We did not get everything we wanted today. It was somewhat warmer, and not as busy as it could have been at Alpine Meadows. But the winds were still cranking at the ridge of the Sierra, even more so than yesterday. Winds gusted at 55 to 75 mph throughout the day. Not only did Summit stay on wind hold, so did ABC. Once again the High Traverse terrain did not open, much to our disappointment.
But the warmer temperatures did mean that off piste areas started thawing out around 10am, allowing us to explore some off piste zones that were not really available the last few days. Getting off of the groomed slopes is the key to having a good weekend experience. That said, it also was not as busy as it could have been numbers wise. Here’s a shot of the top parking lot at 7:35 this morning:
Thats’s pretty atypical for a Saturday morning in March at Alpine Meadows. When I left today, the upper lots were only about 90% full. Even better, the high winds also kept The Firehose shut down today. With fewer people on the mountain and off piste terrain skiing well, you gotta love that…even if you don’t get High Traverse today.
The lifts lines were manageable, with Roundhouse and Hotter Wheels averaging about 4 to 5 minutes this morning. The longest lines were found at Scott and Lakeview, with 11 minutes being the longest wait time I noticed on our mobile app. Therefore I never went there today. The early reports I heard were a lot of “one and done” due to icy conditions. Seasoned Alpine Meadows veterans know that one simply does not go to either Scott or Lakeview first thing in the morning. I am sure they got better later on. Assuming Summit opens tomorrow, the pressure will be less on Scott and Lakeview.
While the main Yellow run was closed off for race training most of the day, everything else in that zone was good by 10:30 including Skadi Hill, Fall Line and Slalom. Later in the day, Rolls and Knolls softened, but there are some big issues with rocks developing there.
Riding Roundhouse a lot over the last few days, it’s concerning how much bare dirt and rock is starting to appear in the loading zone and the unload zone. Once that rock starts to heat up, the melt rate intensifies. The main groomed runs are holding up still thanks to excellent snow management by the mountain ops team.
I spent more of my free Mountain Credits today at The Chalet. Free food is good and a friend had saved a seat or two. It was quite a busy scene. There’s another party thing going on tomorrow at the Chalet, much like the one last month. But today was already a party with a thumping DJ, not really my scene, an outdoor bar and brat station. Ski Patrollers were there selling AARF shirts and hats.
You would think that my AARF wardrobe was already complete. It is not. AARF wind buffs are now available too. Luckily I had some money in my Venmo account. Will I need a buff again this season?
There’s really not much to talk about in the forecast other than warmer temperatures through next week. The models have not much of anything right now. Here are the CPC outlooks for temperature and precipitation. As always, these show the chances of precipitation and temperature anomalies, not amounts.
This is not a great look for any sort of extended ski season. The current skiing is fun. You should get out and enjoy it soon, because it’s not going to last.
PS You may have noticed I am not Andy, he should be back with a report Monday.