Hello Skiers and Riders,
The sun is shining out of a cloudless sky this afternoon. The air temperature seems warm at my office beside the Truckee River. A little wind was blowing on the upper mountain at Squaw Valley late this morning. There was a bit of a chill in the air.
Coverage on the upper mountain remains good at Squaw Valley with the lower mountain looking bare. Yesterday it was wet, warm, and rainy. However, it did drop overnight to below freezing. This brought on a repeat of the conditions we had over Thanksgiving. There were minimal rain ruts that froze solid overnight. Some of the groomed runs were death cookies (Shirley Lake) and others were just smooth and slick (Siberia).
However, the sun was melting the firm south facing slopes by late morning, offering spring conditions, on and off piste. Emigrant and Gold Coast were softening nicely. The new six passenger express lift (Big Blue) looked as if it was ready for skiers, but it was not open today. Perhaps they were in the final testing stage. Granite Chief was open today, and I did see people going up the lift, but it looked pretty rough from the base. We decided to hit it another time. We did see people skiing the Funnel. The upper portion looked okay as it was softening in the sun, but the lower portion leading to Shirley Lake was filled with frozen skier tracks.
Given all the wet warm weather we have been experiencing lately, the skiing was pretty good. Another day or two of grooming should help the surface. Next week is supposed to cool down and perhaps bring a little snow and temperatures that will allow for snowmaking. Check the weather guru’s website at tahoeweatherdiscussion.com
Enjoy your day,
Andy Wertheim