginia City) south of Pyramid Lake. About 8300′ high and has a Nexrad doppler weather radar on top. If that is correct, it’s a distance of 60 miles.
Corrections after dinner, since I’m a google earth nerd, and probably too OC… Crystal Peak below and east south/east of Babbit Peak. Virginia Peak doesn’t line up correctly just to the right of Peavine when seen from Summit. Looks like the Tohakum Peak ridgeline area (8000′) on the east side of Pyramid Lake. If so, that’s 83 miles from the top of Summit. Now I can sleep. Thanks Andy…
Also, I’d appreciate signs identifying the particular crops we drive past in agricultural areas. In addition, it should be a requirement that the tv ads featuring four wheel drive vehicles identify the locale — mountains, crags, whatever — where the ads were shot.