Comments on: Surprises & mid-week snow

By: Joel Gratz

Joel Gratz — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:31:49 +0000

Jon Gesink – Thanks for adding Copper into the mix…all reports help!

By: Jon Gesink

Jon Gesink — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:12:10 +0000

Copper was pretty good today. Decent powder in the trees and edges of runs off the Timberline lift. However, as with Winter Park, more snow is needed to cover up all the stumps, bushes, rocks, etc.

By: Joel Gratz

Joel Gratz — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:41:51 +0000

Puneet – good to have a second opinion…thanks much for the report!

By: Puneet

Puneet — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:31:42 +0000

Jesse Howe wrote: Winter Park snow quality is pretty good all things considered. Coverage a different story, as there is still a LOT of stuff to hit out there (rocks, trees, stumps, texans). Most have not ventured in to the trees yet, limiting skiable terrain big time.

I second Jesse’s comments. We enjoyed a fabulous powder day on Thursday at Mary Jane and ventured into the trees to hit all sorts of rocks and trees on the lower sections of Sunnyside and Panoramic lifts. Now I gotta get some core work on the ‘board but it was all worth it as we found some great lines and face shots. Thanks, Joel, for the pow-alerts!

By: Joel Gratz

Joel Gratz — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:21:21 +0000

Jesse Howe – great report from Berthoud Pass…many thanks! The recent snow nicely covered the terrain in the trees, but it’s still a false cover for most spots, and the logs and stumps aren’t far below the surface. Riding with some caution is still a good rule.

By: Jesse Howe

Jesse Howe — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:00:43 +0000

Joel,
Keep up the good work. I’d love to see some BC reports as well but understand it’s a bit more difficult to accurately report. CAIC does a good job anyway.
Berthoud Pass was sweet today, a little tagged up from the weekend but pockets of nearly knee deep were available. COLD early in the AM. Winter Park snow quality is pretty good all things considered. Coverage a different story, as there is still a LOT of stuff to hit out there (rocks, trees, stumps, texans). Most have not ventured in to the trees yet, limiting skiable terrain big time.

By: Joel Gratz

Joel Gratz — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:24:20 +0000

Erik – Right on for the Tower site…good analysis. Fun to see the big totals up there!

By: Erik Kling

Erik Kling — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:58:37 +0000

Tower is definitely a pocket. On average, it blows away all other Colorado Snotel sites by over 10″ of SWE with a whopping 51in (30 yr average). Thats probably on the order of 600 inches of snow, probably more. And as some of my steamboat buddies who frequent nearby Buff Pass will confirm, its for real. Next nearest is Schofield Pass – around 37in – only then followed by ‘The most snow in CO’ Wolf Creek at 35in.

By: Joel Gratz

Joel Gratz — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:12:04 +0000

Bryan – Will do…thanks for your interest. SNOTEL sites need a little more babysitting than resort reports since the data is sometimes inaccurate and new snowfall needs to be interpreted from the amount of new liquid equivalent that was recorded. A quick look at the Tower SNOTEL site north of Steamboat shows 3-4 feet of new snow…one and a half to twice as much snow as Steamboat. This difference is pretty standard up there…

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:38:51 +0000

Joel,

How about mixing in some backcountry snow totals (or snotel reports) into your forecasts as well as post storm reporting?

As much as I love to know how much snow VAIL got, I’m just not “epic” enough to own an “epic” pass…