Tampico / Ahtanum Snow Report 2011-2012:Part 1

[Tampico]

November 20, 2011 8:30

Sno-Park 17F, 5-6" snow
Green Lake 13F, 18" snow

Other- Quite a few rigs the last couple of days. North Fork Rd is snow covered and unplowed. The sno-parks will not be plowed until 12/15. All green dot DNR roads are open to wheeled vehicles until 12/15.

With the new parking lot and road improvements, there will be a change in how the roads/direction of driving are used once the season starts. I will post more as we get closer to the 15th.

Due to the fewer number of registered sleds, there will be a statewide 19% cut in grooming this season. We will be working with all the groomers (including White and Chinook Passes) to better coordinate our efforts to last a total season with the best conditions we can provide. Grooming will not commence before 12/16.

Weather Forecast for next week-Stormy and warmer, starting tomorrow. Will probably see increasing snow pack above 5k, with rain at the lower elevations. Slightly warmer temps will last through the Thanksgiving weekend. Full season outlook is still for La Nina, with a cooler and wetter winter outlook.

Tampico

 

[Tampico]

November 23, 2011; 7550hr

Current conditions:

Sno-Park 35F, 3-4" snow-slush
Green Lake 35F, 25" snow

Forecast for 5k elevation- Rain below 6200' today, changing to snow tonight down to 3k. Snow through Saturday early morning, with 4-9" additional possible at 5k elevation. Rain on Saturday night and Sunday, possibly freezing (no snow level given this far out). Two week forecast is for above normal cooling to normal temps late in the outlook, and below normal precipitation (get it while you can). Seems like a fairly typical early season tease.

Other-Road is bare and wet, creeks have risen, but below any hazard levels. See previous post above for grooming and wheeled vehicle information.

Discover Pass is required for all street licensed vehicles.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Tampico

 

[kdavis9252]

Thanksgiving Day ride, drove 3 plus miles up the road past the snopark. Rock hard snow and ruts to Treephones, no ruts past that though. Decent snow about clover flats. Wish I had more time and as it were an extra wrench. Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[mxroses]

We plan on going up Friday. Thank you for the information

 

[mach1man69]

update friday 11/25

tampico was good yesterday. about 2 feet at top, lot of riders up there. couple people went in superbowl, but took a while to get out, deep powder. did a little boondocking didnt hit any stumps or rocks. all in all good day.

 

[summ8rmk]

Went up today 11-27-11 for my 9th month riding this year! The snow was a lot better than I expected. We parked at the 4½ mile marker, some people parked at the snowpark and rode 3 miles of dirt . Rode almost 30 miles and could have ridden twice that but I didn't unload till 2:30 and didn't want to be up there all night.

Cloverflats

Stuck behind cloverflats cabin

Little bowl

 

[Davenjw]

what do you guys think is there enough snow to go riding up there tomorrow?

 

[cascadesnowjunky]

no not neer enough snow, better wait until I ride this weekend. I will let you know how it is














No, there is plenty of snow up high, probably not enough to unload in the main parking lot though.

 

[Tampico]

Weather, Traffic and Recreational Site Update 12/02/11 1300hr.

Friday, 12/02/11 1300hr

Sno-Park 37F (estimate), 0-3" snow, a trace Wednesday morning.
Green Lake 31F, 21" snow, probably a trace Wednesday morning as well.

TRAFFIC UPDATE:
Chip Trucks will be using the Middle Fork Rd up to the 2.5 mile mark. Log trucks are coming from the Klickitat Meadows area to a mobile chipper at this site. There has been some mild ground work for a unload site on the Middle Fork 2.5 mile area. This activity will approximately continue until the weekend of December 17th, give or take a couple of days. The Middle Fork road is the only one being affected.

DNR WINTER RECREATION SITES UPDATE:
All 3 Ahtanum winter recreation sites (sno-parks) will be open this winter once we get enough snow down low to get the "official" season open. The traffic pattern through the 2 main upper sno-parks will be one way, so we don't have any accidents on the hill behind the work station; this is a good thing. All street licensed vehicles using DNR winter recreation sites must have a Discover Pass and currently registered snowmobiles. This includes other DNR sites such as the Rattlesnake sno-park on Chinook Pass. A Washington State Parks Sno-Park permit is not a substitute.

WEATHER FORECAST
Shorter and mid-term (<14 days) forecasts are not good for new snow. Based on these, I do not for see grooming in the Ahtanum starting on schedule. I am still hopeful for improvements toward the end of the month. This is probably my fault; every time I do mods the season sucks.
NWS 6-10 day; below normal temps and below normal precip.
NWS 8-14day; below normal temps and below to normal precip.

Please remember that the North Fork Road does have a speed limit, and some of the corners can be tricky. There are more permanent residents every year, hence more bi-directional travel. If you can't see the center line (snow covered), that doesn't mean it is non-existent (especially with an 8.5' enclosed 4 place trailer). With the additional winter use parking lot, we will probably see more use of the Ahtanum State Forest and more traffic use.

Everybody have a good weekend, be careful of the DNR roads getting icy with the latest warmer weather.

