And The Dry Season Will Continue

After the weakest of the weak storms, we are back to our regular dry season. I’m going to continue to just go skiing every day and enjoy it for what it is. I may be a bit jaded, but that little bit of snowfall we saw yesterday was no big deal. Yes, there were a few fun turns in a few select places, but when the day was done, I remembered the bad runs far more than the good ones. That is my truth and you are welcome to disagree.

The bonding of the new snow to the old snow was not very good. That somewhat light newer snow did not cling to the hardpack and ice surface we have been living with. As the sun came up and temperatures rapidly rose, those piles turned into sludge on hardpack. At least that is the way my right knee is telling the story to my brain. I left yesterday hoping they would “groom the world” overnight.

The groomers were indeed nice this morning. In particular I thought Wolverine was the best it has been this season, especially with the new nordic jump near the summer road. Younger me would have definitely launched that! But 2 inches of new snow doesn’t hold up all that long, and with a decent midweek crowd, the groomed slopes were quickly returned to their previous state of slick hardpack and various sized cookies. Then there was the stuff that went ungroomed today, like Sunspot and Yellow, which were slicker than snake oil with scattered piles of snow that looked loose but weren’t.

As has been the case since before the snow fell, there are some off piste areas around Yellow that have been offering some nice turns. Those areas seemed to collect a good amount of windblown snow and they were skiing nicely this morning.

We headed to Sherwood just before 11 this morning and found the thaw was just beginning. Somewhat akin to the Hannukah miracle, the mountain ops team keeps finding just enough farmed snow to keep the Sherwood Run groomed slope going. With the upcoming temperatures in the forecast, it may be doomed. Skiing the groomed slope this morning, the new snow had either been sublimated or already converted to corn. It’s still skiing great, but rock skis are advised.

Off piste was not quite as good. Before the new snow fell, there were perfect nicely rounded slush bumps at Sherwood. Today there was a lot of chunder debris left from yesterday’s powder being converted to lumpy snow. On the low angle slopes of Robin Hood, the chunder was mostly small and manageable. On the steeper parts of Sherwood Face, it was much more lumpy. Hopefully most of that will melt down today, returning things to a smoother state. Rocks are emerging quickly on the off piste parts of Sherwood too. Rock skis are advised.

We head into the weekend tomorrow because Friday is still the new Saturday. I noticed that free parking reservations were gone on both sides even earlier this week than last week. I expect it will be busier this weekend than you may expect. That could be compounded by those that saw snow falling on a KCRA weather forecast and saw a reporter filing a report in chain controls along Donner Summit. Some people will be on the powder hunt.

In my last report, I mentioned the possibility of a second small system for Sunday or Monday. Nope, thats gone from the models now. There continues to be no substantive reason that any major pattern shift will take place to turn this season around. Here’s the 6 to 10 day outlooks for temperature and precipitation:

These are not the sort of outlooks you want to see during the winter months. Maybe it’s time to plan a trip to some sunny locale like Hawaii or Mexico, as that usually guarantees a big storm cycle…

See you out there…because skiing is fun.