Out west, we got an overabundance of snow. And wind. And rain. I keep checking the web-cams, and it looks grim and only about a third of the lifts running for the third day in a row. Might be okay tomorrow, but the forecast is it all starts right back up Saturday and no end in sight. Hope its got some cold air behind it. The snow levels are pretty high. Getting too much of it in the form of rain. Should be great once it stops.
Fuck it. I’m staying home with the dogs.
Edit: Sun just came out. 
Brianhead was great last week. Fresh powder every day. A little wind, but nearly freezing, so not too cold.
The weather in SoCal has been too warm, with the precipitation staying rain, even in the mountains. Barely getting cold enough to make snow at night.
Some friends at Mammoth have been buried in snow. Very typical for that location.
Headed up to Waterville Valley and Cannon this weekend, using two Indy Pass redemptions. Right now it’s raining after a few inches of snow falling today. Hopefully by the time we get up there on Saturday morning hopefully they’ll have groomed the heck out of what’s left.
I took my son up to Summit West at Snoqualmie after Christmas. He had a two-hour group lesson that my wife watched while I took some blue runs to knock twelve years of rust off. When the lesson was over and after lunch, I took him to the magic carpet tube and do a bunch of runs with him on the bunny slopes.
It was fun, he had fun. He wasn’t quite skiing on his own, but he’ll get there. We’re planning another trip this season with a private lesson for him. My wife saw him get restless and annoyed when the group teachers were wrangling the other, unfocused kids. We paid for a ski lesson, not, “let’s all make snow angels!”
I decided to wear my old skiboards (aka snowblades). Totally the right call. I had my hands free to hold the kiddo, and no gigantic skis getting in the way.
Snuck in one nice day at Heavenly on Thursday. Got there, and most everything was shut down, only turning about 5 chairs. Nevada shut down for some kind of power issues. It was stunningly great weather, almost too warm with 5 feet of new snow, yet unable to get to most of it. The Face was closed. I almost bailed after seeing the lift lines at Mid-Mountain.
Then, The Ski Gods smiled. They opened Sky Chair, easing lines considerably. Then opened the Face shortly after. It was awesome, and not a rock, stick or bush to be seen from top to bottom. And it was pretty much all mine!
Today, back to the same old bullshit. Everything is closed (from wind, I gather) and I bet it’s packed and clouds are already rolling in for the next wave of storms hitting around 2 pm and going for a few days at least (as being reported).
Oh well. Got a whole lotta vertical yesterday.
Waterville on Saturday was a mixed bag, not a lot of good snow except up top. We were able to do lots of top-to-bottom runs but they were “meh” conditions. Even so, we skied from 8:15 to 2:00 with one break.
Cannon on Sunday was much better. It was colder and they had spent their snowmaking money up top. The 4 open runs from the summit were in excellent shape to start, and the views were stellar. By noon things were scraped off and we called it at 1:00. All in all, a good weekend on snow. Nice to know I can still make a top-to-bottom run at Cannon, even though my thighs were burning at the bottom.
Did the same thing this past weekend, Saturday at WV and Sunday at Cannon. Conditions were much better at WV, lots of fast, firm conditions, more terrain open, and only moderate lift lines. Cannon was cold and windy as it it prone to be, conditions were OK, very good in places but got skied off by lunch and and the Zoomer chair is busted so some terrain was essentially off limits.
This weekend we’re headed to Saddleback in northern Maine. We’re up there for Sat-Mon, and Sat is forecast to be bitter cold, highs around -10. We might ski Sun-Mon instead of Sat-Sun based on that, but we have all the gear needed to ski in below zero conditions.
32" fresh since Thursday night at Bridger Bowl. Sunday and Monday the highs were in the negative single digits and -30 first thing, so no go (although I did a little tour Sunday). Avalanche conditions are very bad and ski patrol still hasn’t got the whole mountain open. The wind filled in all the bumps–good skiing!
Last weekend we hit Attitash on Sat and Wildcat on Sun because we knew WC would be on wind hold most of the day. Attitash started firm and fast and transitioned to genuine New England boilerplate. Unfun. We called it around 1:00. On Sunday we got first chair at Wildcat - I can’t even think of the last time I had first chair. It was much better conditions but began to get skied off by noon so we called it at lunch and headed south. But the views were fantastic.
Tuesday was a full storm day at Bridger. Left early, which is good because I forgot my fucking boots! Was still on the lift at 10 past 9. Helps to live 5 miles from the area. Turning into traffic can be a challenge–I helped a kid work on his dirt bike last summer and he was the one who slowed down and waved me out–karma is real.
The weather for next week (school vacation week) here in New England isn’t that promising. Some ski areas are closing to save snow during these warm days. 
I just talked to a buddy in Norwich–he had a full-on thunderstorm during his morning dog walk! On frigging Feb 17!
Some ski areas shut down their lifts during the thunderstorms. What a season?!
Spent Super Bowl Sunday at Vail. Absolutely no traffic on the way there, but lots of traffic on the way home during the game, which is exactly opposite of what I expected.
It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve been to Vail, and I kept getting lost on the mountain. I did 221,920 feet, when I’d have been happier doing 175,000, but no way I’m taking a bus when I can just go up a lift and try again to get to the base area where I parked.
I’d forgotten how fantastic their bowls are.
110 2000’ vert runs in a day? Color me impressed!
I’d be lucky to do 110 runs in a season!
Linear feet, not vertical. Only 23,934 vertical feet. I know most skiers track vertical, but I’ve tracked distance going back to the late 90s when my handheld GPS did a good job at distance, but a poor job at vertical.
School vacation week (my wife is a teacher) skiing in the northeast this year. On Monday we drove out to my sister’s place at Gore in NY, stopping for a half dozen runs at West Mountain near Albany. Indy Pass allows us to hit these smaller mountains for a few runs on our way to somewhere else, it’s a great situation. West is small and conditions were springlike, but we had fun.
Then two days at Gore. The groomers were in great shape in the morning, getting skied off by afternoon. Nothing happening in the trees. Even The Rumor (their signature run, genuinely steep) and Lies were skiing well to start. Love Gore, but their slow lifts can be a challenge.
Yesterday we hit Bolton Valley after a small snowstorm, probably 6-8". The backcountry was in great shape and the fresh pow on top of a solid base made for hero snow. I could actually make tele turns in the backcountry on skinny skis. Indy Pass redemption is good for backcountry and lifts, so we took a bunch of afternoon runs at the alpine area as well.
Today is mostly a rest day with travel, but we’re going to stop by at Saskadena Six (formerly Suicide Six) for a few runs (thank you Indy Pass) and a final day at Sunapee with friends and family on Saturday.
The mountains here in Los Angeles got something like 6 to 8 feet of snow the past several days. Mt High has been closed due to impassable roads. Looking good for next weekend, though.
Had 2 great hours at Saskadena Six on the way down from Bolton, then a cold but excellent day at Sunapee - they finally have great conditions. Up to 18 days for the year, I have 3 more days mapped out, everything after that will be gravy.
Hoping for some snow tonight. Monday was 4-5" of 68% (not 6.8%) dry snow. Crazy. Super surfy and fun. Then it was -20F for 3 1/2 days, now it’s 40F at 8 at night. Good skiing today, though. Off to Canadia next Friday–conditions sound good but avalanche danger is high. We will see…