Westbound Boarder

Can you believe this pow at Keystone?!

Today is March 1, which means that spring is finally here (well, technically the official “first day of spring” is March 20, but with 70 degree temps yesterday, it may as well already be spring here in LA!)  Yet, if you head to any mountain in the Western region it seems like just the opposite.

Everywhere from Vail, Colorado to Mt. Hood, Oregon is seeing new snow continue to pile up.  Even the SoCal mountains are seeing more snow than usual.  Mt. High, for example, received nearly 10 inches of fresh pow over the weekend.  Though a bit later than most of us would have liked, it looks like El Nino has finally arrived.

So in case the March sunshine is making the ocean waves call your name, you might want to think twice before you officially trade in your snowboard for a spring suit.  This season’s here to stay!  For now, anyway.

Allright folks, get ready for some sick conditions coming to the SoCal mountains this week.  It’s finally snowing!  And with rain in LA expected to continue throughout the week, this should be the El Nino storm we all have been hoping for.  Mt. High has already seen 3 inches of fresh pow at the peak, with the base receiving a mixture of snow and rain.  The snow level is expected to drop to 5,500 feet tonight, making for tons of fresh pow tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week.  Bear, on the other hand, (while the temperature is 38F at the moment) is expecting 8 – 16 inches tomorrow.

Though I can’t claim to own an iPhone of my own, working in the online technology space makes me want to go out and buy one just so I can play with the snazzy apps! (Sorry BlackBerry, you’re great for e-mail and TwitterBerry, but that’s about it).

Gizmodo displays a list of their ‘essential iPhone app‘ picks on the site; low and behold one of the items they picked as top 20 is a snow reports application!  From Gizmodo: “If you fait du ski/snowboard, Snow Reports will let you know when you should drop everything and head to Alpine Mountain for the weekend.”  OK, I’m sold.  Now my next task – get my company to ditch our BlackBerry Curves and replace with iPhones.  Think they’ll go for it?

More about the Snow Reports app from Gizmodo:  Released Oct. 13, 2008, “Snow Reports gives you the ability to create a personalized report of all your favorite ski resorts worldwide.”  $1.99 for the downoad.

Somewhat related, Yelp also has an iPhone app and apparently it’s pretty cool, too.  Though I’ve never used Yelp for mobile, I’m a huge fan of the Web-based version and can only imagine the mobile app would be just as great.  Next time you’re at the mountain and need a place to grab a bite after, Yelp for mobile would be a good resource to check out.

Anyone else with an iPhone have an essential app recommendation for Westbound boarders?  Shout out in the comments!

Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Snow blankets SoCal and, the Vegas strip? Great photo album in the LA Times; check it out!

This is a neat service from Ski Oregon I recently discovered via a Twitter update. (Are you following us on Twitter, yet?)  This comprehensive and frequently-updated spreadsheet showcases weather and snow conditions for every ski resort in Oregon.  Of course, nothing beats picking up the phone and calling snowphone lines for the most detailed news (Meadows: (503) 227-7669; Timberline: (503) 222-2211; Bachelor: (541) 382-7888) but if you’re in a rush and need some help deciding which resort to go to, this is a great place to start.

Is there snow yet on your home mountain?