The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report

The Easter Weekend appears to be turning into a winter wonderland..............

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
email: andyw@sierra.net
Our real estate website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
The Easter Weekend appears to be turning into a winter wonderland for those skiers that are in the area. Although, Northstar and Homewood or the lower level of Squaw may be the best places to venture out into the storm. Friday was pretty much a rainy day washout, although a couple of people I spoke to enjoyed a few runs in the morning prior to the rain event. Saturday was turned out to be a high wind day with blowing snow and just about zero lifts operating at the ski area. We did not receive much snow on Saturday, but winds were gusting over 100 mph at the ridges. This morning, Sunday, we woke up to a picture that included a foot of new snow covering the ground and more falling from the gray sky at a rate that appears to assure us of at least another foot to a foot and a half of new heavy powder. The trees are laden with copious amounts of snow hanging from there branches. Winds are blowing again today, although not as strong as yesterday, however most lifts are on wind hold at Alpine this morning. Spring appears to have been put off again until Tuesday, at the earliest.
I f your family has next week off for spring break, then you may want to head to Tahoe as the skiing should be great.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wednesday morning it was raining and/or snowing very wet, large flakes.

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
email: andyw@sierra.net
Our real estate website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Wednesday morning it was raining and/or snowing very wet, large flakes. This continued into the late morning or early afternoon. I did not ski Wednesday but reports from those who did venture onto the mountain ranged from pretty good on the upper slopes to terrible on the lower slopes. One friend took a couple of runs on his snow board off the Roundhouse chair and gave up claiming the snow to be so sticky at the bottom that he had to take the board off to get back to the lower lift station. Another skier claimed D7 to be good, but Our Father to be crap. Still another telemark skiers said it was not bad until 1 in the afternoon when he just gave up after taking a header off Scott Chair in deep mush. This morning I had to hit the hill as the sun was shining for the first time in days. Winds were non-existent, and the air temperature was in the upper 30's at the opening. Looking up the mountain was a beautiful site, as Beaver Bowl, Estelle and the High Traverse had not been skied the day before. Smooth fields of snow stood ready to be skied by the small group of people waiting in line at the base of Summit Chair. A ski patrolman walked up to the status sign and began writing closed next to most of the runs. I inquired as to the reason for closing everything but the main runs. He response was a simple, “the skiing is horrible off piste”. As it turns out, the overnight temperatures were above freezing and the off piste areas consisted of deep, soft, mush. Skiing off piste was not an option this morning. We did ski the groomed runs off Summit and Sherwood. These were actually pretty good as the snow was already soft at the opening and well groomed. I ventured off the groomed runs and skied D7, Sunspot, The Face, and one run on South Face at Sherwood. The snow was soft, and turns were possible with a little lift in the middle of each turn, but the piles of snow left from the day before were mentally disturbing making the skiing more difficult. The snow on South Face was soft, cut-up, and deep around 10:00 o’clock. The Sherwood Run was getting sticky. We need a few sunny days with freezing overnight temperatures to turn the snow on the mountain from Sierra cement to spring corn. The weekend forecast does not look as if it will be much assistance in this matter as rain is predicted for Friday to the 7500 foot elevation and snow should fall Saturday and Sunday. The warm sun certainly feels good today.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 01:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Alpine Meadows received another four inches

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
Email: andyw@sierra.net
Office website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Alpine Meadows received another four inches, or more, of wet spring snow Monday night. It was another morning of cutting untracked turns in fresh snow. Wet snow, the temperature this afternoon is 36 degrees at the base, has been falling all day. The roads are wet, as if it were raining. We ventured out into the flat light and wet weather this morning riding Roundhouse and Scott Chairs for a short time. There was a stiff wind blowing at the top of Scott, and I presume at the top of Summit. However, we were able to make turns in fresh and cut up snow off God’s Knob, Sympathy Face, Tiegel Chutes, Seldom Slides, Bobby’s Run, Scott Chute and in the trees of Gentian Gully (the lightest and best snow of the day). It is Tuesday about 5:00 p.m. and a steady wet, light, snow, continues to fall. I guess Wednesday will be another day of fresh tracks.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Saturday was another day of poor visibility and high winds ......

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
email: andyw@sierra.net
Our real estate website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Saturday was another day of poor visibility and high winds with blowing snow. The afternoon turned out to be a little better according to friends that remained on the hill most of the day. The new snow on Saturday was variable in consistency with heavy snow on some of the mountain slopes and smooth wind buff on other slopes.
Sunday brought a little sun in the early morning followed by snow showers, low clouds, flat light, and some wind over the ridge tops. Additional snow fell last night and more snow is falling today. Sunday morning the groomed runs were smooth and easy to ski while the off groomed runs were either smooth wind buff or good winter pack with small moguls. We skied High Yellow Face under the best of wind buff conditions. Palisades, D7, D8, and Peter’s Peril were all excellent Sunday morning. I did not try the High Traverse where untracked powder lay untouched. However, my guess is that the powder was heavy or sun crusted and not the best. It snowed between six inches and a foot overnight. Visibility was again poor with moderate winds blowing over the ridge tops this morning. I spoke to a friend who skied this morning and reported very good powder turns off the closed Lakeview runs and Sherwood Cliffs. He claimed the six inch to 10 inch deep powder was relatively light and covered the weekend’s small moguls. Today’s temperatures rose above 32 degrees and the snow got heavier as the day progressed. I went out in the afternoon and made some turns down Scott Chute, Shuttle Cornice, and Expert Short Cut. I actually found a few untouched lines and worked my way through them. Some foot deep powder was lighter than others. The snow was definitely turning to heavy wet Sierra cement. The sky was dropping wet snow, or light rain in the form of showers varying from heavy to very light. The roads are dry or just wet, as the longer spring days and warmer temperatures seem to heat the asphalt quickly and melt any snow that builds on the road surface. The skier packed areas are turning firm, as wet spring snow tends to do, late in the spring. The rest of the week looks as if it will continue to provide light snow each day.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 03:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wow! A day or two of spring weather in Tahoe

