tseeb
Well-known member
I was on second tram at 8:40 after stopping to get a helmet liner since cold temps and strong winds were predicted and mine was washed and missing in San Jose. The tram operator said he shoveled 3" that morning at 8300 foot after 4" on Sat. and 2" on Fri and that we would get powder. I doubted him because I figured half of the 3" new they were claiming fell during the previous day and had been skied.
I was on top of Sky chair at over 10,000 feet at 9 am. Visibility was poor, so I went down Liz's thar I saw on previous day was groomed and had excellent coverage. It was a good thing it was groomed and had a new inch of dry snow as visibility was under 100 feet. Towards the bottom, visibility improved and I went down Sky Canyon, where I made the third set of tracks in the 4-6" that had collected there. I did that two more times, making 10 minute/1500 foot vetical laps before moving to Ellie's run on the other side of the chair where visibility was also very poor, but deep new snow had collected next to snow fence. Low angle powder in the tree on skier's left in the middle third of the run was very dry and felt like 4". The bottom third was not as deep except for the left side of Sky Canyon. Eventually I moved to Canyon Chair before skiing down Waterfall where all season almost nobody has been skiing the narrow chute between trees and fenced off bump course.
Since I'd left new helmet liner in car and was tired of skiing with my hood under my helmet to block the 20-30 mph wind which combined with the temp in the low teens for a wind chill below 0, I skied down Gunbarrel to the car. I found good snow on skiers left although the very top was windblown. The lower you got, the thinner was the new snow which barely covered the hard surface. Visibility was much better at 6650 foot parking lot and tram riders were surprise by wind at the top. I went back to the top of Sky and headed to NV.
Since I had yet to hike over the top to hit Milky Way Bowl really high this season, plus visibility had improved and wind was slowing down everyone trying to get to NV, I decided to duck the rope and hike up to saddle between peaks. It was a mistake as the usual 10-15 minute (heart pounding, uphill at 10K) hike carrying skis took me 25 minutes of hard hiking since I had to put on skis a few time to get through deep snow including zigzagging up one short steep section where it was too steep and deep to sidestep. Since I had not been up there for a couple of years plus I had to set trail and visibility went down to almost zero went I got to top of Milky Way bowl, I was not positive I was in the right place.
Due to lack of visibility and wind-packed snow, it was definitely not worth the hike although snow and visibility improved down lower in the trees to the right of the bowl (that you can get to without a hike). The only good thing was I decided to go into Mott's where snow on Widowmaker was better than previous day as it was almost untracked. The previous day at about the same time had very little untracked and the 3 inches today skied better as previous day's snow was not compacted. I skied Dipper Bowl once, then the trees on Comet between chair and Comet run before returning to CA. Lines were short and visibility was improving, but I quit at 1 pm with 20 runs and 22.9K vertical to beat the traffic bay to Bay Area. If I'd stayed on CA, I would have easily been over 25K vertical.
I was on top of Sky chair at over 10,000 feet at 9 am. Visibility was poor, so I went down Liz's thar I saw on previous day was groomed and had excellent coverage. It was a good thing it was groomed and had a new inch of dry snow as visibility was under 100 feet. Towards the bottom, visibility improved and I went down Sky Canyon, where I made the third set of tracks in the 4-6" that had collected there. I did that two more times, making 10 minute/1500 foot vetical laps before moving to Ellie's run on the other side of the chair where visibility was also very poor, but deep new snow had collected next to snow fence. Low angle powder in the tree on skier's left in the middle third of the run was very dry and felt like 4". The bottom third was not as deep except for the left side of Sky Canyon. Eventually I moved to Canyon Chair before skiing down Waterfall where all season almost nobody has been skiing the narrow chute between trees and fenced off bump course.
Since I'd left new helmet liner in car and was tired of skiing with my hood under my helmet to block the 20-30 mph wind which combined with the temp in the low teens for a wind chill below 0, I skied down Gunbarrel to the car. I found good snow on skiers left although the very top was windblown. The lower you got, the thinner was the new snow which barely covered the hard surface. Visibility was much better at 6650 foot parking lot and tram riders were surprise by wind at the top. I went back to the top of Sky and headed to NV.
Since I had yet to hike over the top to hit Milky Way Bowl really high this season, plus visibility had improved and wind was slowing down everyone trying to get to NV, I decided to duck the rope and hike up to saddle between peaks. It was a mistake as the usual 10-15 minute (heart pounding, uphill at 10K) hike carrying skis took me 25 minutes of hard hiking since I had to put on skis a few time to get through deep snow including zigzagging up one short steep section where it was too steep and deep to sidestep. Since I had not been up there for a couple of years plus I had to set trail and visibility went down to almost zero went I got to top of Milky Way bowl, I was not positive I was in the right place.
Due to lack of visibility and wind-packed snow, it was definitely not worth the hike although snow and visibility improved down lower in the trees to the right of the bowl (that you can get to without a hike). The only good thing was I decided to go into Mott's where snow on Widowmaker was better than previous day as it was almost untracked. The previous day at about the same time had very little untracked and the 3 inches today skied better as previous day's snow was not compacted. I skied Dipper Bowl once, then the trees on Comet between chair and Comet run before returning to CA. Lines were short and visibility was improving, but I quit at 1 pm with 20 runs and 22.9K vertical to beat the traffic bay to Bay Area. If I'd stayed on CA, I would have easily been over 25K vertical.
and here in the east...we are getting the same. 