Today was the last day of the “pre-season” ski season, with the busy 16 day holiday period starting tomorrow and continuing through January 5th. It also marked the end of this little mini-spring weather period that brought us some nice corn snow and comfortable temperatures. As I write this post this afternoon, Jackson Browne’s “Before The Deluge” is playing in my mind:
Some of them were dreamers
And some of them were fools
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
With the energy of the innocent
They were gathering the tools
They would need to make their journey back to nature
But before we talk about some rain in the forecast, let’s cover an unexpectedly good day at Alpine Meadows. The forecast for today did not pan out. It was not cooler than yesterday, and most of the incoming clouds stayed well to the north until 1:00pm. We also did not see much in the way of wind. All of that was just the start.
Mountain operations upped their game in preparation for the busy days ahead. Yellow rejoined the schedule today, and the Alpine Bowl Chair and Kangaroo chair were on the schedule today. Word is those same chairs will run for the next 16 days. Unfortunately it does not add all that much available terrain, but it does spread people out a bit. We used each of them today and likely will in the weeks ahead.
Also, remember that list I gave yesterday of places that would benefit from grooming? It’s almost as if the grooming team just took that list and made it happen. That list included D-8, Sunspot and Terry’s Return through Howards Hollow 1 and 2. Not only that, but Dance Floor (Red), Alpine Bowl, Rock Garden and Wolverine saw significant grooming expansions, nearly doubling the width of the runs. On top of that, the first few features in the Tiegel terrain park popped up overnight. The only thing that did not get groomed was Yellow, and that actually turned out just fine. Yes, I sampled every one of these, some more than one time.
My run of the day turned out to be the mini-moguled Yellow run today. It softened very nicely by about 10:30 and it got pretty popular with those that know how to ski moguls, and those that were just having a bad day. Taking the Yellow chair back up let you avoid the madness of Rock Garden. Sunspot and Tower 19 would come in a close second.
Not everything was great. I took a tour to the lower part of Terry’s Return, having not been there since the last storm cycle. The transition from the smooth corduroy near Howards 2 to what looked like a firm ice surface was less than perfect. It was the awful kind of breakable crust that can easily lead to various leg injuries. By the time I slowed down, I was fully committed to tip toeing my way back to the bottom of Rock Garden. It was not my best moment. Bobble got a laugh out of it.
Patrol did eventually open Scott Chute, Seldom Slides and the top of TLC today. That’s a clear message that things softened significantly today. Over at Palisades Tahoe USA International, the KT-22 lift opened for the first time of the season. The recovery from the mini-ice age we experienced this week is just about complete.
Hello Rain
Whether we like it or not, we will be seeing precipitation this weekend that is a lot soggier than we like. It should not be a season ending deluge, but it may get a little less comfortable through at least Sunday. Cue up the second verse here:
Some of them knew pleasure
Some of them knew pain
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
They went flying around in the rain
The forecasts have not improved at all since yesterday. The GIF below compares 7 different short range weather models for total precipitation. They are fairly consistent in showing the potential for 0.5 to 1.0 inches of rain to Tahoe. The least aggressive of the models is the UKMet, showing only 0.5 inches. It’s fair to say that the Brits do know a thing or two about rain, so I am rooting for their success.
The snow level situation has continued to deteriorate. The automated forecast for snow levels is below. Saturday could start off with a teaser of snow to the base of the mountain. But snow levels rise to at least mid-mountain by Saturday and to the top of the mountain by Sunday.
Yeah this is not an ideal way to start a holiday break. But I will be out there for at least a portion of each of those days. I am currently on a 39 day streak and don’t want to end it just because of some rain. I have some new FlyLow ski pants this week and we will see if they are up to the challenge. I hope so!
Beyond the weekend, snow is in the forecast every day of the coming week, hopefully with somewhat lower snow levels. Looking at the pattern, there is no big source of cold air that will create an awesome powder day. It looks more like a continuation of base building spackle that could eventually get us Sherwood.
See you out there tomorrow. Maybe the forecast for rain will not materialize either…
It’s unfortunate the excuse blog claimed that lakeview and Sherwood need way more snow. Yes, they absolutely could use more snow but at least Sherwood could open in its current state (potentially with warnings that it is advanced only/no grooming). We miss Liz and the more honest official blog of last year! A more honest report would say we don’t feel comfortable having “Pacific Crest Bowls” [sarcastic reference to that awful rebrand by Andy Wirth] open without an intermediate grooming product given the demographic coming over in the Gondola everyday during Christmas
Lakeview absolutely needs a lot more snow. That top ridge does get completely blown off, as does the tops of MV, SB and OL. They need a lot of snow to build out the flat unloading area along the ridge, plus pack out the tops of those runs. Also they need to make sure Leisure Lane is more bullet proof to allow low level skiers a way out.
Sherwood is not quite as intensive and has run with very little snow. For the usual configuration of the loading area, it takes a lot of snow to build up the area behind the RFID gate. It seems possible they could reconfigure the queues to be further uphill and skip the RFID gate. Opening the Sherwood lift would add a ton of terrain possibility to spread people way out.