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Post by patrick on Jan 15, 2022 16:41:03 GMT -9
1/15/22 I went skiing at the height of the last storm (Thursday) and there was a foot of new snow at the parking lot and 2 feet in the jibber. It was also misty right up to 1700 feet and I gather is now a sheet of ice. But at least it is smooth and we got a bullet proof base! I was worried about the road and have been XC skiing. Road still not plowed and is a crusty rutty mess, but snow soggled down quite a bit and does not high center like I was worried about. So doable. I gather the lower part of the mountain below the knob is OK for snowboards. But why bother - the skate skiing on Buskin Lake is actually good!
Patrick
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Post by ericlinscheid on Jan 15, 2022 17:09:45 GMT -9
Hiked 700' up Seismic Trail yesterday. Snow was soft and post holing in the afternoon. Skied today this afternoon, a few inches to carve, crust not a problem. Took a pic of the south bowl. Looks like a slide. Philip’s edit: it looks like a couple-day-old loose wet slide off the steep southern face below the peak that ended up in the gut of the bowl.   |
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Post by johns on Jan 16, 2022 12:23:35 GMT -9
01/16/22 FOUND: object of value. Let me know if you lost something so I can get it back to you. Went up in the morning. Great touring on the up but pretty terrible breakable rain/sun crust on the way down. Rain runnels covering most of jibber and any similar aspect. Perhaps once the sun warms things up it will improve in the later afternoon. Road grader did a pass this morning and broke up most of the ruts and ice on the road.  |
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Post by patrick on Jan 19, 2022 15:35:37 GMT -9
1/19/22 2-3 inches at the parking lot and 4-5 new in the jibber. AND road not so bad. But there was also rain and rime at the end of the storm so a pretty bad crust from mid jibber on down. Above the mid jibber rime is somehow mixed with new snow and the skiing is not so bad. Only an inch or so of new snow under the rime up there anyway. This afternoon the skiing even in lower jibber and below was not so bad because the crust has not frozen solid yet. But I think it will this evening.
Patrick
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Post by ericlinscheid on Jan 19, 2022 19:57:40 GMT -9
1/19/22 2-3 inches at the parking lot and 4-5 new in the jibber. AND road not so bad. But there was also rain and rime at the end of the storm so a pretty bad crust from mid jibber on down. Above the mid jibber rime is somehow mixed with new snow and the skiing is not so bad. Only an inch or so of new snow under the rime up there anyway. This afternoon the skiing even in lower jibber and below was not so bad because the crust has not frozen solid yet. But I think it will this evening. Patrick Jan 19,3:30 PM Started up Pyramid on Sharon's Traverse. NE winds 15, mid 20's temp with wind chill. Skinning up was great. Bailed halfway up, skied halfway down, and then below the first knoll, took my skies off and walked down. So that is what skiing in concrete is like. |
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Post by patrick on Jan 20, 2022 16:46:36 GMT -9
1/20/22 Today on the drive up it was mostly snowing at the golf course at 2 PM and all snow at the switchbacks. At 3:30 on the way home it was still snowing above the switchbacks and the mostly snow/sleet line had moved to the bottom of the switchbacks. Up at the pass it is a blizzard. 3 inches of new snow already by 2:30 in the jibber, and decent skiing. Screaming wind above the jibber and all the snow up there is getting blown off. Back at my car there was already an inch of new snow. Also the grader went by! If the temperature stays near 40 we might get a lot of snow. Fingers crossed.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Jan 22, 2022 19:30:34 GMT -9
1/22/22 I went up late today and was shocked to see that the road had been 'scraped' - so no problem driving to the pass. At the pass the mountain was cloaked in fog but it cleared off as we climbed and we got in the sunset ski! Basically it was spring corn conditions and by the time we skied down it was starting to freeze up. I fear with boiling rain tomorrow that we will probably lose the snow near the road, but the snowpack is pretty darn good from the Jibber on up. Patrick  |
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Post by mrsquishy on Jan 24, 2022 10:17:47 GMT -9
Eric, I believe the operative term is "Sierra Cement".  Started up Pyramid on Sharon's Traverse. NE winds 15, mid 20's temp with wind chill. Skinning up was great. Bailed halfway up, skied halfway down, and then below the first knoll, took my skies off and walked down. So that is what skiing in concrete is like. [/quote] |
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Post by patrick on Jan 24, 2022 17:13:23 GMT -9
1/24/22 I went up Pyramid today around 2:30 and it was excellent - spring corn. And the road up to pass is now good too. But by the time I was going down at 3:30 it was already starting to freeze up. The whole mountain will be a sheet of ice tomorrow.
