Call me jaded, and I am a local, but you can’t call me a “jaded local”, as that moniker is already taken. Hans Ludwig has been writing that column for years, first for Powder magazine and now for the Mountain Gazette. But the truth is, I have skied somewhere around 65 days in a row, and a lot of them have been great powder days. Today was not one of those days, even though it is currently hammering out there.
My expectations were low for today, as noted two days ago. But the sky was blue in Truckee this morning and I was motivated by seeing that at least Roundhouse was scheduled for the day. 9 inches of new snow fell at the base area overnight and that gave some hope that skiing might be pretty good. Because I had to snowblow and lost a shear pin in the berm, I did not take the time to look at the overnight winds. I should have.
I missed the money shot on my first ride up Roundhouse this morning. The lighting was just right across the new powder on Lower Red Ridge (skiers right of Dance Floor, just above Sandy’s Corner). Instead of being a smooth blanket of new snow, it looked more like the ocean, with waves moving in at 15 second intervals.
As the first skiers crested Sympathy face, there were few cries of delight. Instead there were grunts and whumps as skis refused to cooperate with leg muscles, causing crashes. The snowboarders seemed way happier, as this was more of a surfy deep wind buff than powder.
I tried a few different aspects and found none of them to be all that much better. Skiing the groomed runs seemed like the call for the morning. When Roundhouse went on windhold a few runs later, the line at Hotter Wheels suddenly became temporarily larger. I called it a day pretty early on. Sherwood opened just about the time my boots were off, but I wasn’t expecting much better on that side. Honestly it was pretty busy for a Monday, with local schools on a snow day and a lot of pent up demand from people that just did not want to bother with weekend traffic or crowds. You can tell me how great it was, and I am okay with that. There’s many ski days ahead this season.
Edit: Apparently this is where I went wrong…Several people noted that it was very good around Expert Shortcut, Counterweight and Art’s Knob. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. Here’s Randy in Counterweight:
The winds picked up at Alpine Meadows as the day wore on, and as of this minute, it’s back to Big Carpet only. Thanks to every mountain ops and staff person that showed up and worked to make it happen today. We always appreciate the effort.
There was a lot of talk over the weekend about being done with major holidays, and that things should slow down soon. But the truth is, with a lot of snow in the forecast, every powder day will be busy – especially those that fall on the “weekend” (F,S,Su,M). It’s the North Tahoe SnowFest next weekend. There was a time when it seemed like that was a big event. Now it hardly seems like a blip on the radar. We’re about a month out from Winter Wondergrass, and a string of spring break weeks.
There’s ridiculous amounts of snow expected to fall over the next 48 hours. The point forecast for Alpine Meadows (mid-mountain) shows from a low of 65 inches to a high of 87 inches of new snow. That is a crazy amount of new snowfall in a short span. There was a lucky little break in storms that allowed operations this morning, but I think it’s fair to say expect nothing tomorrow if this plays out. Your need to ski, nor mine, does not supersede the safety of mountain staff. So have a back up plan for activity tomorrow. If you live local it probably involves a lot of snow removal.
Tuesday Update: Both Alpine Meadows and Palisades are closed today due to avalanche danger. This is the right call.
Another snow event is on tap for next weekend. It does not looks as intense as this system at this minute in time. The last few model runs show 1-3 feet, but it’s still pretty far out. After that things could get very interesting, in a bad way. Even BA noted in his most recent weather update that the models are picking up on the possibility of a warmer storm series for the second week of March. Currently the jet stream is coming at us from the north with a lot of cold air. As we get to the second week of March, the models take the jet to a more normal straight across the Pacific position, bringing us very wet and warmer storms. It’s worth keeping an eye on that.
Be safe out there…
Sherwood seemed to have somewhat better snow consistency and easier conditions for maneuvering without splitting
the skis in different directions. Today was a good day for those with a snowboard. I did think the snow on the Expert Shortcut slope was delightful. It did not seem as wind affected and skied as if it was deeper.
Wow, I’m sorry your day turned out like that. Mine was amazing. I did two Roundhouse laps to start, then switched to TLC and Sherwood when those opened. Ended up doing 9 Sherwoods and 7 TLCs. The visibility wasn’t half-bad on Sherwood until mid-day – then it deteriorated. But there were free refills all day. Near the rocks next to Sherwood face, the trees above Powerline and powerline itself were great. It was incredible. And each time we came back to the frontside, we took Counterweight and it was incredible too. I did take one lap over to lower High Yellow Face early. That was interesting. Apparently it broke up high with about a 3-4′ crown and the whole lower part was filled with debris. But the trees to the right were great.
Gazex guns above the road have been going this afternoon. I’ll be surprised if we get open tomorrow – they already called off ski school for tomorrow. Its currently snowing at a rate of 2″/hour in Alpine.
Edit: Added Randy’s photo to the post above