March 22, 2012
Mt. Hood Meadows Today Was “Stupid Deep”!
In 7 years of riding at Meadows, I would have to say that today was probably the deepest I have seen. The phrase “balls deep” does not do justice, While riding today with pdxrealtor I found a spot in Private Reserve where I sank shoulder deep in loose unconsolidated snow. No tree well or anything like that, just a small ditch full of wind blown where the board sank beneath me. Over the last several days, Mt. Hood has picked up nearly 6 feet of new snow and this morning, Meadows had 25 inches in 24 hours. It dumped all day long and right now, it is even snowing hard clear down to the valley floor. Salem has nearly 5 inches on the ground and I have about 2 in my yard in Vancouver. There is another storm building in the Gulf of Alaska that could hit us this weekend. April and May are going to see near record snow pack. Meadows now has topped the 180 inch make for the base. Highway 35 was closed several times today as a result of avalanches coming down onto the road. It is hard to believe this is almost April!
I skied Alpine the past 3 days, and I can confidently say today was the best yet. Still didn’t have suimmt open (kinda unacceptable on a powder day) but that’s ok since it left more powder for those of us willing to make the hike from ABC. Avy blasting was going on all day in Wolverine/Beaver/Estelle, so I guess that’s a sign that there’s plenty of snow over there. Most of the good stuff was tracked out by 12:30ish, but there were still a few stashes to be found and the crowds died down in the afternoon too. Overall a fantastic weekend that got better each day.