Today was a break between the storms. It was a wonderful sunny bluebird powder day!
This blog was written by Claire Weiss.
Late morning we checked the parking info on the Palisades app to make sure parking was still available and went to Alpine. On our way, we were greeted with amazing views of snow-covered mountains from Alpine Meadows Road.
As usual, we parked near Subway, took TLC, and went straight to the Sherwood area.
The traverse to the South Sherwood was closed then, and we could hear avalanche control work on Big Bend and SP bowls.
The Sherwood Face was tracked and already slightly baked, so we went to the Lakeview area, which doesn’t get as much sun in the morning.
At the top, we quickly stopped to take pictures of the lake and snowy pine trees and went to the woods on the outskirts of the resort. Untracked snow in the shades was soft and fluffy.
After Lakeview, we moved to get a quick taste of the Roundhouse area. Werner’s Schuss and the trees under the chair skied very smoothly.
After that, we went to check the Summit area. From the chair, The Face looked very smooth, and all the rocks were covered with snow.
The top of the Wolverine area had a prominent cornice due to wind loading the snow from the recent storms.
We noticed no groomed trail from the lift to the top of the Wolverine. You need to take a right from the chair and not miss a narrow traverse to the left. From the saddle, most people walk a few steps up to get around the cornice for the easiest access to the bowl. If you don’t feel comfortable on the traverses, it’s better to wait until the top area is groomed.
The snow in Wolverine bowl was great – very soft, with some packed areas. We skied The Face, and it didn’t disappoint – it was soft and powdery with unusually small bumps!
We did a few laps in Wolverine and Alpine bowls. Most hike-up terrain except the Backside bowls was open today – we saw several folks shredding Idiot’s Delight and Keyhole.
We then checked Yellow Trail. It was very smooth, with small bumps.
The last one we did was the Chute That Seldom Slides from Scott. The snow was excellent there – fluffy wintery powder!
Overall it was one of the best days of the season!
The next storm system is rolling in tomorrow afternoon, so expect partially sunny in the morning and overcast in the afternoon, with some snow later in the day.