Sunday's storm also seemed to add to the snowpack. we lost snow below the knob but it is still easy to ski to the road, and jibber settled quite a bit but there is definitely a net gain in moisture overall in the jibber snowpack - and it all turns to corn in the spring. Above the jibber since Saturday evening we've gained a solid 2-3 inches of pure corn and rime. And above about 1800 feet it is all boilerplate.
Also the golf course is totally covered with snow and I bet the upper Buskin trails still covered too. They will be a frozen mess tomorrow, but with just a little snow we should be back in business. Tomorrow I think I am going to try skate skiing at the pass, but if the crust is not firm enough I'll probably go up the mountain and slide around on the ice.
As an aside about picking when to ski on Pyramid - catching the very end of a warm storm like today is often a good time to go. Catch it BEFORE it freezes up. Also powder storms often have great skiing right at the end of the storm, but often by the next day there is a rime crust on top. Another good time to go is right at the start of a storm when it is still snowing and just before it starts to rain.
Patrick
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Post by gibbsm24 on Jan 26, 2022 21:47:00 GMT -9
1/26/22
Great snow conditions in the pass and down to Anton Larsen Bay. I skied two laps this afternoon. I left around 6:30pm with snow falling. the parking lot accumulated 3-4 inches in the parking lot and my skin track was nearly covered in the Jibber on my second lap.
The saddle has wind drift snowbanks and snow areas of carvable crust. Winds into the 20s coming from the north. South facing slopes had wind slab forming. North bowl looked good but decided against it. Jibber was consistent, soft, powdery snow. skied all the way to the car without issue. Bridges are nearly filled in.
Warmer weather by 1-2degrees tomorrow but Friday cools off and continues to snow. I have high expectations for this weekend.
Happy skiing!
-Gibbs
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Post by Philip on Jan 26, 2022 22:04:08 GMT -9
Nice. The WX forecast calls for snow then cooler weather with clearing on the weekend, and even some calm wind on Sunday.  |
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Post by patrick on Jan 27, 2022 16:47:03 GMT -9
1/27/22 Navy SEALs plowed the road and made a turn around in parking lot. And booted in a really nice track up the mountain. At 2 PM snowing hard to below the switchbacks, 1-2 feet of heavy snow at parking lot, and a solid 2 or more in the Jibber bowl. REALLY deep. Great skiing but vis a little iffy. Up on high above the jibber, mostly blown off and drifts. It looks like there was a lot of rime mixed in with this storm. On my way home I saw the real grader heading up to plow - so should be really well plowed.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Jan 29, 2022 19:48:13 GMT -9
1/29/22 There were a lot of people on the mountain today and parking was tight. The skiing was a little variable. Thursday's snow has a zipper crust on top and is even a little breakable. But Friday's ocean effect powder is glorious. Friday's powder mostly got blown off, but lower on the mountain and in east facing seams there is some very good powder skiing.
