Sun ‘N Fun

I could really get used to that sun thing up in the sky. Once again we had fully sunny skies, leading to awesome visibility, slightly warmer temperatures and snow that is transitioning toward spring corn. On top of that there was plenty of the best corduroy in Tahoe this morning and minimal crowds on the mountain. What’s not to love?

It was definitely a morning for zoomer groomers. They were wide, smooth and fast. There were also plenty to choose from to help spread people out. About the only ones left out of the mix last night was D8 and Solar Flare. There was quite a bit of variation in how firm things felt. Sunspot and Wolverine were very firm, while Terry’s Return was groovy soft. Those variations meant you could absolutely choose your perfect run.

Crowd-wise, it was not all that bad today. The parking lot was filled to about the same place as yesterday, but it seemed like there were more families today, with temperatures moderating from the big chill of the last two days. Because off piste terrain was far more variable today, you did not see many people skiing off piste, relative to the last few days. That meant that the main groomed runs felt busy.

Off of Summit and Roundhouse, just about everything is staying fairly wintery and soft. Off of Sherwood, Lakeview and Scott, the transition to spring corn is underway. On the groomed slopes, it’s still pretty clumpy and wet, leading to afternoon stickiness. That said, as long as your timing was right, it provided some nice butter turns. I did sample some off piste terrain on Sherwood Left Face. My final description of that off piste snow was “chunder paste with smeary overtones”. It needs more time…more sun and more people skiing it in. Consequently, Sherwood Face and South Face were fairly empty this afternoon.

We’re not quite going to get to great ripe corn this week. We have one more day of mostly sunny weather tomorrow before another weak storm moves in Thursday night into Friday. We’re still riding the line between a dirty ridge and a soft trough. Looking at the ensembles today, 4 to 6 inches of snow could fall by the end of the day Friday. In contrast to the light and fluffy snow of the last storm, this one will be more like cream cheese. Snow levels look to hang at about 6000 feet for most of the storm, possibly rising a bit as the system passes. So skiing will not be ideal for Friday.

There is better news for the weekend. Right now the weekend looks mostly drier, with warmer temperatures. That could lead to some stickier snow conditions though, as temperatures are currently forecast near 50° by Sunday. But there is Mescalito playing on the Sun Deck Saturday afternoon. The Golden Egg Hunt returns for Easter Sunday, as does the Beacon & Eggs avalanche beacon search. Enjoy the hopefully sunny skies over the weekend as we could see some rain early next week. Yeah, not great, but we are skiing and will be for many days ahead.

Looking back at last season…Sherwood was closed already as was Scott. Rock skis were the tool of the trade for anywhere off the major routes down the mountain. Alpine Meadows closed for the season on April 17th. What a difference a year makes!

That said, there are several Tahoe ski areas that are planning on closing soon, whether there is record snowpack on the ground or not. Over the next three weeks, Homewood, Tahoe Donner, Mount Rose, Diamond Peak, Northstar, and Heavenly will be closing for the season. By early May, Kirkwood is scheduled to close. Palisades remains open through Memorial Day and then Alpine Meadows only until July 4th. With biking, fishing and camping season seeming a long ways off, I’m happy to claim Alpine Meadows as my home mountain.