The God of Wind must be having a heck of a winter. He, or she, have been very active this winter blowing gusts of wind over our area of Sierra on an almost daily basis. I assume he, or she, is racking up the badges for their successful efforts to create unpleasant conditions for many of us who do not like fighting 50 plus mile per hours gusts of wind.
Today was another windy day at Alpine Meadows. The morning saw steady winds of 67 mph with gusts to 99 mph. Summit did not open at 9, but that might have been because avalanche safety work had not been completed. We heard blasting for avalanches going on as we were riding Roundhouse. Summit did open later, but closed early due to the winds that were blowing between 75 and 87 mph around 2pm. Although Sherwood was open for awhile, the winds at the top of Sherwood Face were fierce and blowing chairs aggressively to one side. Sherwood closed later. Lakeview and Scott never opened today. I thought the sun was going to make an appearance. It teased us just a little, but cloudy skies and occasional snow showers have been occurring for most of the afternoon.
I was not going to write a report today, as it is my birthday, but the weather is telling me to stay inside as I wait to join my friend for a nice dinner in downtown Truckee. By the way, a big thank you to my friends who spoiled me this morning with a surprise birthday party in the locker room before we all headed out to test the slopes.
4 inches of new snow fell overnight. It was another 4 inches of wind pack that skied nicely if you found a place to make fresh tracks. Some slopes were soft and a joy to travel, while others offered a stiff surface requiring a bit more concentration to navigate. We stayed low again riding Roundhouse a number of times. I found stiff snow on Yellow Trail on my first run, but better snow in the trees. A friend reported God’s Knob and lower Sympathy Face as having very nice snow. He also said Our Father (High Yellow Gully) was filled with soft snow and no moguls. When we finally rode over to Sherwood, I found happiness in Sherwood Forest, along Powerline, and down Reily’s Run. There were a number of people skiing the Sherwood Face. It looked good enough from the chair, but I feared a gust of wind might blow me all the way to the top of Lakeview Chair.
The good news was that I returned my skis to my locker early enough to remember to make a parking reservation for next weekend.
The other day one of our readers ask for a picture of an area toward the end of the Sherwood Chair where the lift passes through a grove of beautiful trees with moss growing on the tree trunks. I thought I would post a picture of the spot I took a couple of days ago.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
It looks like more wind for the next few days. If that means we get some decent wind buff, then that is okay. The cement like consistency of the new snow today was not ideal.
That Sherwood photo is really beautiful. Friar Tuck’s is not on my list of favorite ski runs, but it sure makes for a nice chair ride! Enjoy the rest of your birthday Andy!
Happy Brithday, Andy! Keep it rolling, keep on keep on.
I did brave the Summit chair 50/60+ mph (?) winds – hard to get off the chair, had to make myself into a bullet. Did it 6 times. Found some great wind buff and soft untracked until snow turned into the sierra cement style.
Norm Wilson used to teach that the lower line on the tree moss marked the “usual winter snow pack depth”, I always fondly remember Norm when I see those moss covered trees
Happy Birthday Andy.
It’s also my birthday today (for real) !