New Snow Dropping?

It was one of those mornings that looked wet, and it was wet. Something was falling out of the sky, but it was not snow. Perhaps it was sleet.

Whatever it was did not amount to much, and it was not continuous. Overnight slush fell freezing onto lift chairs. This made for a cold first and second rides up TLC. Sitting on a thin layer of ice always cools the rear end. The ice that was caked on chairs seats was not the fault of the lift crew as they were pounding the seats before we sat down, but this effort did not loosen all the caked on ice.

A thin layer of ice also covered roads in our area. Driving up to Alpine was a little frightening. I did not see it, but I was told a tractor trailer spun out and was seen blocking Mineral Springs Road which is the access road into the Alpine Meadows subdivision.

According to Palisades weather information on there app. 2 inches of snow fell at the base of Alpine Meadows and 5 inches piled up at the 8,000 foot level overnight. Winds were brisk at the base in the early hours. Since the morning bell, winds have diminished at the base to zero with maximum winds at the crest were still blowing between 57 mph and 85 mph.

Just before noon it looked as if the sky was going to clear, but not much later snow began falling at a steady rate. Not long after, everything stopped again, and it looked as if the storm was over. It is now 1:30 and along the Truckee River it is snowing heavily with roadways turning white.

Obviously, visibility was not the best his morning. After my first run, when I was unable to see the mid-station of TLC from the Chalet, the low cloud lifted and visibility was more tolerable.

Did I mention that Alpine was spinning Subway and TLC this morning. The base to base gondola was scheduled for operation, but it was on wind hold until at least noon. Exhibition was open on the Palisades side of the mountain.

Skiing with the pretty good this morning given the few inches of new snow that covered the slope. We enjoyed East Gully for a number of runs where soft snow was under foot, especially between trees.

I was thinking of riding the gondola over to the Village, but it was closed. It was then that I remembered the reason the owners of Palisades were so adamant about further development of the Village. Major expansion of the Village was required because there was really nothing to do at the current Village. Basically, it was boring staying in the current Village. Larger crowds were needed within the valley along with more commercial opportunities for those stuck vacationing in the condominiums so that people would not get bored while visiting Palisades at Tahoe. Lucky for the developer, and future visitors, approvals for major expansion of the Village were granted last week. Lucky for me that the gondola was on windhold when I had the idea of riding over to Palisades. I really do not need to waste my time being bored. Perhaps I will give it another try when the development is completed in 25 years.

It is now 2pm and snow has stopped dropping from the sky. Perhaps an additional lift will be spinning in the morning with clear weather overhead.

Andy