Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Snow?
- Thread starter kingslug
- Start date
@jasoncapecod, @Harvey, and I admitted it 15 years ago at Plattekill after 60 inches over three days. I know that's nothing compared to an atmospheric-river event on the west coast but still. Bumping Jason's pic of this girl on skinny skis.
ChrisC
Well-known member
The secret about the Sierra/Tahoe, even after 4+ feet of snow, is that the density and temperatures are warm enough to ski only in the top 4-8" because the snow starts to consolidate and get wind-compacted. Also, many atmospheric river events are associated with 100mph winds, which keeps lifts closed.
Sometimes you get storms that are <20F, and then you can ski in something approaching 12-24". I only have had a couple of storms (more often at Kirkwood and a few at Squaw) where snow is matching Utah/CO lightness.
On the West Coast, I generally had the best luck of experiencing deep, drier snow at Whistler, Stevens Pass (cold air gets sucked in from E WA), Mt. Bachelor or Kirkwood.
jasoncapecod
Well-known member
By the way that’s the girls head@jasoncapecod, @Harvey, and I admitted it 15 years ago at Plattekill after 60 inches over three days. I know that's nothing compared to an atmospheric-river event on the west coast but still. Bumping Jason's pic of this girl on skinny skis.
She took her skis off and sunk to her shoulders
I think it was 8 feet in a week. Seems like it's more than nothing compared.
But it was at least two separate events so maybe it doesn't compare.
+1 Here's Exhibit A, Mt. Baldy Feb. 14, 2001 after 7 feet of snow in 54 hours.
Liz is the same way. Some of this is a matter of getting enough mileage. To me, the 2 feet Friday was a typical right side up LCC dump (storm starts dense, covers up any old crust, then finishes light and fluffy. Per Alta website, Mar. 14 was 21.5 inches of 9% snow, followed by 8 inches of 6%.
Too deep to me means you bog down and get stuck. Pitch needs to be consistent and the more snow, the steeper it needs to be. At the end of my first Niseko trip there were 15 inches new on the second to last day, an overall awesome day. The next day there was another 25 new. Niseko is almost unskiable with 40 inches fresh because too much of it is at mellow intermediate pitch and I would frequently grind to a halt waist deep.
Yes. What I mentioned above about 60 inches was probably referring to one of the two storm surges. #Snowmageddon!
I remember it started on a thursday. Super heavy,no vis. End if the day i went into the bar,came out 3 hours later..couldnt see the jeep.
Woke up the next day at the hotel..couldnt see any cars in the lot..over the roofs.
People started digging..i just tunneled to the jeep and pulled out.
Waist deep at the mounrain and somehow they got it open.
Woke up the next day at the hotel..couldnt see any cars in the lot..over the roofs.
People started digging..i just tunneled to the jeep and pulled out.
Waist deep at the mounrain and somehow they got it open.
From what I've seen, there's little Northeast lift served skiing any steeper than Niseko. 60 inches would bring most everything to a standstill. In SoCal I say bring it on! Baldy is steeper than Niseko and in that Pacific Coast snow we aren't sinking more than a foot into it anyway.
A classic snowmageddon episode for this thread is Feb 2023 in southern CA, which started off with the (as @snowave and @EMSC correctly noted) bonkers forecast below that predicted (if you add up the numbers for each day) a high-end potential of 188 inches and a low end of 142 inches. One post cited the final seven-day snow totals as a still significant 106 inches at Big Bear and 115 at Mt. High. Was Baldy more than that? I skimmed through and couldn't find it.
