Wasatch Weather Weenies

Our tour of selected Innsbruck-area resorts is now nearly complete after we spent a few hours skiing at Kuhtai this morning.  Kuhtai is west of Innsbruck and sits in a high pass between the Nedertal (Neder Valley) to the west and the Sellraintal (Sellrain) valley to the east.  The base elevation of just over 2000 meters (about 7000 feet) is the highest in Austria, although the lift-served vertical is only 500 meters, which is pretty small by Austrian standards.  Abundant options for ski touring exist throughout the region, with some tours highlighted with icons below.  In fact, our tour last week of the 3000 meter Zweiselbacher Rosskogel  followed a route in the prominent valley between Kuhtai and Sankt Sigmund in Sellrain.   At the base of the resort sits a small village consisting of a couple of clusters of hotels, evident on the right hand side of the photo below, which is taken looking toward the north or northwest.  Click and enlarge a...

Although I'm in Europe, my social media feeds occasionally remind me of problems that continue to fester or worsen in the Wasatch Range, most notably the continued congestion episodes in the Cottonwoods, such as the one below from 2016. I wish I could say we discovered a silver bullet for this congestion while in the Tirol, but we haven't.  The two regions are actually quite different and this really needs to be considered when making comparisons.  In addition, the Tirol, like any developed region, has its share of challenges too.  In Utah, 2 million people live within 15 miles of the Wasatch Range.  Many tourists do not stay in villages near the ski resorts, but in Salt Lake City.  Alternatively, even if they do stay in Park City they sometimes drive to the Cottonwoods.  Utah skiers are very powder crazed and car oriented.  As a result, skiers converge on two narrow canyon roads that are strongly impacted by a variety of road-weather hazards, e...

The "Stau" Storm has been a frequent visitor to the Alpine Region this winter.  Stau, if typed into Google translator, translates to "traffic jam" and I've seen the word on highway update signs from time to time while we've been in Europe. Meteorologically, stau storms are storms that feature blocking.  A good example is provided by toe storm today.  Below is a 6-hour GFS forecast valid at 0UTC showing northwesterly flow impinging on the Alps.  This flow, however, does not move over the Alps, but instead around it.  If the Alps were very long, the flow would simply be deflected eastward, forming a barrier jet, as occurs for example upstream of the Sierra Nevada.  However, because the Alps are relatively short in length, the flow splits instead, leading to two branches of flow that circumnavigate the Alps to the east and the west.  This often yields precipitation that is greatest in the along the northern Alpine rim rather than the higher Alps ov...

I have been told that prime ski touring season has arrived in the Alps, so we got up at O'dark thirty this morning for a long ascent of the Zwieselbacher Rosskogel, a 3000 meter peak that rises above the Sellrain Valley west of Innsbruck (red circle below).  It turned out to be a great choice by my touring partner.  Not only was it a beautiful tour, but the route is nicely shaded by a ridge to the east and it was only at the very end of the nearly 1500 meter ascent that we were climbing in the sun.  Given that it is in the low 70s in Innsbruck today, anything to cut down on sweat is appreciated. The route begins in a small village in the Sellrain Valley.  Several tourers were there already (many more were coming).  The route follows a sinuous path to the summit that is relatively low angle with just a few short steep pitches.  The one steep pitch pictured center left below has a stream running under the snowpack that might make for a spicier asc...

The Ski Arlberg region in western Austria contains several interconnected resorts and villages that comprise the 5th largest ski resort in the world.  It includes resorts and villages such as Rendl, St. Anton, St. Christoph, Stuben, Zurs, Zug, Lech, Warth, and Schröcken.  Most of the region is above timberline and the acreage of off-piste skiing is enormous.  From Rendl to Schröcken is nearly 23 km as the crow flies per Google Maps.  For comparison, it is about 25 km across the central Wasatch from Cottonwood Heights to Park City. Ski Arlberg advertises a "Run of Fame" involving an all-day, self-guided tour that they claim covers 85 km and 18,000 vertical meters.  I think those numbers include lift and trail distance and up-and-down vertical, but even at 40+ km and 9,000 vertical meters of skiing, it is quite a trip. Source: https://www.skiarlberg.at/en/regions/activities/run-of-fame-1 Andrea and I decided that we wanted to see and ski Zurs, Zug, an...