We came in the afternoon, parked near Subway, and hopped on Roundhouse. The snow here is often wintery and grippy, even in Spring. Today the snow was great here, some of the best of the day.
This report was written by Claire Weiss.
The snow at Roundhouse was great today; the fluffy waves flew from each turn when we skied Werner’s Schuss. After one lap, we took the Summit chair to check on our favorite Wolverine bowl.
From the lift, we noticed that the entrance to the bowl is not easily accessible, with a prominent cornice overhanging into the bowl. There was a long traverse to the left side of the bowl, and the upper part looked icy, so we ventured to D7. We skied through Wolverine to the Waterfall, and it was one of the best runs we did today. The snow coverage was so good there – the packed but very soft snow was delightful. Snow here was fluffy with very few bumps.
After several laps on D7 and Waterfall, we checked on the Alpine bowl. The groomed area looked quite icy, and the off-piste part towards the top of ABC was very firm, with “death cookies” covering the upper part of the slope – not recommended. We went to the Palisades instead. The first turn of the upper part was icy, but after you passed it, the snow was very even and soft.
After a few laps on the Summit, we ventured to Yellow, which didn’t disappoint – it was wintery-tracked powder.
After Yellow, we hopped on the Scott chair – the scratching sound produced by a couple of snowboarders going down Scott Chute suggested it was not in the best shape. The snow on the run seems a bit baked and heavier than other parts of the mountain. We skied down to TLC and ventured to the Sherwood area. Both Sherwood Face and Sherwood run were affected by the sun. We found heavier snow off-piste and some icy patches on the groomed run, so we skied back to the Roundhouse.
The Sympathy Face has excellent wintery snow, although it had small icy patches at the top. All the groomers from Roundhouse were in excellent shape, even at the end of the day. They were soft with small bumps on the side of the runs.
The next several days will be unusually cold for the end of March in Sierra, with the highs around 30, but it’s a good thing as the snow will remain cold and wintery. There will also be another cold storm system early next week, hopefully dumping another couple of feet of snow. Although it was snowing lightly at the end of the day, it was a bit windy, so tomorrow’s snow might be more wind affected and packed.
A couple of iconic yearly events are happening this weekend in Palisades – Pain McShlonkey Classic (https://www.palisadestahoe.com/events-and-activities/events-calendar/pain-mcshlonkey-classic) on Saturday and Mothership Classic (https://www.palisadestahoe.com/events-and-activities/events-calendar/mothership-classic) on Sunday. Make sure to check them out! And arrive early to get a parking spot and avoid heavy traffic.
