New SoCal Storm Track

S

ski-the-face

New member
El Nino is sucking in the storms and stacking them on the horizon. Next weeks rain/snow systems being compared to el nino '98 and even '83. Im in Big Bear from the 26th-31st and will probly not get to Baldy after these storms. i was wondering about the snow accumulation difference between the San Gabes and Big Bear area for these storms.
 
Typical ratio in this type of storm is 2 to 1 (Baldy/Waterman vs. Big Bear). San Gorgonio blocks out Big Bear. Mt. High is in between; it's in the San Gabriels but on the back side, behind Baldy and Baden-Powell.
 
This is looking kinda epic. I remember in '98 the storms really kicked in around Jan 20, so who knows....we may be in for good one . Lets hope . Tony , what's your opinion on the snow levels and progression of these storms?
 
ski-the-face":2mfpqwbp said:
El Nino is sucking in the storms and stacking them on the horizon. Next weeks rain/snow systems being compared to el nino '98 and even '83. Im in Big Bear from the 26th-31st and will probly not get to Baldy after these storms. i was wondering about the snow accumulation difference between the San Gabes and Big Bear area for these storms.
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if you are in the big bear area and it's dumping, you could always try snow valley. i know it's easy to pass on your way to the big bear resorts, but often times valley gets quite a bit more snow than summit and bear and is always less crowded. slide peak is one of the first peaks that storms hit in the san bernardino mtns and is not in a snow shadow like big bear. slide peak offers short fun laps with an wide open bowl and a few trees.

the only kicker is slide peak is only open on fridays and weekends (at least in recent years); however, if a storm hits earlier in the week and you can't get up there the day after--slide will still offer fresh powder long after everywhere else has been tracked out...

and last year they had ridiculously cheap weekday lift tickets for most of the season, not sure if that's available this year... but definitely a fun, closer (if your doing a day trip) and more affordable alternative to big bear, had some fun weekdays there last february.
 
The above post is correct that Snow Valley gets ~2x as much natural snow as Big Bear. But it's lower and still doesn't get as much as Baldy/Waterman. Thus I haven't been there since November 1985. Snow Valley was much more popular when I started skiing in the late 1970's. It's definitely quiet now.

Storm #1 (ending Monday) produced only about 6 inches everywhere. The San Gabriels probably got more precipitation than Big Bear but also higher proportion of rain. Snow levels are supposed to be lower for the next storms.
 
Tony Crocker":3odb7ss4 said:
The above post is correct that Snow Valley gets ~2x as much natural snow as Big Bear. But it's lower and still doesn't get as much as Baldy/Waterman. Thus I haven't been there since November 1985. Snow Valley was much more popular when I started skiing in the late 1970's. It's definitely quiet now.

Storm #1 (ending Monday) produced only about 6 inches everywhere. The San Gabriels probably got more precipitation than Big Bear but also higher proportion of rain. Snow levels are supposed to be lower for the next storms.
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Snowed down to 3500' with this storm. Wouldn't be surprised if the resorts got a good 6-8" from this.
 
hayduke":171tcjzz said:
baldy reporting 4ft over night
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Where'd you hear that from? They claimed a base of something like 6-18in before the storm and now here's what the site says.

We picked up 5-8 inches of new snow over our 2-4 foot base.
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I bailed on my plans to go today, just didn't think it was worth the effort or the damage to my skis.
 
Baldy's closed now, glad I didn't head up. The NWS was really talking up the winds with the front today so after my failed attempt on Presidents Day last year I passed on today (especially since it's dumping in SLC and I'm heading there tomorrow).

It is currently snowing and we are temporarily closed today due to the high winds in the storm.We plan on being open for skiing, snowboarding and snowtubing on chairs #1, # 2, and #3 if winds permit.
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Quite obvious Baldy isn't even close to being ready yet, not that it won't be if the next 2 storms live up to their billing. But it does illustrate why the Wednesday reservation made last week was a long shot.
 
Tony Crocker":1hvy7t2v said:
Quite obvious Baldy isn't even close to being ready yet, not that it won't be if the next 2 storms live up to their billing. But it does illustrate why the Wednesday reservation made last week was a long shot.
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Yes it was, and after the high snow levels on Monday it was already obvious it wouldn't work out. This storm track's been pretty terrible for Baldy, if LA valley locations have gotten 1-3 in of water it's pretty disappointing that Baldy hasn't gotten more snow then they say they have.
 
So I actually bit the bullet and went up today, hoping that the winds associated with today's incoming storm wouldn't become lift-closure-worthy until afternoon and that I could get a morning of powder runs in. Wind as reported from the notch was 15 mph when I left home. I obviously ended up being wrong, but did manage to get one amazing run in on Emile's before they shut the hill down. 5 minutes later and the whole trip would have been for a round trip through a hurricane on Chair 1.

The skier's left face of Emile's featured a little less than a foot of new ear-to-ear-grinning powder, and that one run down was absolutely fantastic. So no matter what falls in the next couple days, Thunder will be worth a go. I'm sure there is a treasure trove in the Goldridge trees right now. South Bowl should be prime as well. Definitely still chunky in the Emile's runout, and some rocky areas in the usual places could use much more snow.

Chair 1 runs definitely need a few feet still. With 1.5 to 2 feet Bentley's will be sketchy but doable, but needs closer to 3 feet to get to good form.
 
Good info, thanks for giving it a go today.


Aukai":xv4e7tug said:
5 minutes later and the whole trip would have been for a round trip through a hurricane on Chair 1.
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I was 5 minutes late last Presidents day and got to do the round trip in a hurricane.

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I was there that day too. Got to the bottom of 3 right as they closed it.

I'm definitely going Friday and expect it to be amazing. I can go tomorrow, but will assume it'll be the same story as today. Maybe Mt. High will be open tomorrow (they closed around 11 today), we shall see what the weather brings.

I had considered going to Big Bear today thinking they'd be hit later and would stay open longer, shoulda done that instead. #-o Looks like they're in full operation.
 
friday could truly be epic. funeral on my off day(saturday) then week off for big bear tue-sun. too bad im missing the powder by like 2 days go figure. :roll:
 
I'm shooting for Friday. Mountain High or Baldy. depends on precip outlook Friday morning. I have driven to Baldy in storms (have a fender bender to show for it!), but it's so much easier to get to HIgh, and I can ride East blindfolded pretty much.
 
I'll be at Kirkwood Sat. and Sun. I should be there tomorrow, but I took the first work day (skiing) and second week (20th anniversary in Puerto Vallata) of 2010 off already. The highest 72 hour totals I see at onthesnow.com are Sierra Summit 72" and Dodge Ridge 71". Kirkwood said 50-66" during last 48 hours. I'm hoping they wait until Sat. to open chairs 2, 3 and 4.
 
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