Yesterday turned out far better than expected. I was thinking about how to describe it and then I saw that Cody Townsend did it perfectly in a post on Threads yesterday:
So instead of the “dust on crust” day I was expecting, the little storm overdelivered bringing us a “fluff on crust” day. As Andy’s report indicated yesterday, it was all sorts of fun. It wasn’t bottomless pow, but it was good enough to make just about all of the mountain very skiable again. Today, the east winds never really materialized, no clouds were in the sky and the temperatures climbed into the mid 40’s on the mountain. That sent most of the aspects of the mountain right back toward spring conditions.
That process was already off to a good start on Wednesday and was probably set back a bit by having a little bit more snow fall than was expected. That meant we had some penance to pay today in the form of wet sticky snow that formed a lot of chunder today. After an overnight freeze, the off piste areas of the mountain are going to be a bit unpleasant until they get a chance to thaw out.
The level of grooming reverted back to the level that we know, and love, at Alpine Meadows. Everything got the treatment overnight, with the primary exception of D-8, and honestly it offered some nice little bumps today. One important development was that the winch cat finally clipped in to the “fence pick” and started to clean up the mess from the large controlled slide that happened last week under the upper Summit terminal. That took out the groomed section we have been calling “Bullwheel”, which hilariously was misheard one day as “Bozo”, and that name has stuck too. I was happy to see that work done today, giving yet another option to avoid the main Alpine Bowl run.
I skied several aspects of the bowl today, starting with Solar Flare to the north and all of the way over to Terry’s Return. Terry’s received the highest marks for amazing corduroy paired with interesting terrain waves. In the “off piste” category, Tower 19 was marred by sastrugi from yesterday’s east wind event. Solar Flare fared better but got very soft, a bit too soft fairly early.
No spring day is complete without checking out Sherwood, Lakeview and Scott. We waited until the lunch hour, when the lift lines had dwindled to the “2 to 5 minute” range. It’s time to haul out the Corn-O-Meter again!
There’s a lot of water still in the snow today, so calling it corn is somewhat of a push. It’s probably more accurate to call it slushy conditions. That water part is important because that’s the part that causes that sticky feeling as it feels like the snow might suction your skis right off your feet. As true corn snow develops, the ice crystals get rounder and larger and that water drains out of the snow. The result is you get less clumpiness, as that results in frozen chunder the next day. True corn is also less sticky.
Robin Hood, Sherwood Run, Outer Limits, Bobby’s and Standard all had that sticky icky feel about 1pm today. These groomed runs generally score higher on the Corn-O-Meter as the groomers squish some of that free water out of the snow pack. I tested Sherwood Face and it skied nice as long as you skied it aggressively. There were already some large chunder piles that were best avoided. I did not try South Face today, but I watched a lot of people out there while riding the lift. 82% of those I watched were struggling in what looked more like mashed potatoes.
My favorite off piste corny run today was the upper part of Scotty’s Beam. I think it didn’t accumulate much new snow on the last little storm due to wind transport, so it was closer to three corns today. It also is filled in more than we have seen yet. The lower sections of Scotty’s are less consolidated and manky.
There are those people that hope that the north facing aspects will retain wintery snow. That’s possible during mid winter when we see corn development just due to sun exposure. But with the 45° temperatures at mid-mountain, even the north facing exposures were turning today. It’s the reality of where we are at. We are getting to that time of the year where winter like snow just does not last all that long.
It was busy on the mountain today. The upper lots filled, including Chalet Road. Even Deer Park was halfway filled when we left this afternoon.
A Stoked Oak BBQ Thumbs Up
95% of the time, I end buy buying either breakfast or lunch at Viva Treats in the breezeway. Melanie, Terra, Guille and the rest of the crew do an amazing job of pumping out consistently great food at affordable prices. Unfortunately they do it so well that they get completely slammed during busy weekends and holidays. If you don’t time your visits carefully, the line gets long. That’s when I have to consider looking for something upstairs, where there is rarely a wait. This season, I have discovered the funnel cake fries and the spam musubi as decent little fillers without breaking the bank. I would not recommend that duo within the same meal!
But this season, Captain Dan invested in a fancy new outdoor smoker out on the sundeck, and that new little shack out on the sundeck for the purpose of serving up BBQ brisket and chicken. You get that BBQ aroma while waiting in line at Roundhouse or Summit and it’s a great sales pitch for meat lovers, just like Melanie’s bacon smell wafting out into the parking lot. Sadly, the $25 cost of the BBQ plate was a deal breaker for me.
But then Captain Dan came up with a genius plan to encourage more people to take advantage of the Meadows Cafe earlier in the day. Typically your Ikon Pass only gets a 15% discount on food and non-alcoholic beverages. But before 11:30am each day, that discount is now doubled to 30%. That brings a $25 BBQ plate down to a more reasonable $17.50. I finally tried it yesterday. Maybe you should too. Here’s how it looks:
The brisket has a very nice crust on it, and the meat is juicy and tender with a great smoke flavor. It easily beats all of the local BBQ places I have tried, even giving Brothers BBQ in Reno a run for the money. The mac and cheese and bean sides were decent but not amazing – but this is true of every BBQ place I have ever visited. The cornbread looked good. The funny thing is I love to ski corn but I absolutely cannot eat it. So there you go, a total recommendation of ski lodge food. (No I did not get any promotional consideration for this part of the post). I atoned for buying a more expensive lunch yesterday by bringing leftover pizza for lunch today.
Spring For How Long?
The models are still calling for a big change in the weather around March 1, which gives us another week of spring like weather.
I see that the point forecast is calling for a couple of snow showers, Sunday and Tuesday, but I am a non believer. The NAM model is the source for the point forecast and the NAM is based on the GFS, which has been overly optimistic all season. The GEFS shows high pressure through the first, then a low undercutting the ridge, which would still not be a normal Gulf of Alaska cold storm. We shall see…
See you out there tomorrow. Gonna be a busy one, all parking reservations now gone for Saturday. Keep your head on a swivel…
Skied a lot of my fav things today, some that have been off limits, and that was nice. And no one around for a busy day.
Well that price for a full meal is not bad when you compare what you pay at McD’s for a crappy burger and fries, it’s about the same as the 30% discounted price and the smoked chicken is killer too. You missed out on the cornbread, it’s wonderful.
Thanks for keeping us up with the daily report. Pray for more snow.
Another beautiful day. You know, in all the years that I have been driving up AM road in the morning, I never take for granted these gorgeous mountains. I first notice Munchkins, then before Riley’s corner the Buttress comes into view above Troy’s…absolutely stunning. Then in the parking lot, you are surrounded in this bowl of mountains on all sides from Promise Land to Bernie’s. I have skied a lot of ski areas over the years, and in my opinion, coming into this valley is one of the most moving mountain experiences to be had. Same, on the sundeck, where you are. once again, surrounded on all sides by these beautiful aspects with various outcropping of rocks, undulating snow, and sparse trees. I can’t stop appreciating all this. We are very lucky people.
I agree with Bobbie, I have been around here since before Alpine Meadows and have always thought it is one of the most beautiful ski mountains anywhere.
Monty Atwater said it was the most beautiful ski terrain he’d seen since leaving Alta Utah, which having been there many times, I always thought was an interesting comparison!
Your enthusiasm for corn skiing is contagious. Keep it up.