It was a knee deep pow day…if you’re a Corgi. For the rest of us, it was somewhere between boot sole deep to boot buckle deep. In layperson’s terms, that’s 1 to 3 inches deep. But that doesn’t mean that we did not have a bunch of fun. There were times today where I was thinking that this three inches of new snow skied better than the eight feet of new snow we skied last Monday. Also, relative to the last three days, it was practically a ghost town at Alpine Meadows. So yes, there was much to like today.
The obvious answer to these “mini-pow” powder days is to seek out the slopes that were groomed over night and then had the new snow cover them up. That results in some smooth effortless turns. That kept me satisfied for a couple of runs before I thought it was time to seek out some places that were a little more exciting. With the early morning choices limited to Summit, Roundhouse and TLC – we focused on Roundhouse, which offers a lot of options with the added bonus of less wind and better visibility.
Some of the off piste terrain consisted of grey icy moguls with fresh powder in the troughs, so we skipped those and tried just about every other available aspect off of Roundhouse. Anything without a ton of bumps and a northeast exposure was a winner this morning. Everything between Yellow and Ladies Slalom skied excellent. I was able to piece together full lines of ice bump free powder. Unfortunately, I didn’t head to Deer Camp, which also was reported to be very good.
Eventually, Scott and Lakeview opened briefly and we found some good stuff and some great stuff. The crowd favorites were Scott Meadow, which skied like winter pow, and Outer Outer, which skied like spring hot pow. I also found a very nice section of fun on the old Scott T-Bar line (aka Victors Line). The fun was limited on Lakeview and Scott, as they went back on windhold after just a couple of hours.
We ended our day on Sherwood as winds and mechanical holds limited choices to only TLC and Sherwood in the afternoon. Sherwood Face and Powerline both offered spring hot pow similar to Outer Outer. Some of the best winter pow was found in the trees on either side of WTF. We never made it to Summit before it too went on windhold.
Theoretically we will see similar, or slightly better, conditions tomorrow as the last short wave moves through tonight. Looking at the point forecast, somewhere between 6 to 8 inches will fall by noon tomorrow. The GEFS over the last few runs is less optimistic, showing the potential for 4-6 inches of new snow.
Windy Times Ahead
It seems like we have been enduring a lot of wind lately, doesn’t it? Just because tomorrow seems to be the last day of snow for a while, the wind situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. A cutoff low will be positioned near the four corners and we will be in the counter-clockwise northeast wind flow. At the same time there will be a high pressure system to the northwest of us. We will be in the eastern part of the system, where the clockwise rotation will bring us a northeast wind.
So in simple terms, we will be sandwiched between two systems that both supply northeast winds. At times, the forecast discussions have mentioned the possibility of 100 mph ridge gusts from the northeast Thursday. It could result in Summit being on hold Wednesday and Thursday. Those pressure gradients should relax by Friday. It is certain that it will be brisk.
By Friday, and through the weekend into mid next week, we see spring sunny weather. The models don’t try to bring another system in until the every last week of March, which is definitely in the Fantasyland range of the forecast.
Tuesday Update: The models aren’t doing any favors for us. Today’s models show that low over the four corners retrograding back toward SoCal on Saturday. Thats sets up an even stronger east wind set up going into the weekend. With the low back near the ocean, I would not discount the possibility of wraparound showers from the east.
If you see Andy on the slopes tomorrow, tell him “Happy Birthday!” It’s also his 100th day on the mountain at Alpine Meadows this season. And yes, that is my Corgi in the first photo.
Since it is not redacted in the post :-), where exactly is the old Scott T-bar line?
If you got off TLC (mid station) and headed towards Lakeview somewhere before the trees is where it was.
Thanks. ’81 was my first season at AM (reformed Easterner) so it was gone by then.
Just a clarification on Scott T-bar. It was removed the summer of ’84, the same year that Lakeview was constructed to essentially replace the T-bar. It was almost parallel to the Lakeview line, but across Scott Meadow to the Northwest. It started at the bottom of the meadow, then crossed the lower Summer Road where there was a mid-station unloading, then continued to the top to Leisure Lane which some refer to as upper Summer Road. It was a scary ride to the top for many people, and also had it’s fair share of lift incidents, mostly by skiers getting whacked by a still retracting T-bar, as it was flopping on the snow when released. The T-bar was occasionally opened after hours in the spring, for employees to have special T-bar time. Don’t ask.
Thanks. I do enjoy having my memory corrected! Growing up on a T-bar (and Poma) I probably didn’t give it a second thought.
If you go down Summer Road and go just past Standard, you will see the straight cut down through the trees.
You didn’t mention so maybe you were not aware, but Roundhouse stopped running for about 30 minutes. We were stuck on it!! Finally made it to the top and the ski patrol were handing out 50% off coupons. After they got everyone off, they shut it down for good. Also, like you mentioned, Summit shutdown about the same time.
BTW, we checked the ticket price today which was $260 😬😳. So…50% would help those who actually buy a one day ski pass.
Oh wow. I must have been in for lunch when that happened!
Stuck on Lakeview today too!
Rose skied incredible today, chutes blown in, nobody there either, lots better than the 8’ we got from the last storm
Alpine Bowl had some very nice snow here and there once you got through the wind dermabrasion at top.
Ok. What or where is WTF?
Love your posts!!!
WTF is the very old Shuttle Cornice poma line. On Return Road from Sherwood, go past Reilly’s Run by about 25 yards and look down hill. It’s recently been recut and leads down toward Lakeview.
Love that cute dog picture! Those ears!!