The wait for a real winter storm to arrive and kick this season into gear will continue. That last storm that brought the tiniest bit of hope to our world turned into a disappointment. The drizzly rain continued in earnest until late into Saturday night. Then the cold front blew in near midnight. If we could ski on the wind, this storm absolutely delivered. The remote data sensor showed 154 mph as a peak gust at the Ward Mountain sensor. Honestly I was surprised to find all segments of my fence still standing on Sunday morning. Alas, Palisades reported only 4 inches of new snow out of the storm, hardly enough to make a difference. Mount Rose, with its higher elevation reported 6-10 inches of new snow.
The good news is that the storm did bring in a good shot of cold air, which allowed for about 36 hours of snowmaking on both sides of the hill. Over the next two days, the NOAA forecast discussion does mention that we get some inversion development that may limit snow making through Wednesday to just a few hours a night. So there will be no miracles that will allow for anything other than First Venture to run on opening day. By Thursday, an inside slider comes through into northeaster Nevada. That sets up a cold regime that allows for a lot of snowmaking into the weekend. Word on the street is that December 1st seems to be the likely target for any terrain opening at Alpine Meadows. We just report what we see and what we hear, so it is what it is.
Looking at the longer range, there’s nothing to really cheer about yet. The models really don’t seem to offer much until December 1. Looking at the last few runs, even that is only looking like a couple of weak systems that bring maybe a foot or so of snow. Even at that, we are talking Fantasyland that far out into the forecast. Will the weather stay cold enough for the snowmaking team to become the heroes of Palisades and Alpine Meadows? That’s a tougher forecast. Those snowmakers are heroes either way!
The good news is, one week from tomorrow, we are supposed to be logging on and making our first parking reservations of the season for the weekend of December 2nd and 3rd. Looking at things right this minute, the demand will likely be pretty light. In case you missed it, you can read our tutorial called This Is The Way. It shows you the process to set up your phone for easiest access to parking reservations.
A Rose And Some Thorns
I am up to 8 days on my Mount Rose “off peak” pass now. It looks like I will get a lot more use out of it over the next ten days or so. The skiing is still fun, but there’s been a few thorns over that last few days. It all has to do with that thing that Mount Rose is the only real game in Tahoe right now. While it’s not a holiday week for local schools (apparently it is) or Reno schools, it’s obvious that there are families that have the entire week off for Thanksgiving. Then there was that “powder day” yesterday. It’s been a bit crowded over the last couple of days. When I left this morning around 11:30, the main lot was approaching full. Last week, it was never more than half full.
Just in case you had FOMO, that “powder day” on Sunday really was nothing of the sort. Remember, that was the day after we saw 154mph winds over Ward Peak. That powder was absolutely wind affected, and the crowd of visitors that showed up anxious to ski it had no idea what they were getting into. I turned around to look up hill on my first lap and it looked like Armageddon with people fallen all over the slope, many digging for skis that were removed by the crust. It looked very similar to that viral video of Mammoth on opening day, just with more people laying on the ground. The Mount Rose “regulars” even jokingly asked me to stop writing about Mount Rose to keep people away. Honestly, it’s not my fault. Blame the TV news that have been mentioning Mount Rose a lot lately.
If you’re a decent skier, you know how to avoid crowds on a slope. Sometimes it’s a manner of just waiting for your opening, or just trusting the “side country” next to the groomed slope. Mount Rose plans to add The Wizard lift and terrain tomorrow. Based on ticket prices, it looks like they may be planning to add the Northwest Chair on Wednesday. That won’t necessarily add terrain, but it will shorten the lift lines. We shall see.
Mammoth continues to offer chairs 1, 3 and 6. Word is that the top is expected to open any day now via the upper gondola, with access to Cornice Bowl. I also heard that Chair 2 from The Mill parking lot should be a go soon as well. I definitely would not recommend a trip to Mammoth over the Thanksgiving holiday. But next week? Could be worth the trip… Update: Boots on the snow reporter Danny says that Cornice got wind scoured from the big wind event and is now off the list of potential openings.
Just looked at Cornice Bowl at Mammoth. The mondo north winds scoured the whole top down to dirt. Doesn’t look good for that, unless they do a lot of farming.
I guess you did not see the update I added minutes before you posted the comment. Now people will know for sure. Pack your bag for skiing tomorrow…
Then there is this Insta post I meant to add to today’s post. I think Jerry parked his new 4Runner, looking cool on a snow berm on the edge of the parking lot. When the sun warmed things up, that berm slipped out. Oops.
Jokingly? Loose lips sink ships…..LOL!
I wouldn’t necessarily read too much into ticket prices. Historically Rose has always treated Wed-Sun of Thanksgiving week as peak holiday with day ticket pricing, despite rarely being 100% open. I’m not saying rose won’t have NW by Wednesday, but the full snowmaking focus has been on Wizard and Magic, as well as Lower Lakeview back down to the Pondo merge.
It would be nice to have NW, but not until there are more ways down. As of now, the uphill capacity of LV* nicely matches the downhill comfortable carrying capacity of KC bowl. Yes there are long lines, but the experience on the slope is much better than mammoth where three methods up for one WSOD back down made for some scary skiing.
That leads to a whole new discussion on resorts and their pushes for more uphill capacity without considering downhill limits. The new metrics that some responsible ski areas are shifting towards is Comfortable Carrying Capacity, which is still a factor that is relatively undefined. The resorts that are looking at CCC use their own formula(s) which can include: uphill capacity, total accessible acreage, total groomed acreage, lift return run acreage, as well as parking capacity and lodge capacity. Some pretty cool stuff that I am aware of happening behind the scenes at multiple places to determine the CCC. This is one of the many many many reasons that Lakeview at Diamond Peak may never see an upgrade to a highspeed detachable, and why NorthStar dropped the line speed on that beautiful new 6pack after the first holiday rush last year.
Until more terrain is accessible at Rose, the uphill capacity limit of just the Lakeview chair is a nice way to reduce slope crowding. If Northwest opens, KC will far exceed its CCC, and you’ll be wise to ski in full goalie gear until more terrain is available. (Just my opinion on the issue, granted if northwest opens Wednesday, I will definitely still be their skiing it).
*Thank god for the Rose Lakeview upgrade. could you imagine how bad that line would have been with the old triple???? I’ve done way too many opening weekends and early season days at rose with just the flying jenny. This new methodology of Lakeview Chair being standard for opening is really refreshing
Well said from the guy whom is much more than a ski bum!