Final Powder Alert for 2011-12 Ski Season: From Larry Schick. A good synopsis of the season. I had a terrific March and April. Volkyl Shiro's were the ski of the year, I got a new pair of Lange 110's and just ripped it up, gimpy knee notwithstanding. I just wish to hell I had 2 knees! Stuart Silk and I had a very good powder day on April 5, his only day at Crystal this year and first one in at least 5 years. Skied a lot with Dan Ogborn , but missed the Fiorini's this year. Just didn't work out, but I hope we do next year. Ken Dayton was in South America for 5 weeks and had a back injury before that. Jack and I had a cool spring day on April 13. His new boots and skis. Look for the video on it. The kids and I went to Whistler for my 60th celebration in January. I'm not skiing in January much again, or at least no planning any big trips. Too sketchy. Lastly, we had 524+ at Crystal and a bunch at Alpental too. I'll try and download a cool video I made. April 24th, 2012 Hope you are enjoying this warm weather and true spring skiing. Don't forget the sunscreen. It's time to wrap up the powder alert for this season and look ahead to next season. Season Recap: I promised a robust, above normal snowpack and once again La Nina delivered for the Pacific Northwest. As much of the rest of the country suffered from an extreme lack of snow, we sat on a gold mine. It was one of the worst Dec- Jan periods on record for much of ski country. Tahoe, Utah and Colorado were green with envy when looking toward Washington. We were smiling from ear to ear. Ok, there was a certain smug delight about it, but it wasn't completely smooth sailing. We started off nicely, with great dumpage in late November, right on time. The Friday after Thanksgiving was primo. But in December it was cold and very dry. We saw minor improvement in January, right when La Nina should really get cooking. Despite the lackluster January, we still had the best snow of any region in the country. Then, by early to mid February, La Nina drove one storm after another to the Cascades. Powder alerts were stacked up like aircraft on final approach over Seatac, on Christmas eve - unending, one after another. The new snowfall continued, almost without interruption, all the way into early April. Hope you got some great pow - as I did. I took many a weekday off to nail the powder - and mainly to alleviate my FOMA (Fear Of Missing Out). We wound up with the best snow in the country and a well above normal snowpack - especially deep (as a percent above normal) in the Central Cascades: from Stevens to Snoqualmie to Crystal and White. ( Baker is always deep!). The snow was actually deeper in the Central Cascades on April 1st of this year - than last year. You never know how the season will play out - but La Nina did, once again, show a strong and reliable snow affinity for the Pacific NW. Another observation: we've had many of these mid-late season snowfall comebacks since 2005 - perhaps a new normal? Next season:Could be just as good!