There were a lot of contrasts in the ski day today. The morning started off really hazy with a moderate northeast wind. Somewhere around noon, the cloud deck moved on and someone turned off the wind machine, leading to a sunny spring-like afternoon. That meant that ski conditions were also rapidly evolving today. Personally I prefer a hazy IPA than hazy skies while skiing, still both halves of the day skied well.
Due to the weekend lines and a windhold yesterday, I had not been on Summit for three days, so that was the call for the morning. I guess there was just enough of a north component to the morning wind to avoid a windhold this morning, although a lot of seats were flipping up as they came down unloaded. The upper ramp and unload areas were like a hockey rink in need of a Zamboni this morning, leading me to question the decision to ride the upper mountain, but once you cleared that area, the grooming team had things really dialed.
Most of my buddies said D8 was the cat’s meow this morning, even though one of them took a 600 foot slide down into Wolverine Bowl. Myself I preferred Wolverine Bowl, where the wind was blowing so hard, most turns were optional. Part of Alpine Bowl had been groomed late by the swing shift, and that was great but busy. The remainder of Alpine Bowl, Sunspot and Terry’s Return were quite firm today, considering it is March. Blame the haze.
The winds began to abate and a quick test run on Weasel One showed that the south facing snow was beginning to soften. We did a quick lunch break and headed over to the Sherwood side. It’s pretty much impossible to tell that 9 inches of new snow fell just 4 days ago, as it’s mostly gone. The transition back to corn is mostly complete, but not perfect yet. Some areas are still a bit pasty or clumpy. Other areas are already there, including much of the Face and the steeper parts of the main Sherwood Run.
From there We did a quick tour of Lakeview and then on to Scott. At Scott, on the sunny exposures, there is no evidence of any new snow anymore. As the surface softened it was mostly good corn on the steeper pitches, with just a bit of clumpiness and stickies, where there are flatter sections, midway down Bobby’s and Ridge. Overall, here’s the corn readiness grades for this afternoon:
I would expect that things will improve for tomorrow, in particular, the part where things get softer before noon. Hopefully that’s true because sometime tomorrow afternoon, the wind returns, and potentially some clouds as well.
Thursday is not looking good my friends. It might be a day to do a few perfunctory laps and then move on to something more exciting such as finishing your taxes, brushing your dog’s teeth, or actually answering that call about your car’s extended warranty expiring. (I don’t recommend you buy anything, it’s just fun to mess with scammers.) There’s a 5% chance of a few flakes of snow falling and a 95% chance of very high winds. Here’s the mid-mountain forecast for Thursday:
Ridge winds are expected to exceed 100mph. Except a lot of lifts to be on windhold.
Everyone is talking about the storm next Tuesday. It’s still one week out, which is a long time for things to change. So don’t go counting your chickens just yet. As of the last few model runs, there seems to be support for 8-12 inches of snow again. What I don’t like is the temperatures, which look a bit warm. So we could see some pretty high snow levels, possibly higher than base level. Rain is still okay, as it does delay the fire season just a bit, but it’s not that great for skiing.
Looking at the long range…I was looking at the teleconnections this morning and looking for something that says “pattern change”. Apparently, I was on the same wavelength as Daniel Swain, of WeatherWest.com. His tweet immediately confirmed what I was seeing:
So if you’re waiting for a March Miracle, you’re blowing it. Just go skiing, while you can. Sherwood, Lakeview and Scott will not be there much longer for our enjoyment. In other parts of the US, mountains are already starting to close for the season.