The Cycle Continues in Jackson Hole Just when it looks as if spring is setting in, Jackson gets another system bringing heavy snow to the area, leaving nothing but smiles on skier and riders faces, and giving a great refresh to one of the best snowpacks in the country! Last week saw a system come through bringing heavy snow and double digit numbers on the snow report. Conditions Report Cooper Kahlenberg | February 13, 2015 4 Comments
2 More West Coast Ski Resorts CLOSE: Snoqualmie & Alpental Two more West Coast ski resorts have closed this week due to low snow: Snoqualmie & Alpental in Washington State. It’s a bummer that these areas have had to close because of low snow, but it’s really cool that Crystal Mountain ski resort is accepting season Alpental/Snoqualmie season passes. Well, we’ve put up a solid fight and while it’s not over yet, we have to call it for the time being. The main run down via Sessel to the base area at Alpental continues to deteriorate and the temperatures at night are making it impossible to climb the slope in our groomers to continue […] Industry News SnowBrains | February 13, 2015 0 Comments
Top 5 Deepest Snowpacks in the Pacific Northwest: It’s been a strange year in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) this year yet there have been some bright spots. Mt. Bachelor ski resort in Oregon is the highest elevation ski resort in the PNW and it shows. When high snow levels show up, Bachelor is often high enough to get snow and their higher elevation helps them hang onto snow longer. Mt Hood in Oregon is doing well also. Likely due to their higher elevation as well. The ski resorts in the PNW with lower elevations are struggling this year due to the higher snow levels. We’ve got our fingers crossed and we’re […] SnowBrains | February 13, 2015 2 Comments
Alta Conditions Report – 100% Open If you have skied Alta, you know how sweet the terrain is! However, due to the high level of awesomeness of said terrain, often avalanche danger or low snow may not allow Alta to open everything for our skiing pleasure. Recently we have been graced with high pressure that has lasted for well over a month. We have had a few nice quick hitting refresher storms, but avvy danger has remained low. With low danger and prolonged high […] Conditions Report Aaron Rice | February 12, 2015 1 Comment
“Avalanche Conditions” in Boston A huge dump in Boston is creating avalanche conditions adjacent to sidewalks. From an email, “It’s actually a pretty scary situation here in Boston, there’s a pretty a serious instability in the snow pack, we’re seeing these massive avalanche crowns, and anything on even moderate slopes are sliding with minimal pressure. It’s so rare in the east that people don’t know how to handle it, notice a few pics of the large crown’s I took. We’re experiencing these massive slides into already shoveled sidewalks and roads, and people are […] Avalanche ameliatraynor | February 12, 2015 3 Comments
Conditions Report Arlberg, Austria: From Full on Winter to Spring in 24 Hours This past week has been full of surprises. Sunday and Monday were gray dump days. Resulting in about 20cm of fresh pow and bluebird skies on Tuesday. In the morning it was amazing riding great snow on all aspects, good stability and fun big lines and drops. During the day temperatures were on the rise, by the afternoon snow on all aspects except pure north were starting to get heavy but it was still really fun off piste. Late afternoon it was T shirt weather literally. Wednesday it got super warm, freezing level went up to 2600m […] Conditions Report Eike Poeppelmeier | February 12, 2015 0 Comments
VIDEO: Ridiculously Deep Snow in Japan Yesterday Two days ago, on February 10th, 2015, Japan had one of its deepest, driest days. It was certainly the deepest, driest day of the winter thus far. This video is from our first run. I don’t love using the GoPro-on-a-stick as it’s throws my balance off a bit, but I’m so stoked to have captured what that first run felt like to share with you. This is the kind of skiing we can all relate to. The kind of skiing we all dream about and hope for. Simple, deep, happy powder skiing. Gasping for air in between enormous faceshots, holding your breath, involuntarily licking snow off lips, wiping goggles, scanning for […] Miles Clark | February 12, 2015 6 Comments
