April 23-24, 2011, Sasse Ridge

Here's a brief snow report for the Cle Valley:

Jane and I went back to Sasse Ridge this last weekend and had wonderful spring weather on Saturday. Early Sunday was overcast and fairly warm, which meant that the snow was soft enough for the edges to get somewhat of a bite. Nice skiing down one of our alternate runs. We got back to the tents before the rain, but it was raining moderately by the time we skied out.

We had maybe 4 short ski carries below about 2800 feet. As a rough guess, the lower elevation snowpack is more like that in the first week in April. Depending on what happens with the weather, it looks like the melt-out may be late this year. Below is a pic of Jane putting on the skis at 2800 feet. Continuous snow from here on. I've also added a clip from the snowpack model, showing and estimated spring snowpack, but without any melting. The general shape is fairly typical, although this year it is not 's' shaped.