Andy Wertheim: Corn In High Beaver

Hello Skiers and Riders,

Nights have been cold enough to freeze the surface snow these past few days.  This has assisted the transition of last weeks new snow to corn.  Although the pack is thin and tree tops, rocks, dirt, and bushes are showing themselves all over the mountain, except where snowmaking has created a slightly deeper snowpack, the surface is made up of good spring corn.

This morning there were firm slopes from the overnight freeze, but they softened offering up a nice turning surface around 10 a.m.  Soft, corn bumps could be found in the Sunspot area, way out in Wolverine Bowl and in Beaver Bowl.  I walked over to High Beaver this morning and found very nice skiing from top to bottom of the bowl.  Skiing out of the bowl back to the main run takes concentration.  The snow was fine, but there are plenty of obstacles.  I traversed after making a few turns in the gully leading out of Beaver Bowl to the lower portion of the Sisters.  It was definitely worth the hike.  Yesterday there was a crowd, today it was not overly crowded on the hill, although there seems to be large groups of skiers in classes that created annoyingly long snakes on the groomed runs.  Limited areas to ski or take a lesson tend to overcrowd the slopes.

This week pass holders are offered a free wax.  The wax machine is set up in the breeze way.  Wax was not required this morning as the snow was not sticky, but it may have changed in the afternoon.

This warm dry weather has us out on bikes and in walking shoes.  Over the weekend we rode the Legacy Trail from Truckee to Glenshire and back.  Not a long ride, but pretty.  We also walked the Sagehen Trail north of Truckee from Hwy. 89 to Stampeded Lake (a couple of miles each way.  There was a good amount of water flowing down the Little Truckee River into Stampede.  I guess it is from melting snow.  The trail is rather muddy in spots causing us to walk around them on occasion.  At one point we skirted the trail and walked through an area of  Sagebrush marked with yellow flags.  I was reminded of another day a few years ago when I met a group of researchers from UC Davis do a study on plant communications.  They claimed plants communicate between themselves.  I was interested to see if the study was online, so I Googled it and found the following that I am passing along to anyone that might be interested.

   http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/blogtag=plant%20communication&blogasset=45538

From the land of beautiful spring weather.

Enjoy your day.

Andy Wertheim