Well, as ski resorts are calling it quits around the country and the Sierra is settling into spring, I figured this was a decent time to recap the 2007-2008 snow season.

First, water. According to SNOTEL, the Pacific Northwest and Southern Colorado experienced huge snow overall (more than 150% of normal as of April) whereas New Mexico had a tough year (below average) and California had a mixed year (some above, some below). Other states (Idaho, Utah, Montana, Wyoming) seemed to all come out average.

As for the Sierra specifically, our mid-winter snowpack persisted into April despite some heavy solar warming and low precipitation in March. The majority of the snow on the West Coast fell relatively early this year, with the largest SW storms coming in January and early February. Only now, mid-April, are the concerns for wet slides coming up.

However, we probably all remember last year when the thin snowpack haunted us all the way into April when we received a lot of wind and an unexpected dump right around this time last year (on top of bare ground or very different spring snow), so anything can still happen this (or any) season.

And as for avalanche accidents, the WestWide Avalanche Network currently marks the past season as the second highest fatality season through 1995-96 (second to the 2002-2003 season), with 52 fatalities in North America. Colorado experienced its deadliest season ever in-bounds (17 fatalities, from accidents - not avalanches) and Washington state opened with a horrendous season of 9 avalanche fatalities. Snowmobilers again lead the list with 19 of the 52 fatalities for the year (including the 2 in AK marked as 'Other') being whilst snowmobiling.

The question of course becomes, why? The news and media point to bigger, faster machines for the snowmobilers. And as for everyone else, they waver between the vague whipping boy known as the "increasing recreational aggressiveness" trend, inexperience, or bad luck. I think there aren't really any single answers to be had right now, but there are a few things that might be added....

After all, I know I was chomping at the bit when the first snows touched the ground, especially after last winter. The memories of excitement after last year's desperation fill my mind: seeing what seemed like half of Southern California turn out for every powder day at Mount Baldy (darned if I knew before this year that there were more than five telemark skiers down here).... the week that my friend didn't call me back when it dumped continuously in Tahoe because he skied all the time.... the messages of unbridled excitement written on the white boards next to the lifts at Schweitzer when we got powder every night.

40 fatalities occurred before February, more than any other documented year. This was 77 percent of the total for the year as of April 13, also the most of any other documented year, though that can still change as the season winds down.

For reference, the history for fatalities for the past recorded years from the WestWide Avalanche Network appears in the tables below. Each number under each season represents three things: (1) the number of fatalities before February (up to and including January 31) in North America for that season, with (2) the total number for the season and (3) the percent that the pre-February incidents compose of that total. (2) and (3) appear in parentheses next to (1).

Of course, anything could contribute to these statistics. After all, as I said earlier, most of the snow came early in the season so it could have simply been a lot of powder on a thin snowpack and bad timing. But on top of the snippets of powder memory above, I also remember the weekend that three died in Southern California from three separate avalanches - and that an experienced friend wanted to ski in the backcountry that day too but ended up not skiing because of traffic. Temptation bites us all.

It seems that after a winter of no skiing, this season jumped on us. It dumped early, it dumped hard, we all chased it, and a lot of us got lucky.... but we all, as a community, paid the price. I hope I never forget how lucky I am to sit here at the end of the season with such hindsight. Hopefully next year will be as good for our water supplies and skiing, and also hopefully we can keep improving our knowledge of ourselves and our world.