Skiers and Boarders,
It was a clear blue bird day on the mountain today. Packed powder covered the hillsides on most slopes. Relatively small soft moguls were created over the weekend to make things interesting. We took the bus to Squaw Valley this morning to check out the neighbors slopes. They were all in very good winter condition with the exception of Tower 16 which was beginning to soften into a spring condition. Warmer air and full sun exposure will do that to a slope. We cruised around the upper mountain hitting Sun Bowl early followed by The Horse Trails along with the Nose from the Headwall Lift. The Funnel off Emigrant was in fine condition as were the runs on both sides of the Granite Chief Lift. Bailey’s Cirque off the Solitude Lift got the legs to burn as did a run from the top of the new Siberia Lift to the base of the Funitel. I must say that the nice winter snow makes skiing the steeper slopes fairly easy as setting an edge to avoid sliding down a long steep hill is not difficult. We never made it to Kt22 or Red Dog. I guess I will have to put those off for another day.
This was the first weekend I can remember when a number of my friends, who do not have homes in Alpine Meadows, actually got fed up with the long lines of traffic inching there way to Squaw and Alpine from Truckee and Tahoe City. A number of my friends turned around and never made it to the slopes. These were season pass holders. The roads were fairly dry over the weekend so this seemed to be just a lot of pent up demand from skiers who have not been on the mountain for the past couple of years. Given the number of people waiting in line for hours to get to the slopes, or turning around in disgust, it is difficult to see how the situation will get any better in the future when a large village is constructed in Squaw Valley. There is not room for more people in Alpine and Squaw as this weekend proved to many locals.
Enjoy your day,
Andy Wertheim
Regarding the traffic last week, or just about every weekend now…I am growing tired of the “have to leave Truckee” 90 minutes early to avoid traffic; the “have to eat lunch” 90 minutes early to avoid crowds, the “have to leave Alpine Meadows” 90 minutes early to avoid traffic on the way home. Whether it’s pent up demand or oversold passes…I know I am tired of it.
It took me about an hour on I80 waiting for the traffic on 89, then another hour on 89 to get to Squaw, and the parking…. I would have turned around to Northstar if not for the friends in my car
Another excellent day at Squaw with perfect conditions and great skiers.
I heard the same story about traffic, locals turned around and went home. Bummer cause they missed out.
Andy, you gotta get back!
Squaw/KSL needs to figure out how to manage the traffic on the weekends so it does not effect non-skiers/boarders that want to simple travel back and forth from Tahoe City to Truckee. What a mess they have created!!!
Alpine today was awesome. Lapped Gentian all afternoon which still had some untracked powder. Expert shortcut was also chalky and nice.
Had a great day at Alpine as well! It was nice to have the mountain to ourselves.
Traffic has been horrendous at Sierra too. I’d say pent up demand.
The problem is basin wide on the weekend. Our out of town friends slowed to a crawl for just as long on 267 to Northstar. Then they waited in giant lines. At least Squaw can spread the skier load around with all their lifts. We had a great time there on Sunday.
Could bring back the Sherwood shuttle?
We luckily skipped Saturday, and heard about the road closure to Alpine causing lengthy delays, chaotic lift openings, etc. Sunday we got an early start and although there was a backup on 89 toward Squaw/Alpine, as we approached it was clear most traffic was waiting to turn (R) to Squaw, and we were headed to Alpine, so moved right past the deadlocked line. Got there plenty early for good parking & on the lifts when they opened, well before crowds. When they arrived it seemed to spread out well, as we rarely waited long in any liftline, except quite a backup at Scott. We heard people who were just 15-30 minutes behind us had very long delays & heavy traffic to deal with.
Today, Monday, bluebird day, superb snow, no wind, ample parking, and even empty tables in the lodge for lunch….. welcome retirement & weekday skiing!
