We finally caught a break in the east wind today. It wasn’t quite as cold today, so more off piste terrain did soften up. Although Summit began the day on wind hold again, it did finally open in the afternoon. All in all it was a very nice day on the slopes at Alpine Meadows, and the next two should follow suit before snow moves in Saturday night.
This morning, the groomed slopes were where it was at again. With Summit on hold, we spent the morning experimenting with just about every route down from Roundhouse. There’s been some changes in snow texture going on. After the first hour much of the corduroy had been scrubbed away, and it got a bit sugary over a firm surface. That’s a signal to test out the ungroomed terrain. Rolls and Knolls and areas around Yellow were still skiing quite nicely.
After a short early lunch break, we finally chose to head over to Sherwood, hoping for more softening that the last few days. It was a pleasant surprise. Things are starting to get corny over there, especially on the groomed terrain that has some pitch. The flatter runout…still a bit firm. Off piste, I did a lap through the Sherwood Left face, as it looked more skied in than the main Sherwood Face. It’s very skiable. Not totally firm, and not mashed potatoes. This should continue to improve over the next two days.
On our third lap we noted that Summit was spinning and headed back to Roundhouse to keep a close eye on the situation. Summit opened at 1:11 and we managed to be in the right place at the right time to catch second chair. Sunspot had been taunting me all day with just one patroller track in the corduroy. The report is that the wind kept things pretty crispy up top, so Sunspot, nor Wolverine was as dreamy as I had hoped. Still it felt good to take a few longer laps.
There is some wind in the forecast again tomorrow afternoon. The wind is supposed to really pickup tomorrow afternoon and that could affect Summit operations. Saturday we could see a bit of a break in the wind.
Sunday looks very windy and very cold, with a chance for 4-6 inches of snow. That extreme cold will carry on into Monday, with the forecast currently calling for a high of 18°. I need to find my big puffy! After that inside slider, the models are still all over the place. Daniel Swain, my favorite weather pundit, published this tweet today:
He goes on in that thread to say that only 3 or 4 out of 50 different sources for weather models are seeing even a moderate wet pattern. Zero of those 50 sources are calling for a very wet pattern. Swain knows his stuff, so I wouldn’t count on any huge pattern change just yet.
Storm of people again this week with some snow in the forecast? Good question…
If this weather pattern is moving from up north, ill give you a heads up. We hit 43 today and are looking at a serious cold snap this weekend. Snow involved. Been the wildest winter Ive ever seen and its never predictable but ill just say, its been hard core up here in N Idaho. If this cold front moves down, get your puffy jackets out.