Over 600 inches of snow this season!
With a 41″ storm total as of 5am, we have officially broken the 600 inch season total milestone! Squaw Valley has received 616″ and Alpine Meadows has gotten 613″ so far this season. That’s over 51 FEET of snow and it’s only March 6. With all of this snow, we will be open into June and plan to operate on July 4!
Today’s Operations: March 6, 2017
Today both mountains experienced extremely high and intense winds, which limited operations. Carpets ran and Squaw Valley was only able to run one aerial lift, First Venture. Check out the NOAA wind sensors, with gusts clocking in over 100mph:
For more information on winds and how they impact our lifts, please read our wind blog.
Alpine Meadows Road was closed in the morning due to a natural slide that occurred before ski patrol was able to complete snow safety. There was no damage or injuries, and the road re-opened after 2 hours with the help of CHP.
Projected Operations for Tomorrow, March 7, 2017
At both mountains our crews are geared up to conduct snow safety, dig out lifts, and shovel out areas of the slopes to work on lift clearance. There is a lot of work to do, but the good news is that winds are expected to decrease tomorrow and we will not be fighting rime ice on chairlifts as we have in previous storms.
At Squaw Valley, the lower mountain lifts will open in the morning as soon as they are safe and ready, followed by the Funitel, Tram and upper mountain lifts. Although scheduled, it is possible that some upper mountain lifts may not open due to digging out lifts and slopes for clearance. Silverado is not scheduled for tomorrow, as it can take more than one day to reset boundaries and markings in the area following a major storm.
At Alpine Meadows, all lifts are scheduled but our we anticipate delayed openings for Lakeview and Sherwood due to snow safety. Other lifts could be delayed due to control work or digging out lifts.
Please check our lift & grooming status, mobile app, and Mountain Ops Twitter for real-time updates tomorrow!