Tampico

 

[Davenjw]

rode up tampico today. I've never been up there before so im just reporting names that the people I was with threw out there.... the roads getting up on top are very icy... once up on top we mostly rode at two bowls, they referred to as the "big bowl" and the "small bowl"

we did quite a bit of highmarking and hill climbs, but we were worried about sidehilling due to low snow. measured it at the bottom of the big bowl at about 24" +/- a few inches from here to there.


first ride on my new sled. worth going up there? hell yeah! but don't expect awesome conditions... the snow up on top had a hard shell of ice with powder underneath.

 

[mxroses]

We plan on going up Sunday. Where did you park at?

 

[Snodawg]

rode up tampico today. I've never been up there before so im just reporting names that the people I was with threw out there.... the roads getting up on top are very icy... once up on top we mostly rode at two bowls, they referred to as the "big bowl" and the "small bowl"

FYI: The big bowl is commonly referred to as the "Superbowl" and the little bowl is also known as the "Convention Center".
Thanks for the report.
I don't want to rain on everyones parade, but I'm kinda glad we have crappy conditions. I haven't been doing my sasquatch snowdance lately, cuz I'm trying to finish my shop. It's easier to be stuck here working when I know I ain't missing anything spectacular. Almost there, finishing up the siding today and then rollup doors (10 x 10 & 12 x 12) next weekend. (if anyone out there is a garage door expert, you're more than welcome to come give me hand next weekend, lol) As soon as that's done, it's game on. Dancing time!!! I will have to do electrical, but that can wait. I have an extension cord from the house. Oh yeah, I still have two sleds to put back together. I can do those this week in the evenings, in the warmer garage. I have all the parts for them now. Won't be long, guys.

 

[Davenjw]

FYI: The big bowl is commonly referred to as the "Superbowl" and the little bowl is also known as the "Convention Center".
Thanks for the report.
I don't want to rain on everyones parade, but I'm kinda glad we have crappy conditions. I haven't been doing my sasquatch snowdance lately, cuz I'm trying to finish my shop. It's easier to be stuck here working when I know I ain't missing anything spectacular. Almost there, finishing up the siding today and then rollup doors (10 x 10 & 12 x 12) next weekend. (if anyone out there is a garage door expert, you're more than welcome to come give me hand next weekend, lol) As soon as that's done, it's game on. Dancing time!!! I will have to do electrical, but that can wait. I have an extension cord from the house. Oh yeah, I still have two sleds to put back together. I can do those this week in the evenings, in the warmer garage. I have all the parts for them now. Won't be long, guys.

be careful with voltage drop if your too far from the house (over 100') and the amount of voltage drop is relative to how much load your putting on it. (perry tech guy here haha)

 

[Tampico]

Ahtanum Logging update

First off, there is no major change in current conditions. No new snow at any level, Green Lake daytime temps in the low 40's. There does look to be a pattern change to wetter, snowier weather about 10-12 days out.

Starting today, The Middle Fork Rd will be closed to traffic in for the chipping operations. These operations will cease, and the road re-open to recreational use during the 24th to the 1st (the Christmas holiday week). The only exception may be that if it continues to stay dry. Chipping operations will resume on the 2nd of January until completion, hopefully shortly after the holidays. This means that when it does snow, middle fork grooming will not commence until the chipping operations are complete, or snow depth shuts it down. The sno-parks will continue to be available; as will North Fork, Jackass and the Red Saddle routes. The Middle Fork Rd will be gated just above the sno-parks.

This would hurt a lot worse than if we actually had use-able snow at the sno-park level - I just hope they get done as soon as possible.

As this seems to be somewhat of fluid situation, I will do my best to update any changes in the scheduling or grooming start.

Tampico

 

[kittitas]

In the long run this could potentially be good news. I checked out the new chipping site on the Middle Fork yesterday and will serve as a very nice parking area for early and late season in the future. This area is located at the 2.5 mp and can accomodate many tow vehicles.

 

[Wish]

These reports are great! Thanks for keeping us updated! No snow in the forecast still! Hope that changes soon, Christmas vacation is coming up quick!

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk

 

[Tampico]

Moderate Snow @ the Ahtanum Snopark

12/11/11 2000hr

For the last 15 minutes, it has been snowing here just below the sno-park. >.5" in the last 15 minutes.

The forecast shows nothing (0%) in the short term, increasing chances late in the week; but no "big dumps" in the 7 day outlook. The current radar also shows nothing, weird....

I did a double take to make sure Snodawg wasn't dancing on my roof. So far no sight of anyone with a sasquatch suit or Abe Lincoln beard in my yard or roof...

I will give an update tomorrow before noon if possible. I can't see this bringing much, but it is to substantial to be the fake "fog" snow of the lower valley the last couple of days.

I just thought this would brighten up everyone's Monday.

Tampico

 

[Bagger]

Better be careful, that SnoDawg is crafty!

Bag

 

[Snodawg]

This is just too funny. This afternoon around 3:30, I was just putting the finishing touches on one of the shop doors. The door worked perfectly, so I started doing a dance inside the shop. We went outside to finish up some of the trim and it started snowing. We couldn't believe it. Anyways, it looks like we will be getting the final inspection on Friday. Ya'll know what that means: BRING IT!!! I wanna go sledding!!! YEEEEESSSSSS! ! ! ! ! ! !

 

[Tampico]

Nice shed!

Where are the dancing tables?

Tamp