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
email: andyw@sierra.net
Our real estate website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Wow! A day or two of spring weather in Tahoe. Yesterday and today have been just beautiful at Alpine with sunny, blue skies and warm temperatures during the day. Overnight temperatures have remained in the thirties or even into the upper twenties, but the daytime temperatures have risen into the forties. Road are dry, birds are chirping, and spring is in the air. This may not last long as weather is predicted again over the weekend, but amounts of precipitation are supposed to be on the light side. Thursday was another powder day at Alpine with a foot of the new stuff on the ground from the Wednesday storm. Conditions varied from well packed, stiff wind pack to some lighter and easier turning snow, but plenty of happy people populated the slopes and etched turns all over the mountain. Of course, the warmer spring temperatures softened the pack in the early afternoon creating heavy, difficult skier tracked snow in areas such as Sunspot that had not been groomed this morning. The north facing slopes that had been well skier packed and the groomed runs were excellent this morning. We skied Palisades (east and west), Peril Ridge, Peter’s Peril, D8, D7, Wolverine and Alpine Bowl, and Ridge Run. All of them were covered with winter snow or smooth wind pack. Keyhole, and Open Slope looked very nice from below. High Yellow was very good. The lower slopes were a little more firm from the softening the day before and the freezing overnight, but they were not icy. I am sure later in the day the south facing slopes turned to spring snow, especially where it had been groomed. The sun has disappeared early this evening and our sky is again grey. A few flakes of snow, very wet, have fallen, but it is not snowing at the moment.
Roads are dry and not very crowded at this time.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Monday night brought another blanket

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
Email: andyw@sierra.net
Office website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Monday night brought another blanket of snow to the Sierra. This was a wet blanket about 6 to 10 inches deep. The morning bell at Summit Chair soon continued the tradition of falling precipitation that has continued off and on all day. It was wet snow, sleet, or perhaps rain that was falling between 9 and 10 in the morning. The upper mountain was hidden in a cloud offering us poor visibility, wet chairs, and fairly strong winds on the ridge top. We strained to see our way down Sunspot, D7, and Peril Ridge for an hour and then gave up. The snow on the upper mountain, above Roundhouse was not bad. It was heavy, but turns were not too hard to complete.
A chest shot of heavy snow occurred on the steeper slopes. The snow below Roundhouse was stiff, heavy, wet, and more difficult to maneuver. This was truly a spring snow morning without the sun. Visibility may have improved at times during the day, but the snow remained heavy and wet. This afternoon it is snowing again. The temperature is in the low 30’s and the snow is again wet. More snow is predicted overnight.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Winter just keeps moving along in the Sierra

The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
Email: andyw@sierra.net
Office website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com

Hello skiers,
Winter just keeps moving along in the Sierra. The weekend brought more new snow to the mountains giving skiers another powder day on Saturday with follow up on Sunday. A large crowd gathered on Saturday morning to capture the new snow that fell Friday night. According to a number of people I spoke to on Saturday, the drive up Friday was miserable. Friday night left a blanket of one to two feet of snow over the entire ski area. The snow was not as light as we have had in the past weeks, but it was pretty darn good. Winds packed some areas more than other, but turns were generally the type that bring a yell out of the vocal cords of riders. Sunday morning was not a crowded as Saturday and snow was not falling for most of the day. Winds were blowing at the Summit and visibility varied from zero to an occasional ray of sun. The High Traverse opened for a time at midmorning giving us a chance to make two trips over the top and enjoy a couple of rather good untracked trips down wind packed slopes that led to foot deep powder turns further down the slopes. The further we hiked toward Grouse Rock, the better the snow. D7, Peril Ridge, The Face, Waterfall, Quinn’s, Palisades, and Sunspot were all topped with soft moguls that were in mid winter condition. We made a number of trips over to Promised Land off the Scott Chair and enjoyed the soft wind pack that allowed us to make easy, fast turns on the open slope.
Sunday was not just a day for powder, soft moguls, and soft wind pack, but it also offered up an incredible ride over the steep, smooth wind buffed slope of the High Yellow Face. High Yellow Face gave us a steep, easily edged, run over an absolutely smooth surface. If the visibility at the top of Summit, and the fierce winds, had not been present, I think we would have hike over to High Yellow Face ten times yesterday. Expert Shortcut and the Sherwood Cliffs were also in prime condition covered with soft winter skier packed snow.
The weekend warriors had a great time with the exception of the trip up on Friday night. I was told that the trip down Field of Dreams or Munchkin Chutes was excellent deep powder. Sunday night brought cloudy skies and warm temperatures at the base area. It rained over night and is continuing to rain early this morning. New snow may have fallen at the higher elevation, but it is wet and cloudy at 7000 feet. The weather channel, forecast, shows nothing but rain or snow drops for the next week. I guess winter is not leaving for awhile.
Enjoy your day. Andy

Posted by Andy Wertheim at 05:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)