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Notes 2009/2010 season
First Measurable Snow: October 27, 2009
June 4, 2010 The work moves on. Seems to be going slowly with all Easy Gold towers gone now, the Keechelus landing work moving slowly and clearing of the triple chair has been done. I can see the markers for the new towers in place. Will be good to see those start going up. May 14, 2010 The snow is now just in patches except for up top. The work is plodding along at the resort as far as lift removal, no indication of the install starting yet. We did get a dump of snow on May 4 which was a surprise, about 6". It has since melted away with the first warm day... Base: all gone. April 28, 2010 Currently there is very wet snow falling, but nothing sticking. It has been pretty warm but we do get some occasional snow like last Saturday about 1" (then it melted). The snow is pretty much gone, only 6" left at my measuring stake. The ski area has been working on the lift project, just removal so far of what is left of the old lifts and Easy Gold. Base: 6" April 21, 2010 I was surprised this AM when I was leaving for work to see some snow falling. It was actually mix rain/snow, but the SL appeared to be 3,500'. Most of the April storm snow has melted and my measuring stake is now reading 1 1/2'. The snow is going fast and should be mostly gone by the end of April. Base: 1 1/2' April 14, 2010 The snow has finally ended. Now the melt is on again and season temps are back to normal. This last rush of storms put a big shot in the arm of the spring ski season. The depth crept up to 3 1/2' which ties the season high, but now is down to 2 1/2' and I assume will drop quickly over the weekend. The ski area has started work removing Easy Gold and will be moving forward with the front side triple and Hidden Valley double chair. Good news!! Base: 2 1/2' April 8, 2010 Another storm pushes through leaving much more snow in its shadow. Another foot is predicted today and more through the weekend. Alpental is scheduled to close on the 18th, not sure about West. Snow depth now is about as deep as it has been all winter. Base: 3'+ April 2, 2010 It has been a crazy spring. It appears the winter storm pattern that has been missing all winter has finally arrived. The past couple weeks we have been getting storms coming out of Alaska dumping snow on us and this weekend is no different. They are predicting 1'-2' more snow this Fri/Sat. Maybe these late storms will save the spring riding and allow Alpental to stay open again into May? Base: 2' March 22, 2010 The ski area is still plodding along, staying open with snow depth becoming very thin and more dirt sticking out. After a warm week, rains returned Sunday followed by a little snow Monday AM. Only a trace, but it is something. Still no word on the triple chair, if it will be installed this summer. Base: 18" March 12, 2010 Winter has re-arrived with the biggest storm of the year. It was snowing hard and well over 1 foot has fallen. It figures that the day I go in for ACL reconstruction surgery it starts snowing. Snow is predicted to keep falling through the rest of the week. Base: 2 1/2' March 9, 2010 Winter finally has returned, sort of. First time snow levels have been down to 1,000' since December and we received about an inch of snow. Today it was 22 degrees which should help stop the snow melt for a bit, but they are predicting occasional snow through the week, but nothing to write home about. Base: 18" March 2, 2010 March came roaring in with warm temps and fast snowmelt. I'd guess the ski areas will begin shutting down some operations soon with no change in the weather pattern seen and snow rapidly melting. Central has a lot of dirt starting to show and this weekend the crossover trail from Hyak to Silver Fir had some nasty holes showing. Base: 2' February 24, 2010 Finally , new snow! It was only 2-3" but at least it was white stuff. It was followed up with some light rain during the day which pretty much wiped out what had fallen. It surprises me that we have had virtually ZERO winter storms this season thus far. It is almost March and the only double digit snowfall totals were back in November. It would be nice to get a normal March to finish off the season, but so far there has been no sign this weather pattern will change anytime soon. Base: 2'+ February 15, 2010 I've had few entries this season simply because nothing ever changes. Seems every week we get a little snow, little rain and warm temps. The snow is nearing the point where we are seeing too many dirt areas and an early closing might happen in the next few weeks w/o a real winter storm. The Holy Oly is scheduled for next Saturday at Hyak. The area is currently stacking up snow and last week they ran the Little Gold chair getting all ready for the event. Base: 2 1/2' January 25, 2009 The winter is still looking bleak even after yesterday's storm of 4". It seems we have been hovering around 3' depth. After last weeks