It was a warm day, but not too hot, and it froze overnight. A light breeze was blowing at the top of the mountain, but not a hurricane. The high temperature today appears to have reached 47.7 degrees at the top of Ward Peak. The minimum temperature was 29.1 degrees overnight. This lower temperature helped firm the surface area first thing this morning. Our first runs this morning included Wolverine Bowl and Alpine Bowl along with Terry’s Return. These were well groomed and softened soon after opening. Turns on the fresh, inch-or-so-deep spring snow were dreamy. I love making slow, arching turns on these soft corduroy slopes. The surface was more firm on the lower portion of the mountain but still pleasant. Tower 19 proved to be just right, as this ungroomed slope turned to corn sometime around 9:30 or 10:00. We skied the regular lower mountain runs before heading over to Sherwood.
I enjoyed the short tour down Power Line, where soft sun cups cover the slope. These softer sun cups allowed me to make smooth turns over them. Areas where the sun cups remain firm are not the most pleasant slopes to ski. They can make for a rough ride.
We took a couple of trips down South Face later in the morning. The snow was more than delightful. South Face makes for a longer, steeper, and more consistent run than skiing Sherwood Face. However, Sherwood Face and South Face were covered with a perfect spring corn surface. If you like spring snow, you would have loved these trails today.
Sherwood remained open longer than it has been the past couple of days due to the overnight freeze and lower temperatures this morning. This allowed us to make a last-minute hike up High Traverse at the noon hour. We cruised through Big Bend Bowl and skied S.P. Bowl. It was a dream come true. Smooth, soft, and topped with corn. This may have been our last tour of High Traverse slopes, as colder weather is in the forecast.
Heading back to the Alpine Chalet from Sherwood brings up the opportunity to ski Expert Short Cut. Lately it has grown some huge, soft, spring moguls. These moguls can be skied very slowly, and the trip through them feels like riding a roller coaster.
I will let Mark do the weather reporting, but according to the forecast I looked over, it will cool down into the 30s over the weekend, and we will receive some higher elevation snow. It looks like a few inches a day over the weekend. This may make for some winter-like conditions, but I would have preferred the surface conditions to remain corn. Since the better spring skiing side of the mountain is closing Sunday, those who want to remain sliding on their skis and boards will have to travel north.
We had proof that spring has arrived in the Sierras this morning. This photo of a marmot poking his head out above the snow was taken near the bottom of Sympathy Face and just above Charity. Lenny, thank you for the photo.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Patroller told me today that they kept Sherwood open longer as it was the last day for Sherwood, so there was no reason to preserve the condition of the snow. Indeed Sherwood is listed as closed tomorrow. If things are bullet proof tomorrow there is no reason to have Sherwood open. Once it snows and lightly covers rocks, that would be hazardous!
Where can I get a Pope ski outfit?
Powder Alert! In Late April! No really!
Hi fellow Alpine aficionados, I write from afar to give a glimpse on what happened late last week on the other side of the tracks — well, the other side of Nevada. Last Thursday I left a comment about my largely ill-fated search for corn snow at a small resort that clings to the side of a former stratovolcano in what used to be called the Copper State. The following day, more than a foot and a half of snow (!) fell on said mountainside, while almost half a foot fell even in town, 2,500 vertical feet lower than the resort’s base. So on Saturday, instead of trying to figure out the corn thing, I skied on a well-replenished mountain — so well-replenished that its management extended the season to include the first weekend in May. The wind was strong (and cold) at opening so the small resort’s 2,000′ -vertical lift was on wind hold. Taking the one other lift that serves blue square or black diamond terrain, I was treated to groomed slopes that skied about as well as could be imagined. Think of that old term “packed power,” or as I thought while skiing it, “hero snow,” because it was so easy to ski well — nay, ski beautifully — and at a good clip. The ungroomed slopes revealed soft though not light powder, which was a bit of work to get through but in no way cement-like, so worth the effort. However, those slopes also featured a fine base of rocks and shrubs underneath, so one was to take care where he aimed his skis. They had been closed and had displayed dirt and only patches of snow where moguls once stood just two days earlier, so I was amazed at how skiable just one late-spring storm made them. I reported last Thursday that the snow skied “loud,” meaning crusty and icy, but on Saturday it was practically silent. Ultimately, the long lift opened, and the Upper Ridge run which sits between about 10,800′ and 11,500′ in elevation, served up its usual sweet, soft hero snow atop a steep groomed run where the skier could reach some speed if s/he so chose, and in any case wore a deeply contented smile on his or her face. The air temps remained the 30s under bright sunshine, even past the noon hour, allowing the snow to remain decently skiable for longer than usual in late spring. I had to leave town that afternoon, so I didn’t get to experience the next days, which, given local weather and temperature patterns including clear skies and freezing nights, may well have produced some corn conditions. I hope you all enjoy your remaining time at Alpine this season, with as much corn on offer as weather patterns will allow. Andy’s pictures today are a reminder of how beautiful it is there. If you make it over to the Northern Annex where, as I carefully read in these pages the skiing is ALWAYS BETTER, do give us curious readers a report or two about what it’s like to ski there these days.