What Jeremy had to say:

“It’s June, and today I skied powder for the first time in June in my entire life.  It was really good too.  I hiked a whole bunch of laps up at Alpine Meadows and I put a few of them in this short video.”

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:

Conditions were right on the edge of what’s safe and what’s not.  I think it really pushed all of the skiers and riders in the Banzai on Beaver Bowl to their highest performance.  At that level of terrain and challenging conditions, I think it brought out the absolute best in all the skiers.  Everybody had to ski as hard as they possibly could.

Unfortunately, I missed the second stop of the Banzai Tour.  I was out at the Winter X Games and World Championships for Ski Cross.  So, coming into the last stop, I was excited and really wanted a chance to go against Daron Rahlves in the super final, and got off to a good day in qualifying, coming in second.

It was nice and sunny on qualifying day, and then, come race day, somebody invited all the fog and a nice snow storm in.  It was quite amazing racing;  four skiers at a time down a moguls run with white-out conditions.  I found it rather exciting and one of the more unusual and extreme races I have ever done in my life.

I had a great day going, won all my heats, and came into my final round.  It was time to put the best run I had out there.

I got off to a good start, but then got tangled up in the first corner, and, from there, just battled my way back through and was able to come down in third place – a little disappointed.

I really wanted a chance to make it into the super final, but nothing to put your head down about.  I got third place.

I want to thank Daron Rahlves for an amazing series, and I can’t wait for the series to get off again next year.  Hopefully, we’ll kick it off again at Alpine Meadows – Beaver Bowl Banzai 2012.

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 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.

Competitors dropped big cliffs, threw a couple flips, and one guy was even skiing with wooden sticks for polls and a raccoon tail trailing behind his helmet.

Keep an eye on the Tough Guy Productions page for results, and come out to see the finals of The Buttress on Sunday!

But for now, have a look at a slideshow of all today’s action:

As the cold front moves through today we will see the heaviest snow of the storm as the temps drop and snow ratios increase bringing us some super light powder.  Models show that a good amount the precip is still to fall today with 1.25-1.5 inches of liquid by Saturday morning.  Expecting  another 2-3 feet on the mountain by Saturday with storm totals of 4-5 feet by the Sunday morning snow report.

We should start to clear out Saturday morning with just some lingering snow showers and maybe even the sun poking through by afternoon.  Temps will be cold with highs maybe not getting out of the single digits on the summit and the teens at the base.  Sunday and Monday we warm up pretty quickly back into the 20′s & 30′s with brief ridging and a southerly flow ahead of the next series of storms on tap for next week.

Another cold low pressure will drop down the Pacific NW coast next week bringing the Northern branch of the jetstream with it.  The ridge in the Central Pacific will retrograde North and West allowing the Southern branch of the jetstream to come across the Pacific and merge with the Northern branch over California by Wednesday.  This will be the setup for more heavy snow measured in feet Wednesday through Friday next week.

The La Nina is weakening as we go towards spring and that may be allowing the Southern branch of the jetstream to finally get some energy.  Looking at the teleconnections the MJO is forecasted to strengthen over the Western Pacific over the next two weeks and the PNA will stay negative.  That all points to an ideal pattern for storms to continue into the Second week of March and maybe beyond.  More on that after this storm. – BA