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There's an abnormal difference by elevation this season. As of end of March the upper number at Palisades is close to average, but the base elevation snowfall is only 35% of the upper number while the long term average ratio is 61%. Palisades Monday was better than I expected. Siberia and...

Yes you lean backwards water skiing. Snow skiers are taught to lean forward. This is what happens if you do that (my first attempt in June 1982). I went back up chair 3, remembered the day I had first waterskied the prior summer and realized I needed to lean back. The successful pond skim...

Liz is half Irish. Her ancestors emigrated to rural Vermont in the 1830's, reputedly because they were troublemakers for the British. Coincidentally, the 1/8 of my ancestry that is Irish also emigrated to rural Vermont. I visited my great aunt Maxine McNamara in Northfield after business...

Spinbackwards skimming Lake Reveal, June 1, 2020:

For the North American ski regions, monthly volatility is quite consistently about double season volatility. That means if season standard deviation is 25% of average annual snowfall, monthly standard deviation is about 50% of average monthly (using only Dec.-Mar. for data quality) snowfall...

Snow preservation is all about altitude and exposure. Courmayeur has primary east exposure, which will not preserve powder in March. Midwinter many places in the Alps can get away with varied exposures due to 46-47 degree latitude. Most major US western ski areas are in 38-40 latitude range...

Review of Western regional standard deviations as percent of season snowfalls: Northern and Central Colorado 18-25%, Beaver Creek and Winter Park under 20%, A-Basin highest Canadian Rockies and Interior B.C. 18-25%, Okanagan and Revelstoke/Rogers Pass under 20%, Banff areas highest. US...

Our final day did not seem that much warmer, but the snow definitely softened earlier and by closing in some places that had remained firm the prior two days. Clouds were predicted by noon, but fortunately they did not happen until after 2PM. We started with 2 already corn Cliffhanger runs on...

We had a chat with a Bend local on the Summit lift today. He said POWDR has for now taken Mt. Bachelor off the market. Presumably they did not get an offer they were willing to accept. He said Bachelor has $30 million in deferred maintenance, probably those early adopter high speed lifts from...

Yes but not usually until sometime in May. Mammoth varies the operating hours for conditions. As of this week Mammoth is 7:30-2:00 which is also unusual. But after that 3/31-4/2 storm it has been unusually warm. I’ve seen an occasional 4pm close as late as Memorial Day in big years. Most...

We took our best shot at clear weather to come here this week. Next week looks unsettled and May 4 is the last day Cloudchaser and Northwest lifts will be open. Forecasts were in general correct for overnight freezes in the mid-20s and high temps in the mid-30s. After the long two day drive we...

Not in the Sierra, which had 9-15 inches of snow this January vs. 0-3 inches in January 2022. Overall Januaries in the western US and Canada comparable to this one in snow deficits were in 2003, 2015 and 2022. At the end of the season I might try to do more detailed comparison of those 4...

Montgenevre is on a mountain pass. There may be two lanes in each direction (and I'm not sure continuously) but that road is far from being like a US Interstate. Most major road arteries crossing the Alps do so via tunnels like Frejus not too far north of the Via Lattea. Brenner Pass in...

No mention of when the writer was in Hokkaido. His trip has many parallels to ours in 2016 with the car rental. We skied the same resorts plus a couple more. Even though he was comped two hotels I do not get the impression that any of his skiing was guided and his skiing seemed less...

We had a full day there Feb. 2, 2023 and still did not get to the Rocher Rouge sector. I presume ChrisC did explore the off piste Secteur de l'Aigle.

I was thinking about the wet slide issue that usually shuts down Pali mid-May. But in this case it was probably icy conditions up top. I've seen Main Chute closed for that reason during some of our Iron Blosam weeks.

Google Earth shows the Steep Gullies in the ballpark with Main Chute for comparable vertical of about 700 feet. On another note the Steep Gullies were listed closed last Saturday when I did my final 2025 progress report and remain so today. Have enough rocks emerged in one week of warmish...

The exit might be tricky, not sure I'd venture out there on my own. But it sure looks like worth inquiring of a guide.

Whether cities or ski resorts, homelessness is highly driven by the overall cost of housing. Tell me what a typical one or two bedroom apartment costs to rent for a month in upstate NY vs. Frisco, Jackson WY, Mammoth, LA or NYC and it will probably be glaringly evident why employees don't have...

We daytripped from Annecy, then left for Geneva as it was our last day, so I have zero impression of the resort ambience outside the ski area.