Conditions Report
Finally the holidays are over here in Girdwood, AK, and things are going back to normal. After a super busy holiday break, I’m able to find the time to ski the resort again. Working at a ski shop during the holidays doesn’t allow much time to breathe, let alone ski. Over the last two weeks, starting on Christmas Day, Alyeska Resort has seen over 9 feet of snow above 800 feet! Basically there has been a powder day almost every day of the week!
The storm totals have been varying from 6 inches to 24 inches a day. Unfortunately these storms have all come in warm, bringing rain back to the bottom of Alyeska and Girdwood valley. Fortunately, the snow line is lower than last season, fluctuating from 800 feet to 1,200 feet. The terrain above Teds Express has seen nothing but snow for the last two weeks and many of the features are begining to fill in very nicely. The alder bushes are finally laid down for the first time in two years, opening much more terrain I’ve seen in a long time!
With all the snow during the holidays, new terrain continues to open at the resort. Due to the hard work of the snow safety, ski patrol, and snow makers, North face has been open periodically from Christmas Chute down to Chucks gate, Lolo’s and Brown Shorts are also currently open on a regular basis. Brown Shorts and Lolo’s have super fun terrain options ranging from small pillows to large 50 foot drops. Its beginning to feel like Alyeska is back to normal!
Today was another great powder day. In the past 24 hours the resort saw about 16 inches of snow at the top of Glacier Bowl express and about 13 inches above Teds Express (midway). The visibility was very low all day, which made for some great tree skiing in Lolo’s and Brown Shorts first thing this morning. During the afternoon, the visibility let up ever so slightly, allowing for some of the natural jump lines to come into play. Jumps such as Picnic Rock and South Edge were hitting perfectly!
It has been raining for days at the bottom. http://www.alyeskaresort.com/webcams.aspx you can see green grass at the tram base web cam. There was a 1 foot of snow at the bottom just before Xmas but that has melted away.
Yeah, this is true at the bottom, but midway and up is incredible. Maybe i think this because the last two seasons i have been deprived of quality resort riding. This year is far better than the last two. don’t let the rain scare you away, it always better at top.
Should of shown us at least one powder photo! It looks all heavy and cruddy!
noted!I tried, but pow slash’s don’t really work when there is almost no visibility.