Adventure Season Beginning

It certainly has been a great winter, and we are not quite done with it yet. That said, change is afoot. Even though we have had record snowfall this season, we no longer have midwinter conditions. Obviously, the snow this week has ranged from perfect corn, to mashed potatoes and downright manky rotten snow. Also, the melt is on.

Yesterday I did a quick trip down the hill and noted that the snow is about gone at the 5000 foot elevation. At 6000 feet in Truckee, the natural snowpack has mostly melted, leaving only the piles from plows and snowblowers.

At Alpine Meadows, obstacles are starting to appear, especially on the southern and western facing aspects. The usual rock bands are starting to reappear on Sherwood Face, Scott’s Chute, and the upper parts of Lakeview. Underneath the snow, water is flowing in the major creek beds and smaller tributaries. Then there’s the tree debris, including broken branches and tree tops just poking up through the snow. On groomed slopes, you may not notice that as much, but where the slopes are not groomed daily, more stuff pops up each day.

So adventure season is getting under way, where avoiding obstacles becomes a part of the game. To me it just adds to the challenge. If you have read this blog for any length of time, you already now that I am a fan of sneaker line season – finding those last little ribbons of snow that lead from the top to the bottom of a run.

Snow conditions today were pretty good given the temperatures. I quit skiing today not because it got sticky, but because I was just too hot. High temperatures today were at mid-mountain, at 66°. Fortunately the cool down starts tomorrow. We should see increasing winds and afternoon highs about 5-7 degrees colder than today. That includes the overnight lows. We should get a better freeze tonight that hopefully will improve the off piste conditions for tomorrow.

That cooling trend continues into Monday, with snow moving in late Monday night. As of now the point forecast shows 3-7 inches of snow possible for Tuesday. This particular low is a “cutoff low” meaning it is not well connected to the jet stream. Cut off lows are a difficult forecast, as exactly how much snow falls will depend on exactly how far inland the low pressure system moves. That said, Alpine Meadows will not be open Tuesday, and who knows how that will play out when lifts spin again Wednesday morning at 8am. So far, my plan for May does not includes going to Alpine North on Mondays and Tuesdays. It’s probably time to start focusing on some of my off season responsibilities. This will be detrimental to my Leaderboard standing, but helpful with family standings.

Looking at the 500mb heights and winds, none of the following systems over the next 16 days looks very organized, leading to slight chances of snow here and there. It’s basically the same dirty ridge scenario we saw earlier in April. Hopefully we can get into a stable spring pattern soon, with temperatures that allow for overnight freezes as we head into the month of May.

It’s my plan to just ski Alpine Meadows every day they are open through July 4th, no matter what the conditions. See you out there. Aww man…this is the last day for ski until 5 pm on Summit. You would think I might be more committed as a skier.