Waterfall Run

Good snow at the 1000 foot elevation on Pyramid

In town this has been one of the best winters in years.  We have had snow on the ground at sea level for a month and a half - and it is snowing right now! But ironically on high we still do not have very much snow.  Checking back at snow pictures from the last few years and comparing to what I saw yesterday I think that above 1500 feet we have the same amount of snow as last year.  And last year top to bottom was a bad snow year.

This year our storms have been dry and all the snow has blown off of the high mountains.  From 1000 on down to sea level it is an epic snow year.  But we have not had any warm, wet rain/snow storms that stick to the mountains on high.  Up high all the rocks are still showing.  Even at the 1500 foot elevation on Pyramid, on the run we call the 'Cornice Run there is no cornice and you can see all the alders.  This run in the old days was called the 'cornice run' for a reason.

That said we do have a lot of snow down low.  And yesterday for the first time in years I skied the waterfall run.  The run starts at around 1500 feet and drops down to the road at 500 feet in elevation. The last few years this has been just a morass of salmonberry and alder that never got covered with snow.  But this year we have the snow to ski the brush - just not much snow in the alpine tundra.

We usually get most of our snow on high in March and April, and I hope we get some this year.  Otherwise in mid May we will lose all our snow very quickly - right to the very top of the mountains.  Normally by late April our mountains are like ice cream cones topped  deep snow on high while down low there is nothing.  I worry that come May there will not be enough snow on high to let the ski season linger into June like it usually does (but did not last year).  Patrick

Not much snow at 2000 feet on Pyramid