Ski Season Wrap up

Ski season ended in Watertown with the trip to Alta.  Locally, Charlie, Eloise and I logged at least 20 ski days apiece, with several tremendous powder nights at Dry Hill with my friend Marshall.

A few key highlights from the season:

February break at Whiteface.  The kids had a single day of lessons and then two full days with me on Whiteface.  They skied the entire mountain, including several trips to the top.



I got myself in trouble with them on the last day, last run.  We grabbed the last gondola ride and took a wrong turn, ending on McKenzie, a steep black.  The surface had been out of the sun for several hours and was boiler plate.  We took long traverses at pretty extreme angles, at one point Charlie's uphill knee was near his chin and he was shaking to hold an edge.

We got down, with a few rests, a few tears and a few angry looks from my two snow troopers.  Once down, we got into the sun again and the snow was soft.  We finished that day with a run through the terrain park.

In the terrain park, we stayed near the big gap jumps to watch the teenagers huck huge air.  They were incredible.  The neat thing about the gap jumps is how high you are between the gaps but how low to the landing you are when you clear the gap.  It's a cool invention.

Alta April 2011 - Snowfall

 We arrived on Thursday in Salt Lake City to rain and low, gray clouds.  As we ascended Highway 210 into Little Cottonwood Canyon, the rain shifted to snow of increasing intensity.  The Peruvian is at 8500 feet and it was snowing heavily.  The snow was constant through Sunday with the exception of a few short moments of sunshine on Saturday.

Here is the snowfall chart from Alta.com for the period of our trip.  Photos and commentary to come soon.

Storm Total:  43"

Daily Snowfall:

2011-04-10

4.5"

2011-04-09

12.0"

2011-04-08

14.5"

2011-04-07

12.0"

Overnight Snowfall for Saturday's ski day

Seasonal layering outside the main door of the Peruvian

Andy on tele boards in the Wildcat Face

Looking over Snowbird on Westward Ho

Best Hotel in the World!

Doing Laps on Westward Ho!

The door to the best hotel in the world.

Andy's truck after three days of snowfall

Alta - April 2011

I am getting ready to ski for three days in Alta.  My wife graciously green lighted a 40th birthday, spring trip with my brother Andy and my best friend from Kellogg, Bill.  It is Monday and I am excited.  The weather looks amazing....and not spring like!

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

A WEAK FAST MOVING WEATHER DISTURBANCES WILL CROSS THE NORTHERN
ROCKIES TUESDAY. THIS DISTURBANCE WILL PUSH A COLD FRONT INTO
NORTHERN UTAH TUESDAY AFTERNOON...THEN INTO CENTRAL UTAH LATE
TUESDAY NIGHT OR EARLY WEDNESDAY. PRECIPITATION WILL FOCUS NEAR
THE FRONT... WITH SNOW FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS...WITH RAIN AND
OR SNOW FOR THE VALLEYS THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING.

A MUCH COLDER AND MORE ENERGETIC STORM WILL DEVELOP ACROSS THE
WESTERN GREAT BASIN LATE INTO THE WEEK. THIS STORM WILL BRINGING
WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION TO WESTERN UTAH...FIRST ACROSS NORTHWEST
UTAH LATE THURSDAY...THEN OVER THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE STATE
FRIDAY. THE HEAVIEST VALLEY RAINS AND MOUNTAIN SNOWS ARE EXPECTED
ACROSS SOUTHWEST UTAH FRIDAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.

THE STORM WILL SHIFT SLOWLY EAST ACROSS UTAH THIS COMING WEEKEND.
MANY MOUNTAIN LOCATIONS COULD SEE HEAVY SNOW WITH ACCUMULATIONS IN
EXCESS OF TWO FEET POSSIBLE THROUGH SUNDAY. VALLEY LOCATIONS WILL
SEE MAINLY SNOW...

Welcome

I have decided to write about my adventures with my three children.  The three of them are four season, out door kids aged  8, 6 and 15 months.  .

We live in upstate New York, near the Canadian border and to the east of Lake Ontario.  Our proximity to the lake strongly influences our weather.  Our winters tend to a bit warmer than the Adirondacks or the St Lawrence river valley to our east.  However, the snow coverage is often significantly greater.  The warm waters of the open lake sublimate into mid-western clipper systems or prevailing north westerlies.  The moisture laden systems make landfall, change quickly in elevation across the Tug Hill Plateau and cool.  The result is a large flake snowfall at rates measured by the inches per hour.  The flakes are large and very light.

This lake effect snow sets up in fingers.  It can be dumping in a 1/2 mile finger with brilliant blue sky on either side to the north and south.  This snow engine makes for a long and soft ski season.

In the summer, the lake keeps the temperatures cooler than inland.  It's mitigating effect on our weather creates a rhythm to our outdoor life.

I plan to post sporadically, when I have a free moment of clarity and am not chasing an escaping 15 month old.  My initial focus will be to re-cap the 2010 - 2011 ski season.  Charlie, Eloise and I skied 30+ days at our local ski hill, Dry Hill, mostly in fresh powder.  We also skied Whiteface and Snow Ridge.

I took one adult ski trip this winter to Jackson and am leaving this week for Alta to ski with my brother, Andy, and my best friend from business school, Bill.