In early November, it’s not unusual to get a nice blast of snow at the summit. So when we hear there’s a snow storm headed our way, the real question is, “how low will it go?”  (and will it create enough of a base to let us ski???).

Without getting overly excited, I wanted to share the encouraging signs from last night’s storm….

While we probably got 6 inches on the summit, there is a HEALTHY 3-inch blanket in the base area.

The snow appears to have come in cold, not soggy and sloggy like the last blast we got. (Which, by the way, melted all the way to the ground in the base but left a few inches on the summit.)

A healthy amount of snow remained on the road this morning and still hung in the trees despite the sunshine.

And, it snowed all the way down to Highway 55 and McCall, another great indicator.

I always like to look across the lake to see where the snow is stuck in the treetops and where it’s melted away to expose the green branches. Not bad this morning…

We have opened in early November before, but this time of year,  the deciding factor isn’t only the snow, it’s also the temperatures. Looking at this week’s forecast, we’ve got a little more snow coming, and colder daytime temperatures JUST MIGHT keep it around…

Latest Brundage Mountain Forecast.

But as always, our predictions can easily be vetoed by Mother Nature.

– April

P.S. Once again, for everyone’s benefit:

We plan to open as soon as we get enough snow to properly groom the slopes. There is no ‘magic number’ of inches because the water content of the snow is an important factor. Generally, we need at least 18 inches in the base area and 24 inches minimum on the summit.

In recent years, we’ve opened up for weekends as early as the second weekend in November. We would be unlikely to open up mid-week before Thanksgiving. When we are able to announce an opening date, we will certainly not keep it a secret. : )