unusual warm weather the measuring had dropped below 3'. As of today the season total snowfall has still yet to reach 100" which is less then one month normal snowfall for January alone. Hopefully soon this elnino will weaken and allow the normal storm track to return. Otherwise spring riding will not last into April but I still hold out hope that we will have a normal Feb and big March to bring us to the mid 200's for seasonal total (just a guess). Base: 2 1/2' January 5, 2009 The cycle seems to continue. Cold weather then snow followed by rain, then cold, etc. It goes on and on. Currently today is a RAIN day, but yesterday was a SNOW day so I assume next will be a freeze to make this slush into rock hard crap. We have enough snow to continue lift service but good snow conditions have been hard to find unless you were out on those few days the snow was falling. Base: 3' December 28, 2009 December snowfall has been far below normal and the ski area has been operating on very minimal snow amounts. Only 2-3' has been on the ground and much of the time the snow has been rock-hard due to extreme cold weather following rain. Snow is expected this week but I do not believe it is suppose to amount to much. Base: 2 1/2' December 20, 2009 The high snow levels did arrive and turned all of the great dry powder to what is known as "cascade concrete". My measuring stick was reporting close to 3' before the rains, but now it is just around 2 1/2'. The temps have been pretty steady, around 34-36 degrees the past few days with heavy fog and sometimes misty drizzle. As long as the heavy rain stays away things are not too bad. The Nordic center is open but for some reason the crossover trail is not groomed to Silver Fir? I find this odd since SF is the only lift access for the Nordic skiers and people are still trying to use the crossover anyway, but it is difficult in deep, heavy snow. Base: 2 1/2' December 14, 2009 After many days of clear, cold weather (many nights in the single digits) we finally have some new snow. Looks to be around 3"-4" this morning and more predicted for this afternoon. Base: 20" December 1, 2009 Rain and snowmelt is what has been happening the past week. Tonight we had more rain and temps in the upper 30's. Rumor has it that Central will close this week and I'd guess Alpental might be close behind if we don't get more snow, or at least cooler temps. Base: 1 1/2' (18") November 24, 2009 After another weekend of snow, the SL has gone up to 5,000' and we are now getting drenched with rain. It rained most of the night and continues today packing down our snow. Alpental is suppose to open this weekend assuming this rain stops. Base: 2' November 19, 2009 The snow just keeps on coming. This has been a very good November and most all western ski areas have opened (all except Stevens). It appears Central will kick off today after the 10" new that fell overnight (and still falling). I need to get my measuring stick in the ground so I can get a more accurate base measurement. Base: 20" November 15, 2009 Summit West opened up Saturday for one of the earliest openings in many years. More snow fell through the weekend, but Sunday a warm front came through and by 6pm light rain was falling. SL's are predicted to stay high until Tuesday then snow should return. Base: 12" November 11, 2009 More snow falling after we received aprox. 6" this past weekend. Mt Baker opens tomorrow and Crystal opened today. I don't see Snoqualmie opening any time soon and I'd guess it will still open the second week of December (my guess). Warm temps expected after this coming weekend which might take care of our early snow. Base: 6" October 30, 2009 The rains are here as well as warmer temps. At 6am it is 49 degrees and the snow is almost gone. No further snow is predicted, and we only ended up with 2" out of our first winter storm. October 27, 2009 First snow of the season! Only 1 inch, but it was enough to make the ground white and get the chatter going. They had originally predicted up to 18" of snow to fall, but only 1" fell. October 14, 2009 Not much to report. Got our first snowflakes of the season at slope level this week, but that only lasted for a few minutes. It has been raining but snow levels have been staying up around 5,500' and higher. Ski area seems to be getting things ready, but any work at Hyak has come to a halt for the summer it appears. September 11, 2009 Start of a new season (my season runs from Sept-August), and still lots of activity all around the summit. No Hyak downhill operation, at least from the top down. They might run the little chair, but no confirmation on that one yet. This will be my first season since 1993 that I have no season pass so I plan to do a lot more hiking. I'm also full time at the area now so I will have much better daily reports and goings on. I also hope to have my live cam finally online either at my cabin site, or somewhere near the slopes. |
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