 Poster: A snowHead
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| Contrarian wrote: |
In desperation at the lack of snow on this side of the Atlantic, and given the huge amounts of snow hitting the west coast, I am considering a N American trip in the next week or so.
I'll probably only do a week, and would really like a resort that is not too far from a major city (ie one that I can fly to directly from London). Most of the snow seems to be concentrated on California, so I was looking at Palisades Tahoe (aka Squaw Valley), but that is > 4 hours from San Francisco.
Any better suggestions?
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Fly into Salt Lake City (SLC). They are having a fantastic winter as well. Depending on what you are looking for, you can ski Alta/Snowbird and/or Deer Valley/Park City as well as Snowbasin and a few other ski areas all within about an hour or so of the airport.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks Toadman, that sounds like a good idea. I've always wanted to ski Snowbird/Alta but have been put off by the lack of available accommodation. I suppose it's quite easy to drive there from SLC.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Contrarian wrote: |
| Thanks Toadman, that sounds like a good idea. I've always wanted to ski Snowbird/Alta but have been put off by the lack of available accommodation. I suppose it's quite easy to drive there from SLC. |
It's an easy 45 - 60 minute drive when there's light traffic. You can stay at the foot of the canyon if there's no place to stay at Alta or the Bird. Search for hotels in West Jordan, Midvale, Murray, Sandy to be close to the Cottonwood Canyons.
Edit to add: Prognosis remains good in the forecasts for continued storm activity into mid-March. Not a lock or certainty. But the weather patterns have been pretty consistent for low pressure storm activity rolling off the Pacific and bringing plenty of snow to a wide swath of the Western portion of the US.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Contrarian wrote: |
| Thanks Toadman, that sounds like a good idea. I've always wanted to ski Snowbird/Alta but have been put off by the lack of available accommodation. I suppose it's quite easy to drive there from SLC. |
Easy drive from Sandy, especially when they're not doing avy mitigaton (something like 17 times this winter that the road's been closed for a bit). When 210 (Little Cottonwood to Alta/Snowbird) is shut down, there's always 190 (Big Cottonwood to Brighton/Solitude). Or, head up I-80 to Park City/Deer Valley or up I-15 to Snowbasin. Good to have options.
Another consideration...is parking. Alta requires a reservation now, and, Snowbird has limited public parking. There's always the bus though.
We're still in "it". Snow through this week. Alta at 160" base and near 600" for the season. Supposed to snow nearly every day through this weekend. Yee ha.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thanks @Toadman and @Brian in SLC. Btw, is Powder Mountain worth a visit? Looks like it's got some great off piste terrain.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Yep. Pow Mow. Very worth it. You might consider skins and avy gear.
They do single ride snowcat and shuttle pickups for some of the off piste terrain. Kind of a crazy area and well liked by locals for sure.
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Cheers @Brian in SLC,
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SLC would be a good choice, but understand that "light traffic" in LCC is now a quaint thing of the past. Can take 3 hours to get down (which has some folks thinking about a $550m gondola from the mouth of the canyon to Alta).
Give strong consideration to PM and Snowbasin. Both great areas that are less crowded than LCC, BCC and Parley's areas.
Tahoe is having a killer year and would also be a great choice.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Scooter in Seattle wrote: |
SLC would be a good choice, but understand that "light traffic" in LCC is now a quaint thing of the past. Can take 3 hours to get down (which has some folks thinking about a $550m gondola from the mouth of the canyon to Alta).
Give strong consideration to PM and Snowbasin. Both great areas that are less crowded than LCC, BCC and Parley's areas.
Tahoe is having a killer year and would also be a great choice. |
Only thing about Tahoe is the amount of snow they have been dealing with. Risk of high alpine lift closures, limited terrain openings. That whole thing about too much of a good thing...But this season, you really can't go wrong where ever you go on the Western Mountain areas.
The latest ensemble runs show more snow for the BC Coast Range and interior for Thursday, with that storm working its way a bit South into Washington and then East toward the Tetons.. Won't quite have the oomph to make it to Oregon. Maybe Mt. Hood gets a glancing blow.
Still looks promising for the weekend as the Sierra's are in line for another round on Saturday afternoonish into Sunday.
Out into next week looks possible for more activity. But need to take a wait and watch to see if more storms move onshore.
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Here in California, the talk is of this Winter season being the 2nd biggest in recorded, modern history. All of the resorts are pushing a lot of snow around to stay up and running.
