The Storm We Really Needed

As we approach the end of the first big holiday season, the storm we really need is taking hold in the Sierra. Today was not necessarily ideal as snow levels are still a bit high and the winds are….windy. I did get out for five quick runs this morning at Alpine Meadows, as it’s my grandson’s first birthday and the party is at my house. Happy birthday Dashel!

I’ll give a high five to the mountain ops team for opening Summit this morning in very rowdy conditions. Myself, I stuck to Hotter Wheels, where visibility was slightly better. That cracked rib makes itself known with every bump and it’s going to be a bit of a process to get past that. Once we get to the part where we have nice soft powder, that will help. The Sierra Cement that is falling today is what the mountain needs.

Most people today chose between TLC and Summit, as Roundhouse was down for the count again today. It was on mechanical hold all day yesterday. Sources indicated it would likely be that way again today. I noticed that the status was changed to wind hold later in the morning but I am not buying that. It would have to be a very unusual wind pattern that puts Roundhouse on wind hold but not Summit. The quiet talk this morning was that Roundhouse was going on “extended wind hold”. If that is the case, it “sure would” be great to see another high speed quad fired up as soon as possible to add uphill capacity.

Update: Roundhouse did actually run for a short period of time before going on wind hold. I missed it as there was no Xitter alert from mountain ops.

Snow levels should drop below the base level at Alpine Meadows by tonight, and below lake level by Sunday morning. That will really be problematic for those hoping to drive over Donner Summit tomorrow. Here’s the wording from the Sacramento NOAA Winter Storm Watch for the west slope:

The Reno office also mentions 100mph gusts over Sierra ridges, as is typical for winter storms in the Sierra. Expect lift closures tomorrow and probably Monday morning. There’s a smaller little wave possible mid-week before we see some ridging build in.

I haven’t used the PNA index yet this season, but it’s a nice way to see that we have been in a negative PNA status since the mountain opened. It’s just unfortunate that the trough position pulled in so much warm air. We have about one more week of troughiness before we could see some ridging.

Notes that Summit and TLC are now on wind hold.

Unofficial Alpine Mobile Updates

The lift status page we released a couple of days ago has been wildly popular so far, which is not surprising given the unpopularity of the Ikon Pass app. We’ve been continuing to make these offering better.

We have also added a trail status page, and a simple mobile page that gives access to both. You can access the UA Mobile Options page here or on the menu at the top. Over the next couple of days we are working on adding an option to sort trails by the lift that serves them, just like ski area websites have been doing since about 1999. I also plan to add easy links to webcams and weather. Yes, those will just be links so things are not too cluttered or slow to load.

I also plan to do some tuneups for the “look and feel” of the mobile page, as it’s just a bit too sparse at the moment. Hopefully there will be some powder to ski tomorrow….see you out there.