The Squawlification of Alpine Meadows has been a concern ever since the rumors started that KSL might purchase Alpine in 2011. We were right to be concerned. Slowly but surely, our fears have been validated over the last 3 years. This lead to our “#FreeAlpine” movement this season. While #FreeAlpine stickers are not quite as ubiquitous as Keep Tahoe Blue stickers, we’ve mailed out a ton of them and given even more away in some of the longer lift lines this season.
We’ve seen more and more of the Squaw logo appearing at Alpine Meadows, and it’s caught many people’s attention. For this season, I refused to purchase anything at Alpine Meadows that had a Squaw logo on it, with the exception being my pass. It’s reduced my spending in the Meadows Cafe and Last Chair radically. When it became clear this spring that there was a plan to eliminate the Alpine Meadows brand, I stopped giving my money to KSL completely, again with the exception of my pass and locker that allow me to ski the mountain I love.
We applaud the Alpine Meadows managers and employees that feel the same way about protecting the identity of the Alpine Meadows brand. It has not escaped our attention that employees were covering the Squaw logos on their hats, or switching back to older uniforms that did not carry the Squaw logo at all. Not only was there a great pass holder appreciation party this spring to celebrate the true soul of Alpine Meadows, we saw hundreds of Alpine Meadows stickers given out that day. The end result was that we finally saw some days where there were more cars in the parking lot with Alpine Meadows stickers than Squaw Valley stickers. We even heard reports that the Alpine Meadows flag returned to the flag pole, only to be stolen within one day.
We believe at Unoffical Alpine that there are two great, but separate, mountains owned by KSL. We also believe there is far more value in offering two different mountain experiences, rather than pretending that they are one resort with 6,000 acres. We will never win the size game.
Yesterday, Vail resorts came one step closer to taking over Park City Mountain resort. We were thrilled to see this quote from POWDR Corporation CEO John Cumming:
Our community has become one of the world’s premier ski destinations because each of our three resorts – PCMR, Canyons, and Deer Valley – offers a unique ski experience, and because we compete with each other for guests. A Vail takeover would diminish what we collectively offer to guests. They may boast of their domination of other communities but that flies in the face of what has made Park City so successful. -John Cumming, CEO Powdr Corporation
That’s a CEO that “gets it.” We know that most of the Alpine Meadows staff and managers also get it. Thank you for “keeping it Alpine Meadows!” We wonder when SVSH CEO Andy Wirth will see the light.
in Andy’s brain he has seen the light, he’s just seeing the wrong one- maybe what he needs to do is “SKI the light”. I skied the light and my way has been lit ever since.
You saw stars. I hope that tree was ok.
speaking of light, you have my white logo’ed AM lighter ya bum 🙂
I think we need to genuinely thank andy for giving the AM Managers and staff enough free rein to be do things, like open Roundhouse.
There’s nothing better than good people-persons who are there in-tune and intouch.
Trust me, (oops, there’s already too many “testimonials’) …let me rephrase y’honor
if people don’t see you for a while, they think you don’t exist.
Love Alpine
– Tess & Lochie Monster 🙂
Hey, I was reading the planning process doc and I noticed it says the NLTRA gets $1.1m out of Placer. Where did I see, on UA – a year ago?? – that someone found a million bucks. $1m v $1.1m is spooky far sighted guesswork, aint it