200-inch base?

CA ski areas claim up to 300-inch bases and three feet more expected on the Sierra crest from the first of three upcoming storms.

Mammoth 187-280", Sugar Bowl 154-287" and Alpine Meadows 175-294"

Boreal and Soda Springs both 175-300". Soda Springs closed mid-week and coincidentally the same ownership as Boreal.

From http://www.onthesnow.com/california/skireport.html

Picture of sign at top of Lookout Mt. at Northstar. Northstar says 570" inches so far with base of 110-205"
 

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kingslug":15mwtbaw said:
So ..I guess if I come out around the 14th of April...you'll have lots to play around on still.....
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Of course. Or the 14th of May. Or June. Or maybe even July.
 
tseeb":2q5bzcs1 said:
CA ski areas claim up to 300-inch bases and three feet more expected on the Sierra crest from the first of three upcoming storms.

Mammoth 187-280", Sugar Bowl 154-287" and Alpine Meadows 175-294"
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Note that the true base #'s from OnTheSnow are the lower #'s (what they term as Lower Elevation). Still, Kirkwood has already exceeded a 200" base and several other Tahoe resorts will very likely go past 200" after the current storm series. It's been a great year for the Sierra, with deep (and usually light) powder days common from November to now - the only significant reprieve being January/early February.

What's ironic is that many of the Tahoe (and Utah) resorts will be closed in just a few weeks from now, many with exceptional conditions on the slopes. My mindset has already shifted to getting the boat prepped for the first wakeboarding run of the season... It's funny how the human mind tends to overreact to it's desires. We can't wait to get on the slopes in the early season when conditions are usually sub-par, and then most of us have shifted interest when conditions are at their best.
 
I think July 4th is a pretty safe call for Mammoth this year. Main Lodge depth looked adequate last week, and that was before the 70 inches that fell over the weekend.
 
Tony Crocker":1y1lvgv9 said:
I think July 4th is a pretty safe call for Mammoth this year. Main Lodge depth looked adequate last week, and that was before the 70 inches that fell over the weekend.
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Not to mention the 5-7 feet that's expected this week...
 
Squaw is reporting their highest season snowfall on record at 670". See http://www.squaw.com/snow-report

They are also reporting a base of 265" at their closed again today 8200' elevation upper mountain. Both Alpine and Sugar Bowl are totally closed today.

I will be there for a week beginning Sunday as we did a timeshare trade to stay at the base of Red Dog.
 
Tangentially related to this topic, I was chatting with Nick Waggoner of Sweetgrass Productions yesterday when he forwarded this photo of Jamey Parks shot on Mt. Superior on Wednesday morning:

superiorJamey.jpg


Impressive snowfall sticking to that face. They started hiking at 3:30 a.m. to get that shot. :shock:
 
And I'll be with a new batch of people..going to try and convince them..to hook up with you guys and really see what Alta is about...do..not..kill..them...I haven't seen this guy in 30 years..turns out he skis..everywhere I do...facebook...amazing...
 
Looking at the Saturday night Sunday storm it was looking like a solid 10-20 inch storm. Yesterday it was looking a bit stronger but still good right now. So after the Thursday - Saturdays warm up, with the weekend storm we could get the base at Alta close to 190. Then another warm up, followed by two potential storms. I'm thinking we are sitting at 197 on April 10. Here is the question though, if Alta reaches 200 during a storm but then the snow settles does that still count as the base or do you have to wait for it to settle
 
mbaydala":3edygmtb said:
Looking at the Saturday night Sunday storm it was looking like a solid 10-20 inch storm.
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Sweet, I'm staying up at Solitude with my girlfriend Fri/Sat nights. I was thinking dust on crust after the big warm up but maybe Sunday will be a good day after all.
 
mbaydala":11luj43g said:
Here is the question though, if Alta reaches 200 during a storm but then the snow settles does that still count as the base or do you have to wait for it to settle
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The best resorts report whatever the stake is showing at ~5:30am. So you could get 200" on one morning and then have it drop by several inches the next day due to settling - even if the temps stay cold (such as mid-winter for example).

More common, at least in Colo, is that many resorts seem to bump base depth up during or right at the end of a storm but then never reduce the reported base depth due to settling over the next couple of days. So they end up reporting say 100" for as long as several weeks until new storms eclipse the 100" mark. Even though the real depth may have dropped to only 95" or lower in between. At least this is my experience. A-basin is one of the best snow reporters over this way - they report exactly what the stake shows each morning even after settling occurs. It makes their base depth bounce around a lot more than other hills, but is much more informative and obviously accurate.
 
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