It’s the middle of February and by all accounts we should be in the prime of the winter season. Every blue-bird day should be a riding day. That’s how it works; snowmobiling at its finest.
So how come I’m sitting at my desk pounding away on the computer instead of out busting power? The answer is simple—the snow sucks.
We are presently going through a weather pattern which has brought little or no snow to the higher elevations during the past two weeks. The little snow in the mountains, particularly at elevations lower than 8,000 feet, has become dehydrated, crusty or hard … not the snow you really relate with busting powder.
Temperatures have gone up and down—cold, warm, cold—which leads to deteriorating snow conditions. Basically, riding conditions are just not good.
So that means there has been no real desire to go out and fight with nature. And with the lack of fresh snow along with the already low snow depths, there’s just not that much ground cover to protect your sled from rocks and stumps. (This is speaking from experience—I’ve already replaced three A-arms this season.)
Don’t get me wrong—I’d rather be riding in bad snow than sitting at my office fingering a keyboard and watching winter slip away. But now I’m just content biding my time and watching every storm front move across the radar maps.
The snowmobiles are all fueled and ready to go. I’m working ahead on assignments to free up my schedule. All it will take is one fat-looking snowflake to float down from heaven to get me up out of my chair and heading for the mountains.
After all, winter is half over … but I hope I’m just getting started with the riding season.
SJ
Chad Redder
posted Monday, Feb 18 2013 09:24 AM
Utah has been interesting this year. A series of 3' early season storms were hindered by warm temps, but still had decent base before Christmas. We've had more snow in SLC than Park City due to atmospheric pressure keeping storms low. Went to Island Park week of Christmas and they had less snow than last New Years, but still didn't hit anything of consequence. Alpine, WY (Greys River area) was below average MLK weekend, but still found fun snow and didn't hit anything. Just got back from Basalt, CO and they're hurting. More snow down low than this time last year, but less snow up high. North and east facing aspects held good snow, while south and west facing were skim or bare. It seems like strategy is going to be required more and more if this is how the winters are going to be.
Gene Pitchford
posted Monday, Feb 18 2013 06:14 AM
Just so you know there has been fresh snow on Mount Harrison (Pomerelle)in southern Idaho on a every other day basis. Still powder galore.
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