Mt. Shasta, CA Conditions Report: 5+ Feet of New Snow, 120% Snowpack Attention skiers and winter enthusiasts; if you’re looking for your snow fix, Mt. Shasta is the place to be! It’s been a wet and wild week here with some of the heaviest precip ever recorded. We finished with almost 10″ of water falling in town and over 5+ feet of new snow above 8,500′ on the Mountain. Our snowpack is close to 120% of normal and the skiing and riding doesn’t get any better! Although the snow levels fluctuated quite a bit, for the most part the precip fell as snow on Mt. Shasta except for Sunday which saw some very soggy skiers […] Conditions Report Guest Author | February 11, 2015 1 Comment
Who’s Got Snow? | Graph of Western Snowpack Right Now It’s been a wild year in the West winter. The Pacific Northwest has been enduring torrential rain, California is going through a historical drought, Utah is below average, while Wyoming, Idaho and Montana having been getting tons of snow. Colorado is a mixed bag so far this year with most of the state seeing below average snowpacks. The real eye openers are these locations: WESTERN USA SNOWPACK RIGHT NOW: 123% of average snowpack in Western Montana 17% of average snowpack in Northern Washington State 116% of average snowpack in Jackson Hole, Wyoming 28% of average snowpack in Lake Tahoe, California Industry News SnowBrains | February 11, 2015 0 Comments
Squaw Conditions Report: Soft Wintry Snow & Sun After a weekend of high snow levels and a lot of rain, the last push from the storm that hit Tahoe came in a little bit colder, and ended with a decent amount of snow. Squaw reported a storm total of 2′, now while the jury is still out on whether that is true, one thing is for sure, the skiing at Squaw is killer right now. Monday saw the last push of the storm, and some cloudy skies with a bit of snow, Tuesday and Wednesday however went blue, and people got after it. From the Pocket to the Palisades, Tahoe skiers enjoyed wintery snow once again, and everyone was commenting on how the last three days have been the best all […] Conditions Report Jesse Cassidy | February 11, 2015 1 Comment
Whistler Conditions Report: Mixed Weather and Surprise Pow For the last two weeks I have been traveling to Denver and Munich for SIA and ISPO ski tradeshows. During this time I got to wonder and check out all of the gear coming out for next winter and talks about future trends in snowsports. These shows are always an awesome mix of ski and snowboard industry people all there to have a good time and stoked on riding. During my travels, I was hearing and seeing on media outlets and weather forecasts that Whistler was getting pounded with rain. I was a little bit scared to come back and see what the mountain Conditions Report Peter Wentz | February 11, 2015 1 Comment
Snowbird Shuts Down All Uphill Access: Snowbird ski resort in Utah has shut down all uphill access to its slopes while their ski lifts are operating. You can hike up before or after hours with a Snowbird guide. $75 for the first person, $50 for each additional person. Snowbird Uphill Travel/Hiking Policy and Guidelines: Due to an increase in uphill hiking, skinning and biking, Snowbird is implementing a new uphill travel policy effective February 1, 2015. Skinning, splitboarding and biking are not allowed at Snowbird during winter and spring operating seasons. Unauthorized uphill travel also includes hiking without a […] SnowBrains | February 11, 2015 6 Comments
“Dress for the Weather” | Wetsuit Skiing at Whistler When the temps at Whistler haven’t dropped below freezing in a week, sometimes you just gotta whip out your wetsuit… Whistler forecast: 80-140mm of rain. Freezing line: 2100m Whistler Peak elevation: 2182m Dress for the weather. ameliatraynor | February 11, 2015 1 Comment
