Teetering Back To Spring

The forecast for a busy weekend certainly held true. The upper lots at Alpine meadows filled just about the same time lifts rolled at 8:50. Then the people just kept coming, filling the Deer Park lot, the Olympic Village lots and finally the Hidden Valley lot. So there were a lot of people on the mountain, on the Sun Deck, in the lodge, at the Ice Bar and the Chalet. We stood in short lines for just about every lift today, but rarely for more than 2-3 minutes.

In the morning hours, the skiing was fantastic on the groomers. Some areas got a little busy, and others were not so busy. I managed to pick a line that worked for me today that keep me out of the main flow and let me get the zooms out. I want to give a gold star to the cat operator that finally groomed the left shoulder of Dance Floor. That left shoulder absorbs the morning sun, offering fast carves, and allows it to operate as a Fastrak lane for getting back to Summit.

Off piste the frontside conditions are extremely variable, with limited soft pockets, some chunder, some skier packed powder, and some very slippery firm pack. Choose wisely. Most people chose the groomed runs today.

Around 11am, the frontside slopes began to achieve peak crowds, and navigating the chokepoints at Rock Garden and Sandy’s Corner demanded that you check your speed and keep your head on a swivel. The Summit corral also approached its capacity, giving us the impetus to take an early break. Food lines were likely the longest of lines at Alpine today, so it’s good to try and avoid that.

We did the Sherwood – Lakeview-Scott trifecta in the early afternoon, moving along a little faster than normal. The snow in those sunnier areas is in the transition stage from winter snowpack to spring snowpack. That transition is not always as quick as we like, leading to manky snow off piste and a pasty, clumpy snow on piste. Both of those conditions can get pretty sticky, and that reduces my fun factor a bit. With another freeze-thaw cycle we should get a bit closer to corn tomorrow. Monday through Wednesday should offer some fine spring conditions.

Another inside slider is on tap for next Thursday into Friday. It’s tough to give specifics on amounts just yet, but so far it’s looking like a dust on crust event. The long range still does not offer much in the way of big storms. The PNA index continues to trend into an even deeper trough.

The MJO continues to make it’s march from Phase 3 into Phase 4. Below is the graphic that shows how the MJO generally affect precipitation during the months of January, February and March. That brown in Phase 4 is not what you may want.

So long range, it looks like dry cold fronts that bring more wind than snow… My suggestion is to keep skiing and not worry about the weather. Maybe it will change to something wetter…or maybe not.