Patrick
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Post by Philip on Jan 31, 2022 13:48:20 GMT -9
I didn't bother going up to the pass this weekend despite the nice weather because I anticipated it being a madhouse up there. I've spoken with a few people who did go up and they confirmed my fears. DOT used to do a great job plowing the parking area but have not bothered in a while. Last year Rolan and I stopped by the DOT office at the corner of Tom Stiles Rd and Anton Larsen Rd and asked if the grader might please provide a little room for cars to pull off the roadway. If anyone didn't enjoy their parking experience this weekend, a polite call to DOT with a request that some parking be cleared might make sense. If enough people request it, it might happen. DOT Highway Maintenance office (1500 Anton Larsen Rd): 487-4952
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Post by patrick on Feb 1, 2022 19:42:09 GMT -9
2/1/22 I went up Pyramid this afternoon around 2 PM. The visibility was actually pretty good and it was not raining - just a light mist. However, I was amazed at how little new snow we got up at the pass. I saw that we got over an inch of precipitation at the airport and was expecting a foot or more at the pass. But at the parking lot there was only about 4 inches of wet stuff. Up higher there was maybe 6 inches. Above the jibber it was icing and from 1800 on up it was basically already boilerplate.
What's weird is that it seemed like there was more snow on the road at the golf course than at the pass. I was expecting to have a hard time even reaching the pass, but it just got easier and easier the closer I got. Still 6 inches of thick stuff is better than all rain! Skiing was good down to about mid jibber and below that it was very slow and wet.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Feb 2, 2022 17:13:26 GMT -9
2/2/22 I went up Pyramid today around 2:30 and the plow was trying to grade the road, but the road still not very good. I think the plow was trying to widen the plowed area, but, in any case had not plowed the slush in the middle of the road. On the mountain there was an inch of new, and refrozen snow in the jibber, and serious icing from the jibber on up. Like an inch of ice on everything above 1700. But skiing not too bad - the boilerplate is still soft!. Jibber was fast and good. It was slow below the knob where the new snow did not freeze and transform.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Feb 3, 2022 16:02:57 GMT -9
2/3/22 Last night's storm was a good one for the mountain. Really did not lose any snow at the parking lot and I'm sure the snow pack picked up moisture (so net gain), and new snow above the knob. Heavy stuff that is already corn snow. Above the jibber there is a solid 4 inches of corn snow spackled to everything. It's all smooth snow from mid jibber on up. At 2:30 it was misting up to 2000 though and the skiing below 1700 is pretty saturated and slow.
Road is water on ice from golf course to the switchbacks but gets better from there. Slush on ice and textured spots. Really was not all that bad driving to pass and I do not have studded tires.
It's been a little wet and warm of late, but this is good because we are finally getting some snow up high where we'll need it if we want to ski into June.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Feb 5, 2022 17:44:05 GMT -9
2/5/22 I went up today at around 3:30. I was hoping that it would be snowing up there, but no it was pretty dismal and raining up to the knob. The rain had softened up the crust so the skiing was not too bad. On the way down the snow/rain line had dropped to below the knob. So hopefully by tomorrow the snow line continues to drop and there is some new snow on the crust all the way to the road. But I suspect it'll be icy down low and carveable on high. And I cross my fingers that we do not get an ice storm at the end tonight.. ..
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Post by patrick on Feb 7, 2022 17:22:04 GMT -9
2/7/22 I went skiing around 2:30 and there was already 3-4 inches of dry snow at the parking lot. Up above the jibber bowl it was pretty windy but the new snow does seem to be adhering to the boilerplate. Skiing was pretty good but the new snow is not heavy enough to cushion the ice track fossils. Jibber actually good skiing.
The switchbacks were terrible - un adhered snow on ice. And I would not have attempted it if I had known how bad. But I made it. And so did other people. But I also saw from the tracks on the way down that other people did not make it. I met the Navy SEAL plow guy on my way out and he is plowing the road. He said he is going to try and plow more of the parking lot too. But I'm not too hopeful since the parking lot snow berms are solid ice now.
Patrick
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Post by patrick on Feb 12, 2022 8:52:03 GMT -9
1/12/22 I went up Pyramid late yesterday and the skiing was OK - 'fast' slush conditions. The snow was already sort of transformed. I bet that today it will be an ice fest. The Road had slush on it and I bet it'll be coarsely frozen. It was 1-2 inches of 'fast' slush at the parking lot and hard to say how much up high. Then boilerplate above about 1700. It was misting right up to 2000 feet.
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