A Wet Monday
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
