General Conditions

After the severe winter weather 7-10 days ago, conditions on Donner Summit have moderated.  Avalanche recovery near Frog Lake has been completed, but an investigation of the circumstances continues.  News reports today indicated that only 3 backcountry skiers avoided being buried; they dug out 3 others, who survived.  But 9 others were lost (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp9aJwZi96A).

At midday last Saturday, Sugar Bowl reported that all day passes had been sold — one of their biggest days of the  year.  The same day the main parking lot at Royal Gorge was filled.  Temperatures then rose to near 50° before rain moved in over the past couple days.  Today has been generally sunny with a high in the upper 40s.

When driving up today, we spotted first snow along I-80 at about 2750 ft elevation (near exit 135 — Secret Town Road/Rollins Lake Road).  Skiing might be possible at Baxter (4000 ft).  At 7000 ft on a northeast facing, shaded slope we have about 4 ft.  The Central Sierra Snow Laboratory (https://cssl.berkeley.edu) reports no new snow in the past 48 hours; there has been 18.5 inches in the past 7 days.  The year-to-date total is 238.2 inches compared to 249.0 inches in a median year (1991-2020).  The year-to-date total water-equivalent precipitation (rain plus snow) is 117% of what it would be in a median year.  Webcams at Sugar Bowl (http://www.sugarbowl.com/home) and Donner Ski Ranch (http://webcams.donnerskiranch.com/) provide up-to-the-minute views of current conditions.

Sunrise/Sunset: Today’s (February 26) sunrise was at 6:38 AM; sunset was at 5:51 PM.  Sunrise is 9 minutes earlier than last week, and sunset is 8 minutes later; so the days are getting longer by about 2-1/2 minutes per day.  Don’t forget to change your classic clocks to Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, March 8 (spring forward, fall back).

Star Gazing: The Moon is now approaching full (Tuesday, March 3).  If you’ve not spotted Jupiter this winter, go outside tonight — Jupiter and the Moon are only a couple finger widths apart.  But the big news is that there will be a total eclipse of the Moon early on Tuesday morning.  Totality will run from 3:04 to 4:02 AM PST on that date; if you miss totality, the partial eclipse runs from 12:22 to 6:22 AM.  There won’t be another total lunar eclipse visible in this area until 2028.

Forecast

Today’s high was predicted to be 48°, the low tonight should be around 30°. Tomorrow (February 27) will be warmer (53°/35°) and partly cloudy.  Expect Saturday to be similar but with a few more clouds.  Sunday will be cooler (43°/28°) with PM showers.  Expect showery weather to continue of and on next week with the greatest chances for rain/snow on Wednesday.  Temperatures will generally be in the upper 40s and overnight lows in the mid-20s through March 12.

Summit Calendar

February 27 (Friday) is a Play Forever Friday at Boreal/Woodward with tickets for both indoor and outdoor operations at $35; $5 goes to a local charity.  There’s more information about Powdr Corporation’s Play Forever at https://www.rideboreal.com/explore/community/play-forever/

March 1 (Sunday) 9 AM – March 6 (Friday) 4 PM: The Californias Nevada Interscholastic Ski and Snowboard Federation Championships will be at Sugar Bowl.  For more information, go to https://www.cnissf.com/cnissf-championships-2026

March 12 (Thursday) 4 PM: The final Uphiller Evening Event — a race to the top of Mt. Lincoln at Sugar Bowl without aid from a chair lift.   For more information, go to https://www.sugarbowl.com/events

March 14 (Saturday) 7:30 AM: Start of the real Uphiller race to the top of Mt. Lincoln at Sugar Bowl.  Rack up as many human-powered trips as possible during a long day.   For more information, go to https://www.sugarbowl.com/events

March 19 (Thursday) 5-6 PM:  The March meeting of the DSA Board of Directors.   Look for an agenda at https://www.donnersummitca.com/dsa-meetings-info/  during the week before.  Directions to the meeting location will be included.

Resorts

Boreal (the Mountain) is open  9-8 daily. Tahoe Tubing is open 9:30 AM – 4:15 PM daily with a later closing at 6:30 PM on Friday and Saturday.  Woodward (indoors) is open 12-8 Monday-Friday and 10-8 Saturday and Sunday   Check https://www.rideboreal.com for more information.  February 27 is a Play Forever Friday with tickets for both the Mountain and Woodward at $35; $5 goes to a local charity.

Sugar Bowl  is open 9-4.  Check  https://www.sugarbowl.com for more details.  For special events, go to https://www.sugarbowl.com/events. Backcountry access information is athttps://www.sugarbowl.com/backcountry

Soda Springs Mountain Resort is open 10-4 Thursday-Monday.  Soda Springs is open on additional days during special holiday/vacation weeks.  Check  https://www.skisodasprings.com/ for details.

Royal Gorge reports 30 km of groomed trails after two days of heavy rain.  Running water makes grooming chancy.  The Van Norden trailhead is officially closed, but Bill Patterson West and Telegraph on the south side of the meadow are open to dogs.  Check https://www.royalgorge.com/home for updates.

Donner Ski Ranch has six chair lifts, the ski moving carpet, and the tubing hill open.  Hours are 9-4 on the front side and 9-3 on the back side.   Check the DSR web site at https://www.donnerskiranch.com for late information.

Auburn Ski Club offers alpine, nordic, snowboard, and biathlon programs including 25 km of groomed trails.  ASC specializes in training for competition and sponsors events.  Check their web site — https://www.asctrainingcenter.org — for information.

Kingvale Resort (on the south side of I-80 at exit 171) is open for tubing and sledding.  They also offer snowmobile tours and have a rope tow terrain park.  Visit their web site at http://www.kingvaleresort.com/ for more information.

Avalanche Report

The Sierra Avalanche Center reported “2-Moderate” avalanche danger at all elevations today.  Their preliminary forecast for tomorrow (Friday) is the same.  The detailed forecast today says “Wet snow instability continues with rain soaked snow, poor refreeze conditions last night, and well above freezing air temperatures today.  Small wet snow avalanches are possible on all steep slopes with the potential for large and destructive avalanches in isolated areas. Move cautiously in or below avalanche terrain and consider avoiding avalanche terrain near any areas where a snowpack collapse or audible whumpfing noise occurs.”  For more information, visit https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/

Roads

I-80: The freeway is open and in good condition, but watch for slippery spots during showers.   Plan ahead by following CalTrans road reports at https://roads.dot.ca.gov.

General: Paved secondary roads around the Summit should be in good condition.