March 28 to April 12, 2006 Lake Tahoe conditions

Miracle March has been extended into April and the snows continue to fall in  Lake Tahoe and Sierra.  Here is a brief update as to where we have been skiing. Many resorts will close about April 23 but Kirkwood closes on April 30.  Alpine Meadows and Squaw will be open into May and who knows when Mammoth will close.

3/28 Kirkwood 2" powder and snowing hard in
afternoon
3/29 Kirkwood 18" powder, face shot day
3/30 Kirkwood backcountry , then Waterhouse Peak
tour in powder
3/31 Sierra at Tahoe 4" powder
4/1 Alpine Meadows 23" powder WOW
4/2 Alpine Meadows cruiser in packed powder
4/3 Kirkwood 20" wet cement, did not ski
4/4 Kirkwood 18" heavy snow, wet cement- Hillary  &
Dale in area
4/5 Kirkwood 18" powder, dry, face shot day WOW
4/6 Sierra at Tahoe powder in trees in AM, warm in
PM
4/7 It was nice for a few hours then a snow storm moved into Alpine Meadows.  We
spent the night at Alpine and woke to 10" of new wind affected snow.

4/8  Jill slept in and I made a few runs.  It was wind affected even in the
trees. We decided to spend another night.

4/9 Rob Norheim arrived and Alpine was selling lift tickets for $20 to benefit
some charity so Rob got a great deal.  It was a packed powder day and we cruised
all over.

4/10 Received 6" overnight, so it was ideal for Homewood.  Had a free lift
ticket coupon, so Rob skied free.  Unfortunately the temperature was just above
freezing and snowing hard.  Very similar to the "ice cream butt" day at
Kirkwood.  I wore Gore-Tex.  Jill's hip was painful, so she stayed in the van. 
Rob and I cycled untracked heavy powder for hours until his quads were screaming. 
It was fun but everything we wore was wet on the outside. Rob had to return to
Sacramento for his flight home.  We heard that Kirkwood was still cold and
snowing and drove there. Luckily the road on the west side of Lake Tahoe opened.

4/11 Kirkwood has received another 13" over the past 2 days and it's still
snowing and cold with wind.  Jill's hip is still painful so she rested today. 
It was another powder day and the slopes were deserted.

4/12 Kirkwood received another 8” overnight but the base temperature was 29 and the sun was trying to breakout.  Winds were 28mph but the lifts were running. It was a great powder day. For some reason the strong winds kept the snow powdery and the slopes were deserted.  I cycled the front side in knee deep powder in the trees until noon when the sun finally burned through and things started getting heavy and the day was done.

The forecast is for 2 warm days and then a storm supposedly deposits 2 feet of snow with high winds.  Spring skiing in the Sierra is overdue and the current powder streak is certain  to end.
For all those planning on traveling to the eastern Sierra for corn snow and touring, I’m  certain there will be touring in June.  Kirkwood has received 780 inches so far and will exceed 800 this weekend and further south Mammoth has surpassed last years totals already.  It should be a long touring season in the Sierra.

Zap & Jill