No, It Is Not Spring Yet

Here we are, 25 days past the meteorological start of spring, and 5 days past the vernal equinox and it does not feel anything like spring yet. Temperatures remained brisk and winter-like again today, and that kept most of the snow cold and wintery too. Based on the parking lots just about filling by 10:30 am this morning, people are still in winter mode too.

One change is that we are still relatively storm free this weekend. That gave mountain ops a little bit of an opportunity to catch up on grooming. Everything on the “usually groomed” list got done overnight, and a few things on the extras list got done as well, such as Boomerang, Banana Chute and Kangaroo Ridge. The Kangaroo run was even groomed, although the lift is still buried. The only thing left out of the loop was Wolverine Bowl and D8. Check out the photo below to see how massive the cornice is at the top of Wolverine. It’s tough to tell how big that it until you pick out the person standing at the top, and the person standing on the bottom. It’s massive. Jeff Goldstone, the mountain manager, assured me that would be ironed out sometime. They need to get through this next big storm first.

Ski Patrol also had some time to catch up and do the control work necessary to open High Traverse this morning. It’s been a while! Andy and the Other Bob decided to head there first thing this morning to see what powder they could find. I skipped it, as honestly, I’ve skied a lot of powder the last few days and I was happy to just hot lap Summit in clear skies. Here’s Andy’s teaser photo from the bottom of Sun Bowl:

Keep in mind he was there first thing, and there were many people headed that way all morning, hiking over Upper Saddle from ABC. It looked like an ant colony at times. That is a part of the powder experience that I just don’t enjoy.

Instead my friend Tim and I tried a bunch of different routes down from Summit, avoiding the crowded groomed slopes. It really was tough to go wrong, as most of the off piste terrain was still cut up powder or small soft moguls. We only found two areas that were less pleasant. Both Tower 19 and South Peril had some frozen ice chunks and a few ruts left from yesterday. Even though the air temperatures were cold, the intense solar radiation did cause some melt on those south east facing slopes.

Around noon, some cloud cover rolled in and made for variable lighting, with some periods of flat light. Some of those clouds could drop a few flakes, but nothing that would add up to anything. Conditions are expected to be the same for tomorrow.

There was a lot in the way of activity happening today. The Boarding for Breast Cancer poker run was happening at Alpine Meadows, and many people seemed to be enjoying the fun. There were a lot of pink capes and associated photo opportunities happening on the mountain. Over at Palisades Tahoe, the Pain McShlonkey Classic snow blade race was held today. That event is always hilarious and seems to draw a crowd. Today’s winners were freeskier Wendy Fisher (no relation) and ski social media darling Donny Pelletier. Fisher has been an incredible skier forever, and Pelletier is formerly a member of the USA mens’ mogul team. The Mothership Classic, a benefit for High Fives, is scheduled for tomorrow, where else but at KT22 at Palisades Tahoe.

Next week and weekend, the Winter Wondergrass Festival will be at Palisades Tahoe. So…plan accordingly. This is the first year that event has been held with the B2B ready to feed a lot of people in this direction…unless it’s windy…or on mechanical hold…hopefully.

There’s a big storm on the horizon still in the Monday night to Wednesday time frame. The forecast has essentially not changed for the Tahoe area since I brought this up two days ago. The Winter Storm watches have been hoisted and at 3 days out, they are generally pretty accurate. The Reno office of NOAA is calling for 1-3 feet of snow in the Sierra. The Sacramento office is calling for 2 to 4 feet of snow. Splitting the difference, 2-3 feet of new snow by Wednesday seems likely. Snow levels should run about 4000 feet. That’s good news for skiers and bad news for drivers. Winds are expected to be over 100mph at the crest, and that will almost certainly affect lift operations for Tuesday and possibly Wednesday, especially as these sorts of systems end with an east wind event.

We had a couple of days of model runs where it looked like we could dry out a bit after that. But being that next Saturday is April 1st, they have started saying “April fools!” Today’s model runs are indicating small storms continuing right up to the end of the 16 day run.

I’m going to miss this next storm. A few days ago, we declared it was time for an emergency vacation involving warmer temperatures and beach attire. This is one way to know that you’ve become a true Tahoe local. After spending a good chunk of your life here, you’re ready for a break from the snow as spring break time rolls around. I know, I’ll miss 5 days of skiing and my stats on the Leaderboard are going down the drain. But fortunately, the ski season at Alpine Meadows was just extended until July 4th. I’ll still be able to set several personal bests this season.

I’m guessing Andy will still be posting next week, but likely not every day. I’ll be back next weekend and you can all tell me how stupid I was for missing this storm while I was enjoying boat drinks.