Snow? Yes. Still Wet? Also Yes.

It was the 25th day of the ski season at Alpine Meadows, but you could not really tell that by looking at current conditions. As I headed out the door this morning, the webcams still showed rain at the base. Having not missed an Alpine Meadows day yet this season, I certainly was not going to miss this one. Every day we can go skiing is a gift. Currently, my Pops is in the hospital in Southern California with COVID and a number of assorted complications. I was thinking I might need to head south and spend some time away from the slopes. For a number of reasons, that did not have to happen. So skiing today was a “must do” thing and I offer a warm thank you to those that noticed I was at Alpine Meadows today instead of somewhere along Highway 5.

The day started off even rainier than yesterday. Either no new snow fell at the top of Roundhouse, or it was just that it got a last minute grooming session. Whatever it was, the snow skied fast and fun from the current top of the mountain at Roundhouse right on down to the base.

Was there some damage to the snow pack from the last 24 hours of rain? Yes there was. A large part of the snow “beach” in front of Roundhouse and Summit had grown a lake overnight. Showing absolutely poor judgement, I walked a fairly direct line out toward Roundhouse from the breezeway and sunk into the slush, which was just about boot top deep. Wet socks, yep, but just on the right side. There’s been some significant snow loss along the runouts and around Sandy’s Corner, but it could be so much worse. I’ve been seeing some pretty horrific flooding pictures from ski areas in upstate New York and New Hampshire. Here’s one cross country ski area that at least approached the problem with a bit of humor.

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We put in five quick laps on Roundhouse today with very few people around and very carve-able corduroy. Again it was fun and fast. Eventually a few more people found their way over to Alpine Meadows, as the Funitel and Gold Coast were delayed in opening over the hill this morning. Goretex like materials are great. My Flylow jacket combined with my Norrøna pants did a great job of keeping most of me dry. My helmet, goggles and gloves were not able to keep up with the heavy sleet that was falling out of the sky. That required a short break in the locker room to dry out. Yes Bob, I did turn the heater back on.

Heading out for Round Two twenty minutes later, the sleet had turned more white. At the base it was more of a snow/rain mix. At the top of Roundhouse it was just a very wet snow. Although it looked pretty, the fun and fast was gone. Instead it skied like glue and once again I found myself struggling to get over that little rise at the corner of Lower Loop Road. While I saw a tweet declaring that it was all snow from top to bottom now, I fear that was somewhat temporary. The drop in snow levels was likely due to a very heavy band of rain passing through at that time. Heavy bands of precipitation can drag down colder air and temporarily reduce snow levels. Looking now, chain controls over Donner Summit were lifted.

Looking ahead, we should still see some snow showers over the next couple of days. There could be a slightly lower snow level, but I am not counting on that. Here’s the automated snow level guidance forecast and you can see that the range hangs pretty close to the base area of Alpine Meadows over the next three days. If you note that drop in the snow level toward the end of the period, snow making teams will be back to work toward the end of the week.

I spent some time watching Daniel Swain’s “office hours” on YouTube just now. The next system is looking to dive into the central coast and have fewer impacts to the Sierra. We should get a drier spell over the weekend. The thoughts continue that we could see some colder storms in the week after Christmas. But that doesn’t mean that it will look anything like the last two Decembers, where we saw a lot of very cold and snowy storms. In particular, anyone that is looking for a repeat of last season is going to be disappointed. I’ll keep saying it, the nature of El Niño years is maybe wetter, but almost always warmer storms. Swain made a point of stating that the Pacific Ocean is 3-5°F warmer than average off the coast this winter. That alone makes it very difficult to get a good cold storm headed for the Sierra. He did also say that they may still happen here and there, it just won’t be the norm this year. Still, I plan to enjoy whatever skiing I can get this season, even if that means 2,586 runs on Weasel.

Did you get your parking reservations for the upcoming holiday week? Reservations for free parking were released at noon today for all dates from December 23rd to 31st. It took about ten minutes of time, but I secured a free reservation at the Alpine Meadows lot for each of those in about ten minutes. About eight of those minutes were spent watching myself be redirected from one website to another. Also, I was able to cancel the one paid reservation for Christmas day I had made in the beginning to test out the system. Then I made a new free reservation for Christmas day. As of 3:30 this afternoon it’s no problem to still get a free reservation during that time period at Alpine Meadows.

This “not as awesome ski season” is not great for businesses that rely on good snow years, or for people that are counting on jobs at those businesses. I made it a particular point to shop locally for Christmas gifts this season. Most of my purchases were made from my friends at the Tahoe Sports Hub. Local businesses appreciate your support during the lean years. See you out there tomorrow, barring any complications in Southern California.