New Snow Arrives

Late yesterday afternoon, and later in the evening last night, before I snuggled under the covers I am sure I heard, and also read, weather reports that announced it would be overcast in the morning.   Clearing was forecast for the early afternoon. In addition, these other blog posts stated it would be very cold today so we all should remember to dress very warmly.

The long and the short of today’s weather was that it was not all that cold. I dressed as directed and ended up being way to warm. Snow showers were spitting white flakes off and on all day. There were a few occasional holes in the cloud cover that proved blue rested above the clouds. Sun lite up the slopes here and there, but never really remained for long. Early morning low clouds created poor visibility at the top of Summit Chair. What about the winds that were predicted by other forecasters? It was howling overnight, but winds died down early in the morning. All lifts were spinning first thing this morning. Thank you Alpine for opening a few minutes early this today.

Winds have picked up dramatically this afternoon and light snow is falling from the sky. Enough about weather from me that is really Mark’s department.

More people showed up this morning to hit the slopes with hopes of finding untracked powder. It was a holiday plus some season passes that were blacked out Saturday and Sunday were good today which may have been the reason there appeared to be more people today than over the weekend. We found new snow on the mountain for the first time in weeks. It was perhaps 4 inches deep, more in some areas. First tracks on the runs that were groomed before it snowed were lovely. Underneath everything on the mountain is a very firm layer of frozen snow. Thus, as the new snow was pushed aside by skiers a scratchy loud surface appeared. Areas where it had not been groomed varied from soft underfoot on very low angle slopes to soft snow over a hard rutted surface that can jar fillings out of your teeth. Nobody that I spoke to was complaining as we are all just happy to have new snow.

Sun peeking through the clouds on Scott Peak

I skied Terry’s Return first thing this morning. First tracks in new snow over a flat surface made me smile. Later Kangaroo slopes offered some off-piste that was pretty soft under foot. My favorite was Gentian Gully which has been closed for weeks. It opened today and I had a couple of tours through the trees that were just wonderful. Some spots were soft six inch deep snow. Others were scratchy underneath but rutted, and I was almost alone on these slopes which made me even happier.

Andy