Can I Time Travel Back To Yesterday?

Before we talk about today, or next week, let’s talk about yesterday. Frankly I was jealous that it was Andy’s turn to write a report, as yesterday was likely the most memorable day of the season yet for me, and just a few other people. It was a classic Alpine Meadows storm day with just a few lifts, no lift lines and not that many people out skiing and riding. I’m not even going to call it a pure powder day. In protected areas it skied like powder, out in the open, it was a constantly refreshed wind buff that lead to perfect reruns every time…except for a few pesky whiteouts when you could not tell up from down. It helped that I arrived at Alpine with zero expectations.

I had a feeling that today was going to be quite a bit more busy, as the forecast called for just partly cloudy skies. Traffic was being held on Alpine Meadows Road this morning, I guess for avalanche control work. Someone was asleep at the wheel of the Tweeter machinery today so there was no indication. Once the road opened, it was like the Indy 500 with people hustling to get pole position at some lift (as a delayed opening for Summit was announced). I can’t stand that part of skiing, so I hung back and waited for the dust to clear. Like locusts, the large numbers of skiers and riders took care of any of that pesky powder laying around. This actually worked out fine for me as I was supposed to be skiing with visiting family today. There will be more opportunities for powder this season.

One thing to note is that the snow is really stacking up. In touring around the mountain, a lot of features are disappearing. You can see in Andy’s picture above how all of the lumps and bumps on Ladies Slalom have disappeared. We noted the same yesterday on Sherwood Face and other areas of the mountain. All of this snowfall sets us up pretty well for a long season, as long as the storms dont completely disappear. That is not in the forecast yet.

Did I mention the freezing fog this morning? Yeah, that was an issue until about lunch time.

During an early lunch break two different people mentioned the idea of time traveling back to yesterday, where you could find powder turns all day, without feeling like you were racing someone for that last turn. That lead to today’s title. We’re nearing the end of a long three week holiday period, but we still have one last weekended to go. A new storm moves in for the weekend, bringing moderate amounts of snow and another round of high winds.

Unfortunately, that lead to the cancellation of the Alpenglow Backcountry Ski Demo this weekend. This awesome event provides for free demos of both backcountry and standard alpine gear at no cost. The organization team at Alpenglow felt there would be too many hazards presented with high winds, pop-up tents, snowfall and limited lift operations possible for the weekend. As of now, there is not any plan for a rescheduled date, and that’s understandable as it takes a lot of time to pull together the date with all of the manufacturer representatives. The two good things are that the cancellation of the event will possible reduce crowds for the weekend as it is very popular. Also, the demo event usually results in at least one ski purchase for my family every year, so I should see some monetary savings.

Not cancelled for tomorrow is a Meet N Greet and book signing for the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol dogs…. 3 PM in the Alpine Lodge.

A weak weather system moves in for late Saturday into Sunday. Overall, there is a potential for around a foot of new snow by Sunday night. The good news with this system is that snow levels stay lower than we have seen for a while. It should be all snow at Alpine Meadows. That’s not necessarily great new for anyone needing to pack up and head home over Donner Summit on Sunday afternoon.

It’s the Monday-Tuesday system that could be a big challenge. The models are still calling for 10+ inches of precipitation in the Northern Sierra during that period, and snow levels will be above 7000 feet for much of that storm. Daniel Swain noted today in a tweet that the system has a high potential for stalling over NorCal on Monday, but ti was tough to predict exactly where that happens. The creeks are already flowing under the snow at Alpine, so additional rain could contribute to problems on the mountain. More importantly, that storm could have far reaching impacts for flooding and slides all over NorCal.

As of now, it looks like we get a short break next Wednesday and Thursday before the storm train continues next weekend. Also of note, this is one of those odd years where we get no break between the Christmas holidays and the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Hopefully we can get at least a good midweek day or two in next week before the next crowd arrives.