Winter Trail Conditions in the Truckee Meadows

Quick note of context: I’ve just updated the front page after our first real winter storm and we’re looking at a forecast of cold bluebird days. Even now, only a few hours after the last storm clouds have rolled away, the snow line is starting to be drastically different depending on if the hillside is sun facing or sun shaded. This extreme localization and dynamic nature of trail conditions inspired me to write a little more instead of overflow the front page with too much information.

Why the snow line is poor indicator of trail conditions in the truckee meadows and how to be active anyway.

Lets set aside much of the strangeness that snow is and just look at why using it as an indicator of trail conditions is a recipe to get wrecked in the truckee meadows. One thing you have to know is snow lies to your face. It says it’s cold and frozen, but given just a little sunshine and wind, it will ghost you. No melting required. And one thing Truckee Meadows trails get a lot of are sunshine and wind even when the temperates stay below freezing. So why does this matter? Both sunshine and wind are very direction specific. They will strip a hillside of snow in a couple hours but only in those places where they hit. Right now, I am looking at Peavine and on the sun side, the snow line is as much as 1000’ higher than on the shaded side.

So why does this matter to trail users? You may have noticed that our trails travel across slopes and wind in and out of sunny and shaded areas. There are very few trails in the network that are entirely sunside. If you are in downtown Reno and looking at the mountain, you’re looking at the sunside of most the the network, the high snow line is lying to you about how good the trails are.

So how do we get to be out and stoked when the snow line lies?

Complete your trail activity before the thaw. Running and riding are perfectly fine on the trails when everything is frozen solid. Wear proper layers, carry extra snacks and water, and go have fun! Just plan to get back off the trails before the warm up makes everything mucky and fragile. Alternatively, go far above the snow line and play in the snow. Nevada Nordic grooms snow trails at Tahoe Meadows that are free to use by skiers, hikers, and snowshoers. Across the highway right there is a great sledding hill too. Please just be cautious around the snowline transition area. This is where the high melt water and traffic can damage trails. And I know y’all would rather our local trail orgs spend their hard earned time and donations on making new trails instead of repairing damaged one.