Photo: Ben Birk for Squaw Alpine.
It has truly been a magical season in California. The drought-starved state has come out huge in this, one of the best winters in recent memory. Snowpacks have been rejuvenated. In 2014, the southern Sierra snowpack was at a scary 18 percent of normal. Already in the first week of January, it’s coming in at a whopping 183 percent. And while the crux of the last powerful storm was actually too much of a good thing for many California resorts, forcing some to close on Sunday, there were moments of brilliance over the weekend and the end of last week. Here’s a quick social media collection I grabbed of the dedicated enjoying the year of years in the Sierras.
This is Garret Balen, just a little fired up over his line at Kirkwood during “the best day of his life”:
Josh Daiek, deep in the white room:
This quote from Sammy Luebke says it all: “In the last 45 years @squawalpine has averaged about 70″ in the month of January. This season January has produced a record 177″ in the first 12 days! At this rate I would say we will easily push past 200″ well before the month ends!” We don’t need to fact check him. Sammy, enjoying the fruits at Squaw:
Sierra at Tahoe, giving it up:
Oh Mammoth, you dirty fiend. Chris Benchetler, enjoying the soft landings, and making it look awesome:
And finally, a little comparison, so you can see just how good this year has been to the Golden State:
