Spring Rebounding

After a very winter-like sneaker powder day yesterday, and a very brisk morning, we are now rebounding right back into spring. Except for the sunniest areas, the snow held up really well through yesterday. That meant that even this morning, it was still possible to find short bursts of untracked powder without too much work. Even the cut up powder from yesterday was skiing very well.

We alternated runs on Summit and Roundhouse in the morning, as repeated runs on Summit lead to frosty hands and faces. The grooming was fairly limited today, and I did not mind all that much. It was a good morning to ski off piste, enjoy the powder leftovers, and not get the chilling effects from fast skiing. The secret to finding that fun was knowing where there were not as many icy moguls beneath the new snow.

I spent most of the morning between Tower 19, Sunspot and Solar Flare. The game in my head was to count how many turns I could make without bottoming out on a rut or mogul. My best score of 6 was achieved on Tower 19 and a 5 in Chicken Leg. My worst scores were in Pygmy Forest and D7, where my score consistently remained at 0 or 1.

The runs that were groomed were excellent and generally soft wintery snow. Most of the ungroomed runs were still fun, with just small bumps forming. Yellow and Kangaroo Ridge both fit that category.

Typically, after an early lunch, I would have played around the world to check out conditions at Sherwood, Lakeview and Scott. Instead, we noted that the B2B was once again fully functional, and the mid-week crowds minimal. So instead we used the B2B as intended and did a tour over at Palisades. The slopes were also pleasantly uncrowded there too.

We exited KT-22 at the top and circled to Headwall, Gold Coast, Emigrant, Granite Chief, Shirley and Solitude before returning to the B2B. It was a wild mix of conditions on the other side. We made powder turns in The Funnel, skied small soft moguls at Solitude, and a very firm groomer off of Granite Chief. The biggest surprise of the day was heading back down to the base area in the Sunnyside/Olympic High zone, where the snow had already transitioned to almost totally corn like consistency. My highlight of the afternoon was seeing the first marmot of spring pop out in the Emerald Enchanted Forest (stupid spell check).

Truth be told…sit down for this…Palisades Tahoe is really a great place to ski on a day like today where the crowds are so light. The ability to get there via the B2B, where you can get off at the top of KT-22 and completely avoid the village…it’s a good thing. Yes, I said it. That said, were there better ways to spend that money? Absolutely yes. But this is not Costco, they cannot just return the thing and get a refund. Since it’s there, we may as well use it when it makes sense. Editors Note: Marketing Department, please forward this paragraph to Ms. Byrne.

I’m feeling pretty good about the spring thing becoming a little bit more permanent. Looking at the forecast through Sunday, we get perfect temperatures for corn development and great skiing. Hopefully we can get through any sticky phase quickly.

In the longer term, check out the PNA Index. As a quick refresher, negative indicates a trough in the Pacific and positive indicates a ridge. We have been in mostly negative territory for a very long time. It looks like we flip to positive for the foreseeable future by the models today. The Reno NOAA office did mention the possibility of showers early next week, I am not seeing that yet.

Yay for spring and many more days ahead!  I’ve got “Hurricane Dahlen”, my nephew and his three daughters, in town for some ski fun and games. It should be perfect.