I'm Exhausted But Thankful

What a run of weather, and it ain't over yet.

I decided I could not miss out on this one-in-a-generation pattern and skied Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  My brain is basically whitewashed at this point.  My waking hours have been in a snow globe.  Friday and Sunday I toured.  Saturday I racked up an enormous amount of lift-served vertical given my fragile back.  I'm exhausted.

Thank God tomorrow is Monday.  

Seasonal snowfall records have fallen at nearly all of the resorts.  It's well known that this blog has an Alta bias, so we'll give them a hat tip for breaking their record since 1980. 

This winter is officially our snowiest on record 🤯 Since our first snow on Oct. 22nd, we have seen an avg of 4.9” per day. https://t.co/xt0PNBPQuh pic.twitter.com/nzGifhXQvK

— Alta Ski Area (@AltaSkiArea) March 25, 2023

In all likelihood, that's an all-timer, but we should probably wait for the Alta Guard reports to come in since records there go back to the 1940s (although the site hasn't always been in exactly the same location.

Also getting news is that the statewide average SNOTEL water equivalent is also at an all time high.  This record has an asterisk.  In particular, the sites used have changed from 59 sites in 1981 to 114 today.  Thus, the elevations and spatial locations of new sites could have affected trends in the average.   

It is also important to recognize that the statewide average being at an all-time high doesn't necessarily mean that every drainage is at an all time high.  Snowbird, for example, is at a record high for the date (records begin in 1990), but is still more than 10 inches below its all time record.

So, let's be careful about thinking this year will be like the 1983 flooding down State Street because the statewide average is at a record.  We certainly are concerned about the runoff, but much will depend on what happens over the next few weeks.  Additionally, there have been important infrastructure upgrades since 1983.

Let's forget graphs for a while and look at some pictures.  It's been a while since I've been above the S-curves in Big Cottonwood.  What a scene!  How about this snowbank at Spruces?

Bus anyone? 

Good luck finding your cabin in Mill D after the next storm.  

Someone shovel this roof before it collapses and makes a mess!

Meanwhile, on north aspects, I have friends that call this FM100 Easy Listening Skiing. 

The snowpack is so deep that in some areas that it's up into the aspen canopy.  

You know all that crap I say about Steenburgh winter and the low-angle sun before February 10th?  It's so bloody cold that south aspects actually survived today.  It got just a little stiff, but you can't feel that in the pictures. 

Count your blessings that you are alive during the winter of 2022/23.  I can't tell you how fortunate I feel to have lived to ski this season.