It was another day of east winds in the Sierra again. Summit and Alpine Meadows remained on windhold today. The NOAA Remote Data site shows the east winds are still cranking. That said, the temperatures looked relatively warm, so the skiing was probably just fine at Sherwood, Scott and Lakeview for much of the day. Myself, I went to another meeting of the Wednesday Club over at Mount Rose. It was a scientific mission.
We’ve been talking a lot on chair rides about how the winds over the crest at Alpine Meadows can be blowing at 60-70mph or more, while Mount Rose can just have some light breezes. This is especially puzzling, as the elevation at the Summit of the Mount Rose ski area is 1000′ higher in elevation.
As it turns out, Mount Rose (actually Slide Mountain) is basically a singular peak, surrounded by a lot of lower elevation peaks. Those upper level winds just spread out and go around the mountain without interference. Alpine Meadows sits right at the Sierra crest, which in comparison is a solid wall of granite in the path of the wind. Some might even call it a “palisade”.
In that case the wind can’t make a right turn or left turn – just an upward turn. It gets forced up and over the crest, all of it. Just like an airplane wing, the air must speed up to get to the other side to match the rest of the air mass.. So there’s those high ridge gusts that can affect the Summit and Alpine Bowl chairs.
So the wind wasn’t an issue at all over at Rose today. The groomers are good, though not as good as they have been at Alpine Meadows this season. The temperatures were a bit too chilly to unlock most of the south facing terrain today, which is only on the Slide side. Only Sunrise Bowl provided the corn experience we see widely spread at Sherwood, Scott and Lakeview this month.
Maybe That Little Storm Might Reappear
A few days ago I mentioned the possibility of a storm coming in sometime around the 10th…and then it disappeared from the models. Today it’s back. Don’t get your hopes up too high as it is not a game changer. Right now it punches down the ridge just a bit and then slides to our east Monday night into Tuesday. That makes for like a 20% chance of an inch or two of snow…or the “R” word…as the precipitation may fall before the colder air arrives. Temperatures through the weekend are expected to be in the low 50’s or upper 40’s right into Monday.
The only thing this storm might do is to prevent us from getting into the real competition for “record dry streaks”. Looking specifically at Alpine Meadows since 1970, the driest February was 1988, with only 1 inch of snow. The runner up was 2020, which had 2.5 inches of snow. After the storm passes through Tuesday, you guessed it, more east winds and cooler temperatures early next week. No other storms are in the forecast, so it’s not correct to call this a pattern change.
It was a nice diversion to be somewhere else today. It makes coming back to Alpine Meadows all the sweeter.
Quote from your blog (which I love). “Mount Rose (actually Slide Mountain) is basically a singular peak, surrounded by a lot of lower elevation peaks.”
The Mount Rose ski area is on Slide Mountain, but the singular peak in the area is Mount Rose (confusing, I know). In the 60’s, I skied a lot at Slide Mountain before they opened the other side (Mount Rose). I’ve never forgotten the major winds we faced at the top of the Slide lift. Like a hundred yards of flat at the top with a gale in your face. Perhaps things have changed (a lot has), but the winds I remember at Slide were as formidable as when Summit is open. Given a choice of skiing Mt. Rose or Alpine in high winds, I would always chose Alpine.
I think wind events are more common at Alpine, but when it does blow at “Mt Blows” it can be bad. If Northwest and Zephyr close, that leaves Lakeview, which is closed for the rest of the year. That leaves just Galena and the Wizard. I prefer a day on Roundhouse.
Miracle March time, have faith!
Rose is a great mountain. Friendly staff, good vibe, nice fall line skiing. Having a midweek there and going there once per week is a real treat and breaks up the ski week nicely. Living in Alpine Meadows, I am 5 minutes from the Alpine lifts and its takes me 45 minutes to drive to Rose, but it is worth it in my estimation and its great to have options. We have been a little perplexed too by the fact that Rose has consistently had less wind than Alpine this whole east wind period, but you explained it well I think, Mark. Hope to see you out there.