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I know some of you have been suffering from bad snow, no snow, or low snow, grab a mask and come on up. Two days ago I traveled to Turnagain pass about 40 miles south of Anchorage and the amount of snow was hard to grasp. The Chugach and Kenai Mountians have had record snow fall this year which ensures we will be making turns well into May.

Looks glorious

It was there was no one for miles, to give you an idea, the resort about 20 road miles away has the record in the US for snow fall and base, I think its like 500 inches? Somthing crazy like that. Once the sun starts coming out, it will be next level but we are having a pretty good cold snap right now with sub-zero temps.

Yeah, banner year for Alaska and Alyeska is at 580".
That's a lot!

Montana St Alum wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:16 pm

Yeah, banner year for Alaska and Alyeska is at 580".
That's a lot!

That is 48 foot of snow!!! How deep is the base? Of course not 48 foot... but still hard to imagine You guys must be kidding... if not we will send a couple of trains to bring some snow here... anybody thought about building a pipeline for snow

Make that 590" this season. It's a 140" base at the top of GBX.

https://alyeskaresort.com/mountain-repo ... 0e4a8-e308

At the bottom it's only 36" for the base, but freezing level at Alyeska is really variable.

In 2011, Snowbird clocked in 690" of snow. THAT was a good year!
https://www.powder.com/stories/snowbird ... ll-record/
30 foot cliffs were slopes!

You can get some crazy storms up and down the Rockies. In 1972 (I think) I was at Montana State University and on a Tuesday Bozeman had gotten a dusting of snow and it was about 5 degrees out and sunny. I skipped classes and went up to Bridger Bowl and it had gotten 40" of the lightest powder I've ever skied overnight.

There was a phenomenon called "Bridger Bowl hands" that year. Everyone got so used to the storms that even on non-powder days, they'd ski with their hands waaay up in the air!

There are still two snowy months of operation at Alyeska where they can easily get another 200 inches.

lowangle al wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:48 am

There are still two snowy months of operation at Alyeska where they can easily get another 200 inches.

Oh yeah, 2011-12 was a good year all around. That year Alyeska got 978"!
I imagine areas in the Canadian Rockies were buried as well!

Montana St Alum wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:06 am

lowangle al wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:48 am

There are still two snowy months of operation at Alyeska where they can easily get another 200 inches.

Oh yeah, 2011-12 was a good year all around. That year Alyeska got 978"!
I imagine areas in the Canadian Rockies were buried as well!

I was there that year. I wouldn't even go to the resort unless the was at least 8" of fresh with calm winds. I had over 20 feet fall at my house that year.

Ahhhh, 2012, its like a legend here, when you talk to Alaskan skiers and mention 2012, its like you can see the twinkle in their eyes, the funny thing is that year, the snow had melted away at least in the low lands and then Jan 2 came and it started snowing, every day a few inches at a time and before you knew it, it was well...epic. This year is so weird, yeah the base and low areas are not great but the upper elevations are insane. Up north there is small town called Willow and you go ten miles in either direction and you have less snow but Willow or the Willow area for some reason this year has been buried and the trails are sooooo good.