It has been consistently cold here, which is unusual. It has been below 6.6 C at Mammoth, daily. They'll probably set a closing date for the 4th of July.
It is going to be an awesome Spring ski season this year!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Yep. Skied Brighton last night. 10" of new. 62" in the last 7 days. Snow on tap every day from Friday through Monday. Nutty.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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More snow coming for the Western USA. And just so the East Coast doesn't feel left out, they are on tap for snow in the New England states as well.
Some light 5" on tap for the morning.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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California continues to struggle in mountain towns to deal with all the snow. The latest storm over the weekend came in cold and with more energy than initially forecast. Initial forecasts pre-storm had about 36" on the higher side. They beat that mark in some higher elevations by 2 feet.
https://abc7.com/snow-san-bernardino-mountains-snowfall-digging-out/12920127/
Next low pressure is looking warmer and that could spell trouble with rain at lower elevations and will lead to run off and flooding.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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...and buildings collapsing. I remember when the skating rink went down at then-Squaw Valley. They'd put insulation in the ceiling to save energy, but that kept the snow on the roof from melting and it collapsed and became part of the parking lot!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just a quick update on this week's weather for North America.
Snowpack for the Sierras is over 200% in may locations. Washington Cascades is right around 100%. Oregon Cascades is also right at or slightly above 100% of normal. Northern Utah is at 140%0156% of normal. Northern Arizona is at 180+% of normal. Idaho is the outlier at about 97% in the North and central Idaho is about 96%. Further East and into the Tetons is at 108% of normal. NW Colorado at 135%, Central CO at 122% and SW Colorado at 142%.
Another round of storms will come on shore around Wednesday/Thursday time frame for the Oregon Cascades and Sierras. Forecast calling currently for about a foot in 24 hours. The ensembles show that storm moving East through Central Idaho and into the Tetons and Northern Utah around Friday into early Saturday. Air will be a bit warmer as the low pressure is coming from a bit farther South in the Pacific than the last one, which drew colder air down from the Gulf of AK.
The concern for the Sierras is the beginning of the AR will be on the warmer side initially and as it passes during the weekend, the temps will cool. There's a significant amount of moisture contained within the AR( ~3-5").
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A few more numbers from NOAA:
Nine storms Dec-Jan brought 32 trillion gallons of moisture
Over 48 feet of snowfall STD at Donner Pass measurement station
21 dead
1400 rescued
700 landslides
So far. Reports of some buildings getting squished are beginning to come in, and this next round could be nasty. Stay safe out there, and in there.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There's a beast of an AR lurking off the Pacific. It's slowly working its way East. Models are a bit wobbly on where the main force of energy will land. Trending toward NorCal and Southern Oregon, with some promise for the upper PNW region to get hit as well. This storm has some warm air circulating out of the South as well as some from the Gulf of AK. They will duke it out to see who gains the upper hand as it works its way over the West Coast mountain ranges.
Current forecast looks to be another round of feet worth of snow but at higher elevations this time around. Land fall is late Friday for the Sierra's, and Thursday for the PNW. Could see rain in the Sierras up to 10,000 feet, and then slowly dropping to 8,000 foot level during the latter part of Saturday. The more Northerly component of this AR will be slightly cooler and snow levels should be right at base level of the Cascade ski areas.
There have been sporadic snow flurries in Oregon from some of the leading edges of this storm. (Snowed at my place last night while walking the dog.)
This storm will work East as I mentioned in an earlier post and should provide more snow for the Intermountain Western mountains late Saturday and into Sunday.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ensemble firming up for a big 5 day cycle of snow for the upper Northern Latitudes to get a decent pasting. The models are also coalescing around warmer air funneling into the Sierras and that warmer air will also move into the intermountain West on Friday (Idaho/Wyoming/Utah/Colorado). As the AR moves through, it will cool down. Could get messy in California with rain at lower elevations (below 9k feet), and heavy snow at the higher elevations. (Could be another 5 feet in 48 hours)
British Columbia should be fairly insulated from the warmer temps. Interior BC looks promising as does the New England states later in the weekend.
Oregon Cascades, Central Idaho (Sun Valley) and Grand Targhee/Jackson Hole look currently to be very promising for several feet of snow. Sun Valley came up with almost 10" of fresh snow overnight when the forecast was calling for just a few inches.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Currently snowing out my office window as I type. Not an unusual occurrence this winter. The operative phrase is "Pineapple Express." A large warm band of moisture is moving across the Pacific and across a large swath of the Western part of North America. The Northeast Coast is also now getting hammered with reports of 20" in the New England ski arena.
