Hello Skiers and Riders,
The lower elevation rains have stopped. Our sky has cleared, at least there was blue sky today with a mixture of cloudiness. The clear sky offered me an opportunity to view the upper slopes. They looked good enough to send me out to Squaw Valley at mid morning.
We had a power outage around 11 a.m that appeared to be rather widespread. This created a frustrating wait at the base of Squaw. I had to wait for the power to be restored before uploading resumed. This shortened my day by half an hour. Skiing, however, was worth the wait. Evidently, it snowed on the upper mountain, above 8000 feet, for a reasonable period of time during the past few days. The upper mountain at Squaw looks, and is, in much better condition than it was over the Thanksgiving holiday. The top coating of snow was 2 to 3 inches deep wind pack. The mountain is well covered with few, if any, rocks or bushes showing. Skiers and boarders were tracking well off piste from the gullies next to Gold Coast, to the trees near Shirley Lake, and through the variable terrain under Solitude.
It felt like real skiing today as we were able to get well off the groomed runs. There were even people hiking up to the Mainline Pocket from the top of Gold Coast for the opportunity to make tracks in the steep areas above the end of the lift. The lower slopes remain in need of coverage. The base of Alpine Meadows is skimpy, but the upper areas should be good to go this coming weekend.
Enjoy your day,
Andy Wertheim