Looking for some après action off the hill? We’ve got that. February 18^th we’ll have an Après Ski Party with Headphone Union playing old school funk mixed with classical rock from 2 to 5pm in The Alpine Bar. Better yet- grab a $5 Hurricane to celebrate Mardi Gras.

In its second year, The Rahlves Banzai Tour will come back to Alpine on Thursday and Friday (Feb. 23rd & 24th)! This electrifying event combines the competitive excitement of ski and boarder cross with the speed-thrill of a downhill. Watch as competitors show off their skills down Alpine’s notorious Beaver Bowl- known for its gnarly steeps and features.

Don’t miss the weekend of February 25th and 26th! The Ice Bar Kick-off Party will commence on Saturday at 12pm featuring live music from DJ Zeb Early on the Alpine Bandwagon, the ultimate stage setting propped up on an actual snow cat.

The slopes are looking good and so is our event calendar. Now all you need to do is come check it out for yourself. We’ll see you out there!

Luckily, this storm is rolling in just the way we need it, starting warm and hopefully finishing cold, if the forecast is correct. Since there is little to no base over most of the mountain this wet dense snow is just what the doctor ordered to spackle in and stick to everything and cover it up for the rest of the season. The temperatures are forecast to drop overnight tonight while the precipitation intensifies, dropping as many as 9-13 inches at lake level around Tahoe City by Saturday morning with snow forecast to continue intermittently through Tuesday. I’d recommend dusting off the powder boards and maybe even throwing a coat of wax on ‘em, it looks like winter has finally arrived…

As we head into the next week I would also urge the use of caution. This is, quite literally, the first major storm of the season. While the snow should be piling up quickly it is important to remember what the mountains looked like a few days ago. Its pretty obvious that people are powder starved and chomping at the bit to get out shred, so have fun and be safe, there’s still a lot of season left to enjoy….

-Jeremy Benson

The winning trick came from snowboarder Brandon Reis for his double cork 10.

Team Gray, scored the best high-five for their three-man, one on a barrel, two front-flipping-by-while-high-fiving display, taking best team. Team members Peter Kukesh, Sean Collin, Andy McDowell, Davis Souza and Austin Simonpietre gave $500 of their loot to the Shane McConkey Foundation and $500 to the Alpine Meadows Ski Foundation.

Grete Eliassen was the best female around and Parker White the best male.  Grete gave her $500 to the NeuroRecovery Network, Parker White to Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sports, and Reis to Ski Duck.

Check out all the photos of Trains here:

Watch an experienced freeheeler make a perfect tele-turn, and it’s like art. And thanks to Jason Layh, coach of the Tahoe Freeheel Youth Program at Alpine Meadows, it’s not a dying art.

Last month, team members Bennett Drummond and Kami Abi-Nader won the Junior Divisions for the Mountain Hardwear Big Mountain Telemark Festival, skiing Keyhole on day one and The Buttress on day two.

They dominated at the Grand Targhee tour stop too.

“We’re headed to Crested Butte in two weeks, and if they do it again they’ll have swept the entire national series,” Layh said.

The competition runs March 17-19 at Crested Butte.

The program started 5 years ago, an offspring of the Freeride Program, Layh said, growing to 15 members this year.

“It’s just different, something new to try,” Abi-Nader said. “It hurts more,” she added with a smile.

Telemark skiing allows the team to really move around the mountain into different terrain, so a big part of the program has been teaching the team mountain awareness, Layh said, and many athletes have there Avalanche 1 certification.

“They need the head skills to match the foot skills,” Layh said.

Abi-Nader said she thinks Alpine Meadows is a good fit for the team, with diverse terrain accessible by traversing or hiking a little away from the lifts.

“We’re broadening the things we can do rather than just staying in the same runs,” Abi-Nader said.

Competing at Alpine Meadows, Drummond said he liked the Keyhole on the first day of competition, where the juniors were able to tackle the same terrain as the pros.

To learn more, go to the Tahoe Freeheel webpage here.

We start Sunday Night with a fast moving storm that will bring 10-15 inches to the mountain.  Things should clear out pretty quickly on Monday with sun and a fresh blanket of powder and highs in the 30′s on the mountain.

Next storm is about 36 hours behind this one and ready to move in Tuesday night.  This storm is stronger and should bring a decent snowfall to the mountain.  Models are averaging enough liquid for 12-18 inches of snow on the mountain, with some models showing enough to bring us 2 feet.  This storm will last into the day on Wednesday before clearing out.

The storms over the past couple of weeks have been a little mild.  This is due to the location of the ridge up near Alaska leaving the Pacific wide open for storms to come across the middle and pick up warm moisture before hitting the Pacific NW.  We have been on the south side (warm side) of the storms where a weak cold front gets dragged through as the storms head east.  This storm pattern will change on Thursday.