VIDEO: JT Holmes and Travis Ganong Skiing Squaw Today World Cup Champion Travis Ganong came home to an epic powder day. Watch Travis & Jt Holmes shred 2+ feet of snow. Shot 100% on GoProtoday. – Squaw Valley Squaw Valley, USA got 26″ of snow from last weekend’s storms. It didn’t end up too soft, but it ended up pretty smooth. This video tells the truth of how it skied. Looks a bit hard, but fun. This storm was definitely a step in the right direction and we’re hoping more is on the way soon. Tahoe needs the snow, California needs the water. Mt. Rose ski resort in Nevada got 45″ of snow out of this weekend’s storms at the top of the mountain. […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | February 11, 2015 5 Comments
Bode Miller Strongly Considering Retirement After Recent Surgery It’s looking very likely that we won’t see Bode Miller skiing in the World Cup ever again. Just writing that sentence makes me a bit sad, yet very happy for him. Bode has been an absolute beast on the race track. There’s nothing sad about it for Bode. The guy is the winningest male American alpine skier in history. Bode is one of only 5 skiers to ever win a World Cup event in all 5 disciplines. He’s won more Olympic medals than any other US skier. That alone should be enough to make anyone smile. […] Industry News SnowBrains | February 10, 2015 2 Comments
Alpine Meadows Conditions – The Return of Wintery Snow! After a very wet weekend of skiing on Saturday and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday felt like the return of wintery conditions. Two systems came through Tahoe from Friday-Monday and dropped a total of 18″ at Alpine Meadows and “26 at Squaw. Sunday was the worst day of the storm with temps in the 40s and heavy precip most of the day. By Monday, the temps dropped and we had legit snow falling from top to bottom all day. Many of the large bumps that had formed around the mountain were filled in and smoothed out by the new snow. Conditions Report Guy LaDouche | February 10, 2015 7 Comments
New from DPS Cinematic | “Inversions” DPS Skis is proud to present Inversions, the fourth film in The Shadow Campaign series. Presented by DPS Cinematic in association with Outdoor Research and Gore-Tex, Inversions features DPS Koalas, Olof Larsson, Santi Guzman, and Piers Solomon. Baldface Lodge, nestled in interior British Columbia, is renowned for harboring some of the worlds finest powder. ameliatraynor | February 10, 2015 0 Comments
FATMAP: Hi-Res 3D Ski Mapping App Launches in the Alps FATMAP, a new ultra-high resolution 3D ski mapping app, officially launched this week at three European resorts. The app offers unprecedented accuracy and detail, with a resolution of 2m (compared to google maps’ 30m), as well as numerous other features that are “set to revolutionize skiing and snowboarding”, say the creators. Detailed freeride mapping shows exactly where the hidden off-piste lines are, including […] ameliatraynor | February 10, 2015 0 Comments
Japanese Surfer Dies in Shark Attack in Australia Yesterday: A 41-year old Japanese surfer died after being attacked by a shark while surfing off Shelley Beach in Australia’s New South Wales. It’s being reported that the shark inflicted severe injuries to the surfer’s legs. The attacked surfer was helped to the beach by other surfers. He unfortunately died on the beach from major blood loss. Shark attacks are akin to the avalanches of the ski world. They can be unpredictable. They happen fast. They can cause major injury and/or death. They can happen when you think you’re in a safe position. […] Surf SwellBrains | February 10, 2015 0 Comments
Skier & Snowmobiler Triggered Avalanches in Lake Tahoe: A skier triggered an avalanche in Lake Tahoe over the weekend Mt. Rose’s Grey Creek Chutes. A snowmobiler triggered an avalanche near Relay Peak in the Mt. Rose area yesterday. Avalanche are still very much occurring in Lake Tahoe right now. Lake Tahoe just got its first real snow storms since December and we all need to be careful out there. The advisory level today in Lake Tahoe was at “Moderate.” Many skiers and riders will be out in the Tahoe Backcountry this week working to get above the 8,500-foot snow level. Above 8,500-feet, the skiing is good right now. Lets all be careful out there, make great decisions, follow […] Avalanche SnowBrains | February 10, 2015 0 Comments
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