Six to eight feet of snow has fallen since Thursday of last week according to the Palisades App. The ski area has been closed for three days while crews have been doing their best to clear snow from parking areas, patios and decks, lift ramps, and complete snow safety. This morning the ski area opened Roundhouse and Treeline Cirque along with a couple of beginner lifts. This was not surprising to me as the wind was still whipping up snow and blowing at high rates of speed. I did not expect other lifts to open, but they were loading chairs on Summit around noon, perhaps for tomorrow.
A pretty good crowd of skiers and snowboarders showed up, some very early, in an effort to get first tracks. I think that many were envisioning deep powder turns in light snow. My guess is that those who know the area were excited to be outside and ready to attack the mountain, but realized the skiing was not going to be epic. Don’t miss understand me, the mountain is looking great with awesome coverage, but the surface was not deep and light.
As one should have guessed, huge amounts of snow, with extremely high winds whipping it in all directions, creates a wind pack situation. I could have told you what the conditions were going to be from shoveling my steps and deck. The surface today was stiff, and we did not sink into the very far. Hopes of face shots were doused after the first turn. My knees did not even receive shots of snow.
Okay, so how was the skiing. As usual is was fun. We hunted for untracked snow after the first couple of runs because untracked slopes were easier to ski. This type of snow can get more difficult to ski, especially in low light and gusting winds, as skiers cut it up. Previous ski or snowboard tracks tend to be firm creating divots to catch a ski, or becoming bumpy when they turn into well used traverse tracks. The snow compacts and is not forgiving. Where we found relatively untracked areas we loved making fresh tracks. This makes for a good ski day and puts a smile on our faces.
A couple of favorite trails today were God’s Knob, Rolls and Knolls, Tiegel Chutes, and the lower slope of Seldom Slides. The Face, Waterfall, and lower Sisters looked good, but we did not traverse over to them today.
One item that bears mentioning, are the wind drifts that exist all over the mountain. Some are deep and can stop you dead in your tracks. I hit a deep one near the bottom of Yellow Trail that did not look deep in the low light. It caused an immediate stop, followed by the loss of one ski and a nice flip into a face plant. Use caution, as these drifts are especially prevalent this year, and exist in treed areas as well as on open slopes.
Everyone I spoke to this morning who lives, or has a second home in Tahoe or Truckee, was super happy to be outside with friends and not stuck in their homes. We have all been relatively home bound for three days shoveling, or snow blowing, or watching movies. It was great to get out on our favorite mountain this morning. Tomorrow promises to be even better.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
It did not ski deep or light today. Although 6-8 feet of new snow fell, you really only were skiing the top 6 inches most of the time. Also weird, we managed to find ice in a couple of places today where all of the new snow blew off. While this new snow was really awesome for today, it will preserve the base and make for a better spring season.
When we left the upper lots were full and a lot of cars were coming up the road and along Highway 89 for the “huge powder day”. The snow storm for tonight into tomorrow is splitting and the one for next weekend may never make it here.
Yep, conditions were not as expected, but fun was waiting. Wind blown pow near the top of Yellow heading towards Tiegle was super fun and fast. When I got to Tiegle I found a little bit of nirvana, so much so I did it 12 more times.
Thanks for your posts.
Also at AM today & agree with this report. Skis like 4 inches of soft packed powder with a bit of real powder . Was very late starting due to a 9 hr drive on 50 & 28 yesterday. (80 now open) and only found powder on some steeper faces and a long traverse to a boundary near lower Peters Perl.
Don’t usually go to AM when only 2 main chairs are open but a group I ski with was there. AM says all lifts inc Lakeview and Sherwood will run on Tuesday. They were bombing like crazy at 4pm to get ready.
The other side can’t run the Funitel as cars scrape bottom at tower 4. Top will mostly open Tuesday anyway.
When Alpine was closed on Sunday we decided to go to Northstar to get the kids out of the house. It had been a very long time since I had been there, or any other Vail owned resort. I have to admit, parking reservations were easy and the parking lot was clear of snow, with staff on hand directing cars. I had to download the Epic App to get lift status but found it accurate with updates throughout the day. A line started forming before lunch for Comstock as you could see all the trails and tree skiing above it were untracked and very deep. We rode Vista and Arrow while we waited for signs of Comstock opening. Those lifts were well staffed with line control in place. With 30 minutes to go before the scheduled opening, we got in line too. Lifites at Comstock talked with folks in line, and the updates they shared matched what we saw on the App. Twice Ski Patrol came through and provided an update to the crowd. The lift opened within a couple minutes of when it was scheduled and the lifties got out into the corral to manage the line. I recognize the avy mitigation is much more complex at Alpine and that the lower and more sheltered location of Northstar provides different wind conditions but Alterra could take a lesson in clear, consistent communication. I saw a focus on the customers that I have not seen on our home hill for some time. I’m not suggesting I would ever defect but things could improve, a lot.