A ridge will begin to build out around 150-160w and will expand northward.  This will begin to push the storms up towards Alaska and then down the West Coast.  The trough along the West Coast will dig deeper and that will bring a return of colder weather by this weekend and into the following week.  That means a return to highs in the 30′s on the mountain.

The first cold storm is arriving on Friday and could move slowly inland over the weekend.  Right now next weekend looks like a cold and snowy one.  Some models showing several inches in a snow-showery pattern and others, like the one in the picture, are showing several waves of moisture that could bring a couple of feet.

The colder pattern looks to continue into week two and beyond as the ridge stays out in the Western Pacific.  We should continue to see storms dropping down the West Coast into California.  The difference in March is that a cold pattern is highs in the 30′s & 40′s with a stronger sun as compared to the 20′s & 30′s with a weaker sun in previous months.  So when it’s not snowing it will still feel pretty nice outside.  The cooler temps will aid in keeping the above average snowpack in place into April.  BA

If you missed it, check out our photos below, and if you were there, go to www.sfgiants.com/fanphotos, select the date, and gallery number 55 to find your photo with the trophy.

Check back here later for video of the festivities as well.

If you were there, see if you made the pictures, and if you weren’t check out all the action you missed.

Buster Blue

The goods up for raffle

The big winner

There will be a lull in the action this evening before part 2 of the storm moves in overnight as the cold front approaches.  The heaviest should snow should occur during the morning hours on Monday and snow showers should last most of the day.  Expected additional snow totals by Monday night of 6-9 inches at the base and 9-12+ inches on top.  Storm totals by the Tuesday morning snow report should be around 20-26+ inches.

A ridge will build in behind the storm keeping us dry and warmer Tues-Thurs with temps up into the 40′s by Wednesday.  As that ridge slides east it will be replaced by a flatter ridge out in the Pacific around 140w.  Since the ridge is not quite far enough west it will keep the next couple of storms just to our north and we are on the southern edge.  That will bring a shot of colder air and a chance of light snow Thursday night and Saturday night.

The ridge may then retrograde back a little further west allowing a storm to dig and bring us a bigger storm on Monday the 14th.  There is another storm heading our way around the 18th but the models are trying to build a ridge in the East Pacific.

Looking at the teleconnections, they are not looking as favorable after mid-month.  The PNA has already gone positive over the past few days which may be why the ridge is so flat this week.  The forecast is for the PNA to stay slightly positive and the AO & NAO to trend towards negative.  That could mean the end of our storm train after mid-month but not necessarily the end of our storms.  BA

Looking at the models over the past few days they continue to bring in less precip for the warm part of the storm this weekend.  There is a long subtropical tap stretching all the way back to Hawaii that will be pushed into Northern CA by the low spinning in the Gulf of Alaska tonight.  By the time the moisture is pushed into Tahoe Saturday afternoon the subtropical tap of warm moisture will be cut-off from the storm.  We will see light amounts of snow on the mountain Saturday night through Sunday night above the base.  Right now it looks like about 4-8 inches of snow from mid-mountain up during this first part of the storm.

Then Sunday night the cold front approaches and pushes through Tahoe by Monday morning.  This will drop snow levels below the base and bring a heavy burst of snow along with it, with snow showers behind it for most of the day on Monday.  Currently it looks as if we could see around 4-8 inches at the base and an additional 8-12 inches on top.  This will be some colder snow on top of the wetter stuff from the weekend very similar to what we just had with the last storm.  Storm totals by the Tuesday morning snow report should be close to this last storm as well in the 10-20 inch range.

Starting Tuesday, there will be a ridge off the coast blocking storms and bringing nice weather for a few days.  Then that ridge pushes east as another ridge sets up around 140w in the Central Pacific by the end of next week.  This will open back up the storm door to some colder storms coming down the east side of the ridge.  The location of the ridge at 140w would mean we will get a series of cold but smaller storms.

There are going to be quite a few storms coming across the Pacific from next weekend and beyond so the pattern of a storm every other or every couple of days looks to continue from the 11th through the 20th.  Around the 16th the ridge may retrograde further west towards 150-160w allowing the storms to dig and pick up more moisture.  The best chance at another big storm looks to be if/when this happens, possibly around the 19th.  Now that we are in March with a stronger sun it should be nice between each storm and then a shot of cold and snow with each.  BA

Freeheelers tackled The Buttress, dropping cliffs, straight-lining shoots and making perfect tele-turns. One may have made a call to his mother mid-line (GNAR points) and another rocked a helmet, boxer shorts and knee pads for his run.

Keep an eye on the Tough Guy Productions page for results, and check back here for video of all the action.