Thinking About Skiing

The lift served ski season in California just ended, and what a season it was. Alpine Meadows closed a mere 37 days ago. Yesterday, Mammoth Mountain finished up their season, after 275 days of skiing and riding. Sure, they have the high altitude thing going for them, but there is more to it than that. Mammoth’s dedication to snow management to keep their season going is unsurpassed in North America.

No, I was not there for closing weekend at Mammoth. I have not skied since Alpine Meadows closed, but suddenly, I am ready to go again.

Unfortunately, Google Maps says it’s a 9 hour drive to Timberline in Oregon today. It’s a drive I have done a number of times for summer skiing. But it’s not in the cards for me right now. I was just in Oregon a couple of weeks ago, sans skis. Also, the fire and smoke situation in Oregon this summer is brutal, something we sure hope to avoid in our area as we head into the peak of fire season.

Amazingly, Mammoth Mountain has already announced an opening date for next season, and it’s only 97 days away. We’re not quite there yet in Tahoe. Alpine Meadows typically opens 2 to 3 weeks later than Mammoth, conditions permitting. Using the day before Thanksgiving as a presumed start date, we are 107 days out from next season, weather and conditions permitting.

Just because lift served skiing is done for the season, that does not mean that all skiing is done for the season. The “turns all year” crowd will continue to seek out snow to keep skiing. My buddy Stev, who’s going on something like 238 consecutive months, must have known I was thinking about skiing today, as he randomly sent me this photo, which I immediately recognized as the “Boreal Patch” above Blue Lakes near Carson Pass. For those wanting to make some summer turns, last week while I was out at Webber Lake, I noted a couple of the larger patches off of the northwest shoulder of Mount Lola still run a long distance. The longest looks like it’s about 1000 vertical feet.

This is the time of the year where weather pundits like to start talking about what next winter might look like. That’s getting a lot more difficult. Over the last few years, forecasters and people that like to talk about the weather have used the term “the new normal” in their discussions of weather patterns. During that time, I’ve come to believe that given the current state of climate change, the word “normal” or “average” no longer applies. Taking last season as an example, the conditions as we headed into the winter months were “La Niña”, with cooler waters in the Pacific Ocean. In “normal” conditions, we should have seen storms pushing farther to the north, which results in a drier than average season in the Tahoe region. Instead, we know what happened, we had a huge winter in Tahoe, and an even huger winter in the Southern Sierra, allowing for that 275 day ski season at Mammoth. Meanwhile, Oregon,Washington and British Columbia were exceptionally dry, resulting in the current fire emergency. The winter season actually looked more like an “el Niño” year.

The signals for the upcoming winter are for a reasonably strong “El Niño” pattern, with warming waters in the Pacific. In a “normal” year, that leads to the expectation of a strong southern jet stream that favors wetter, but warmer, storms aimed right into California. I’m not buying that forecast just yet. Climate change is real, and we are seeing shifts in winter and summer weather faster than just about any model predicted. If you’re a believer in Southern Hemisphere analogs, the ski season in the Southern Hemisphere is pretty dry. Some resorts are still struggling to open. I don’t think there is a strong connection between what happens there versus what happens here, but it does remind me that anything is possible.

I’ve got some new skis arriving on my doorstep this week. Some kids are already going back to school this week. Labor Day ski sales are just a few weeks away. We will start seeing trailers for ski movies any day now. I know summer is not really over yet, even though I have packed nearly a full summer’s worth of activity into the last 37 days. There’s still more heat waves in our future, but I am hoping we can avoid major fires and smoke as we dream about skiing.

Mum’s the word from Palisades Tahoe regarding next season and their plans for paid parking reservations. Nothing has been said, and few rumors have been spread. Speaking of silence, there has been no announcement of any winners of any of the prizes for those of us that allowed the marketing department to track our skiing via the Palisades Tahoe app. Theoretically there was a raffle for a pair of goggles (25 days tracked), a pair of skis (75 days tracked) and a 23/24 Ikon Pass (100 days tracked). I actually wonder if there are ever winners of any of these contests. Still no 100 days tee shirt in my mail box yet either.

It’s time to enjoy another bike ride…

Added: If you have read the comments below, Jay sent me a belt made from old climbing rope. The Will Sew For Bolts initiative can be found on Facebook.