Wet, Wet, Wet

Hello skiers,

As many of you know most local resorts were closed on Friday. Snow conditions were extremely dangerous. Avalanches of wet snow cascaded down the backside of KT22 reaching, or nearly reaching, the Alpine Meadows Road. A picture of some of the debris is attached below.

Debris shot down Friday

Avalanche debris shot down from the backside of KT22

We received six inches of snow overnight. The new snow was pretty wet and heavy. I was able to determine the consistency after lifting one shovel full of snow from my steps. Showers of snow, heavy at times, and rain have been falling from the sky all day. There were not many people at Alpine Meadows this morning. The parking lot was sparsely filled. Lifts did not open at nine this morning as crews were busy trying to dig out and prepare the lifts for operation. The same problem I had this morning with heavy wet snow existed at the resort. We hung out in our locker room and waited for a lift, other than Subway, to open. If the snow dropping from the sky had been drier we might have raced out to Subway. It was wet and there did not seem to be any reason to rush out and ride a slow beginner lift.

We gathered in the locker room chatting about various different subjects. Can you answer the following question?
What was the first ski resort to open at Lake Tahoe, and when did it open? The answer is that the first resort to open in Lake Tahoe was Olympic Hill. It was for the benefit of guests staying at the Tahoe Tavern Inn located just south of the “Y” in Tahoe City. The original Tahoe Tavern Inn was torn down and replaced with the Tahoe Tavern Condominium Development. The ski hill was located on a slope that still exists. It is now called Granlibakken. It was originally opened in 1924.

A number of anxious skiers and boarders were wandering around the lodge this morning hoping for lifts to open. Many could not wait and headed over to Olympic Valley to ride Red Dog, the Resort Chair, and Far East. KT22 did open later. At Alpine TLC and Sherwood opened followed by Yellow and Roundhouse a couple of hours later.

There were various reports that came my way regarding the ski conditions. It was interesting to note that most of the people I spoke to thought the skiing was pretty good. The snow was dense and about six inches deep. It was the type of snow that can grab one leg and send it in the opposite direction of the other leg. You can get hurt in this type of snow. However, if you can keep your skis together as if they were a platform and keep both skies evenly weighted, then you should not have a problem skiing in these conditions. If you weight one ski or the other when you make a turn then you may get thrown off balance, or one ski may decide to abandon the other. This is just my theory. It works for me. Thus, I enjoyed skiing this morning on slopes that offered untracked snow. The more tracks from other skiers the more difficult it became to ski. This type of snow turns into a hard “cement like” surface once it is skied out. I do not enjoy that particular surface especially on a day like today when the visibility is poor.

Riding TLC.  The visibility was not all that great.

It is three o’clock in the afternoon and it is snowing lightly along the Truckee River. It was raining earlier. I can tell how wet it is by looking at the roads that are black for a change.

Enjoy your day,

Andy