We love surprise powder days! Although a little snow was falling yesterday, we had no idea that today we would wake up to something that turned into a very memorable day on the hill.

Only a few inches of snow were reported at Northstar California resort in the last 24 hours, but with the storm accumulation of around 20 inches, it was skiing boot deep in the trees with virtually no one to split the bounty with. Oh, and did I mention it was wall to wall sunshine?

Although the Lake Tahoe area is well known for higher snow levels and sometimes some higher water content snowfall (aka Sierra cement), this latest top up of snowfall has proved to be quite light and dry, which has led to some very enjoyable powder turns.

Temperatures today stayed below 30 degrees and are set to continue that way until at least tomorrow, which should make for some superb left overs first thing tomorrow morning.

It is incredible how the crowds thin out come Monday’s at all ski resorts easily accessible from major cities, though today felt almost ridiculous. For a while today, the only reason we were skiing over other tracks was because we kept skiing over our own lines from the runs before.

From the first turns on the front side of the mountain where we warmed up on a few inches of snow over last night’s grooming, all the way to the last turns of the day back to the parked car, you couldn’t wipe the smiles from anyone’s faces. Today was simply superb.

All across the west, there are still a few inches of snow to come in the next few days, though if you are in Colorado, this storm has not finished yet. Forecasts there are calling for another foot of snow or more which would certainly make for some happy campers.

Meanwhile back here in Tahoe, we’ll eagerly await more turns in some still untracked pockets of snow tomorrow!