I ecperienced theae traffic crowds going to alpine a couple weeks ago parking in the lower lot for the first time in 30 years of skiing alpine. But there was nobody skiing. Strange
All that traffic was from people traveling back and forth from Alpine and Squaw Valley so they could ski both areas in one day. Either that or it was some pesky protesters slowing people down. We must install a gondola to alleviate this. The traffic has nothing to do with the lack of infrastructure in the Tahoe Basin. Keep Sitting in Line.
The people who crowd the highways on weekends are the ones who are actually supporting the resorts bottom line so we can reap the benefits during the week. Gosh skiers seem to be the biggest complainers of any sub culture group on the planet.
If you can reap the benefits of midweek…not everyone can. I’ll duly note that you are often here just to complain about people complaining…ironic, huh?
Lol
Let us remind ourselves we want the tourists, day trippers, non skiers and alike to pump our economy! Complaints of not enough hours for staff last year must be remedied this season, right? The tips are flowing, people are spending and skiing is rippin good!! Come on, adjust a little and be blessed your local.
Word
The traffic was truly brutal. I have been skiing in Tahoe since 1990 and can’t remember it being as bad as it was on Sunday. Somehow my 5 year old son kept my spirits up, telling me “at least it will be fun when we get there”. I would like to think that there is enough money to hire some off duty sheriffs or CHP to manage traffic similar to the way arenas do major events.
How about the new traffic light at Alpine Meadows?
It’s that an improvement??
There must be money in the budget for added traffic control.
As discussed on this web site, there are pro’s and con’s to the new traffic light on Hwy 89 leading to Alpine Meadows.
However in my experience this year, it is not configured properly. There is major backups going into Tahoe City from Squaw simply because of that light. Once you get past it traffic moves much better.
It’s a matter of timing. When the traffic FROM Alpine towards Squaw is backed up clear back to Alpine then it makes NO SENSE to keep the left turn out of ALpine green: no more cars can go left when it’s grid lock that way.
At that point the left-turn green times coming out of Alpine should be much shorter to allow the Squaw traffic on 89 get past and onto Tahoe City.
I come from Tahoe City and as it stands, I do not ski Squaw in the afternoons anymore. The time penalty for that 1.5 mile stretch of road is too great.
I am sure there is a delicate trade off in the timing but something needs to change. I can think of several options: road sensors, or remote control action based on traffic cameras or simple a person on the scene to control it.
How can we get CalTrans to address this?
Weekend and holiday morning traffic control on Squaw Valley Rd would greatly improve the visitor experience at both mountains. The main bottleneck seems to be the 89 / Squaw Valley Rd intersection. If SVSH can do three lanes coming out of the valley in the afternoon, why can’t they do it in the morning?
Maybe a new billboard at the mousehole from KSL saying…..?
“It will be fun when we get there Daddy!”
It used to be better at Alpine until a few years ago. Then it was way better at Squaw, fact. People, now it’s way better at Northstar (and SugarBowl too!). You really should go there, I am amazed at how uncrowded and untracked those mountains are.
Please do keep complaining about Alpine, and post your woes on the Al Gore’s interwebs book of faces. #NoCrowdsNorthstar
Welcome to the new and improved Alpine Meadows, or should I say Squaw Valley South. Waiting in line means you are at a world class resort
Bring back the Spring Fling Pass!!!
New to the area here, so I don’t know what the norm used to be. Do you all this its from increased ticket sales after the merger or just over all increase in population in Sac, the Bay, and Reno, thus the increase of visitors?
It does seem like Squaw and Alpine should be doing something to alleviate this, maybe a local’s only shuttle to Sherwood? An added lane from Truckee to Squaw?
When combined season pass sales of bronze silver gold etc exceed 30k total then its not difficult to understand.
That being said, the whole region benefits immensly from increased consumer spending in local establisments.
Good and bad a balance will be acheived. Lots of peeps have ski fever due to last 4 years of drought. Enjoy the snowpack and make note, we all should be quite appreciative of current conditions regardless of crowds. The other option, drought and less crowds really sucks.