Weekend Ski Conditions 3/13 - not really

Update 3/15:

     Mt. Van Hoevenberg has continued grooming and now has 12 km of terrain groomed for skating- the flats plus East Mountain Loop.  Cascade remains open (skiing not the restaurant) with 15 km open.

      The coming week offers more "spring" conditions, but not much loss of base -soft above freezing, hard below freezing.  Still no sign of winter's return as we've seen in a few recent years, but we're not  giving up just yet.  We could still get a few more weeks with the "right" (at least for us) weather.
​
Yesterday's report promised more details today.  Unfortunately, there's not much good news - at least in the short term.  

Today, Friday, the temperatures are in the low to mid 40s with heavy rain falling for most of the morning.  The cumulative effect of this rain and the warm days earlier mean that the snow cover has shrunk considerably - especially in open areas and south-facing slopes.  It will cool off tonight, but only eventually get to the upper 30s, so surfaces will be hard and fast for most of the day.  Probably a better weekend to get the microspikes back out again and go for a hike.  

Winter, however, can still make a comeback as it has in several of the past few years. In the backcountry, there is still 41" of snow at the stake at Lake Colden and 5-6 feet at 4,000 feet. Approaches to the High Peaks will need several inches of snow to cover up the ice that remains on the start of either the hiking trail or the truck trail, and at the moment there is no significant snow in the forecast. So, we'll just wait it out and see what happens.  Next report when there is a change worth reporting.  

For now, Mt. Van hoevenberg reports only 1 km open, but they do have 3" of base left that won't need too much new snow to again be skiable.  Cascade X-C Ski Center is closed.  Paul Smiths VIC has the best base, and should again offer good skiing with just a few inches of new snow.