The Alpine Bowl Chair opened today for the first time of the 22-23 season, so we can now truly say that the mountain is 100% open. Technically, you can ski all of the ABC terrain from Summit, so the terrain has been 100% open, just not the lifts. For those not in the know, ABC was down for the last 3 months after the auxiliary drive motor was replaced last summer. A critical wiring harness and electronic control module was on backorder from Caterpillar seemingly forever, frustrating lift mechanics, mountain managers and ABC aficionados.
Adding to the fun, the south wind yesterday reloaded the Pygmy Forest zone with a fresh blanket of soft snow that covered the older moguls underneath. The Palisades zone was also blessed by that windblown refresh. That said, it was getting skied in quickly today.
The first day of the weekend (we now include Fridays and Mondays) was fairly busy in the first hour. I noted that Lot 4 and Subway were about half full. That’s really not many people, it just took people some time to spread out around the mountain. By 10:30, there were essentially no lines anywhere except for Summit. The primary frontside groomed runs were busy, but not the secondary ones. Up top, we are pretty much at “Tidy Bowl” status, with Alpine Bowl and Sunspot groomed about as wide as they can be. Also, starting yesterday, Solar Flare was also groomed. You do lose some vertical at Solar Flare, but as we get closer to corn season, it is the first run to soften in the morning.
For off piste fun, a lot of the north facing terrain is well consolidated now. Almost everything from Deer Camp to Hidden Knolls is skiing well. I also like a lot of different spots off of Yellow chair. Areas that get more sun have not gotten enough sun yet. God’s Knob, Chicken Leg, Sherwood Face and South Face remained crispy today as the temperatures have been very slow to warm up. South facing groomers like Bobby’s, Outer Limits and Sherwood were very slow to warm up, not really getting soft and creamy until about 2 pm today. Andy mentioned he did a High Traverse in the morning and it was not good. He rarely says that sort of thing. Conditions on sunny terrain should start improving tomorrow.
Warming Trend Then A Snowy Trend
The models are still holding on to the idea of a big warmup, then a big snow event for the upcoming quasi-holiday week. The weekend should be downright delightful, with the temperature reaching the low to mid 40’s by Sunday and Monday. That will be a nice change from the blustery week we just had. Hopefully that will encourage more people to get off the main groomers and spread out around the mountain for the busy holiday weekend. Yes, it is a blackout weekend (the last of the season) but so far this season, that has offered little relief.
On Tuesday we dive back into winter with a vengeance. The storm moves in Tuesday afternoon and runs through Friday, as of the current forecast. Expectations are very low snow levels, large amounts of wind, and large amounts of snow. It would be prudent to expect some limited operations for Wednesday and Thursday, and possibly Friday. Late edit: Expect high winds Tuesday too!
There’s that World Cup thing scheduled for Friday night, Saturday and Sunday over at Palisades. As of today, Saturday and Sunday do look storm free. Will they be able to recover from a whole lot of new snow in time to hold those races? Time will tell…
How much snow is a “whole lot of new snow”? In my last report, I mentioned that models had suggested 4-5 feet. Some model runs have trended downward for the last couple of runs, but overall, they all are suggesting 3-5 feet. The GIF below is the “model trend GIF” for total snowfall through Saturday, showing the last 13 model runs. I marked the “last run” so you know which one that is 🙂 Good for recreational skiing and the snowpack, not so good for those to stage that big event next door. That storm is just about within the 5 day forecast window, the place where the models tend to be fairly accurate.
Saturday afternoon update: The models continue to trend downward. This afternoon, the models bring a more manageable 1-2 feet of new snow Tuesday into Friday morning.
The weekend of the 25-26th looks relatively dry before another big storm moves in from Monday and beyond. We are not done with winter yet. The messaging from Palisades Tahoe has been to leave Truckee by 7:30 for busy weekends and probably much of next week…setting alarm clocks now.
I agree with Andy’s assessment of the High T not being worth the time yesterday.