The usual suspects are going to have a warm, wet and wild ride. Tahoe will see a foot or more into Wednesday before things clear up. The interior mountain West will also see a foot or more late Tuesday into Wednesday - Tetons, Wasatch and Sawtooths.
Southern parts of Colorado (Wolf Creek) might see over 2 feet of snow by Thursday morning.
There's a small tail end trough of low pressure coming after this current Pineapple Express toward late Saturday, early Sunday for another round of moisture. Also trending on the warmish side with higher snow elevation levels - Above 8k feet for the Sierras and around 5k feet for the Southern Cascades.
Don't put away those powder sticks just yet.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Toadman wrote: |
The Northeast Coast is also now getting hammered with reports of 20" in the New England ski arena.
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They deserve it. The NE has been horrible this year. I think I saw Stratton reported 28".
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| skithesteelstealtheski wrote: |
| Toadman wrote: |
The Northeast Coast is also now getting hammered with reports of 20" in the New England ski arena.
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They deserve it. The NE has been horrible this year. I think I saw Stratton reported 28". |
They definitely deserve the late season snow they have been getting. Mt Snow in VT reported 46"!. My in-laws are in NW Connecticut and they got 8" of heavy wet mank. More snow looks to be on tap for that region but it will be on the warm side, so could be rain at the bases and snow up top.
West Coast still looks on tap for another round this weekend. Again on the warmer side, which is typical for March.
And then looking out into the 10 day realm of what if and maybes is the possibility of another low pressure trough around the 25th.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Next storm looks to come in around Sunday to the Sierras. It will move inland over Northern Utah and SW Colorado late Monday into Tuesday. Should be decent amount of moisture and colder temps than the last storm. Next 5 days will see over 3 feet in the higher elevations of the Tahoe resorts and Mammoth. Northern Utah ski areas are looking at 2 feet or so from late Monday through Wednesday morning.
The rest of the intermountain West will also see from 6 inches to a foot over the next 5 days.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Was snowing in the Southern Cascades today with more on tap for Monday.
The next AR is on its way into the Sierras. Monday and Tuesday will be storm days for Tahoe and Mammoth.
Taos will see a foot plus mid-week.
Utah ski areas will also see several feet of snow over the next 5 days.
Tetons will be on the edge of the storm track but could eek out 20" or so by Thursday.
There will be solid bases for Spring skiing through out the Western Ski Areas.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Well, I was caught off guard this morning. Opened the door to take the dog for a walk, and it was snowing quite heavily. By now, I should really know better.
Colorado will see snow off and on most of the week. Southern Mountains are favored. The forecasts seem to be hinting at several storms hitting the Northern and Central mountains all the way into the weekend. All by themselves these are not big low pressures with lots of moisture. But add them up over the week, and you start talking some decent snow accumulations in the 2 feet range.
The Utah Northern Wasatch arena has had the snow accumulation bumped by another foot, so that's worth keeping an eye on.
A weak storm is currently delivering a few inches to the Cascades before moving toward Idaho and the Tetons.
The BC Coast range and interior BC ski resorts will be on the fringes but should get a glancing blow of a foot or so around Thursday/Friday time frame.
Once again, it's an embarrassment of riches for the North American ski resorts.
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I feel like a broken record. Maybe going forward, just assume that it is going to snow every week somewhere in North America.
Sierras getting hammered again with wind, rain and snow. Up to 5 feet between now and Sunday.
Central and Southern Cascades from Crystal Mtn down to Bachelor looking at 2 feet - 3 feet of snow through Saturday, with some lingering snow showers on Sunday.
Utah will see 2 plus feet over the weekend. Alta hit the 700 inch mark. Might make a run at the record in April of close to 750".
Steamboat and the Crested Butte into Aspen could also do well this weekend with upwards of 2 feet of snow. Air circulating from the Gulf of AK and co-mingling with moisture from the Pacific as it works its way South will result in cold temps and decent powder quality.
Euro Snowheads, contemplate spending Easter in the North America. It might be snowing if you do.
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We have enormous amount of snow in Tahoe. If you'll decide to fly to San Francisco and go to Palisades, you can take a skibus to Palisades from several Sport Basement locations in San Francisco and close by - https://shop.sportsbasement.com/products/sbskibus (and you can rent ski gear and jacket/pants from their locations as well)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Palisades now staying open thru July 4th.
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FAQ
