It’s been an interesting few years at Alpine Meadows since Squaw Valley Ski Holdings and KSL Capital bought the mountain in 2011. We’ve survived what has been pronounced the worst drought in at least 500 years, as well as what some might call a hostile takeover of Alpine Meadows. We’ve had to alter our concept of what constitutes a “good ski day” and what we can expect from the Alpine Meadows experience.
Through all of that, we have to remember that the employees and managers of Alpine Meadows have done a very admirable job of trying to make it work. The amount of effort that has been put into making things last longer than a month or two last season was nothing short of heroic. We also know that in their hearts, they love Alpine Meadows as much or more than many of us.
We wish we could say as much about the upper management at Squaw Valley Ski Holdings and KSL Capital. With each passing week, month and year, it becomes more and more clear that something is wrong. We’ve written at least 100 articles expressing those concerns since 2011: a push for overdevelopment, the gondola through the Granite Chief Wilderness, the loss of the Alpine Meadows identity, the loss of awesome Alpine Meadows employees, the “stepchild syndrome”, spending more than $750,000 fighting the local community…the list could go on and on. It’s time for a change at the top.
We know there’s a lot of people that have been waiting for our new stickers to arrive and they are now available. The “Keep Tahoe KSL Free” stickers are about 4″ x 3″ and were produced in die-cut vinyl. We expect that they will be popular at both Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley, so we didn’t even mention Unofficial Alpine on them. You can order them online via Square. The $1 cost nearly covers our production costs and mailing. We can’t wait to see them on cars, Thule boxes, skis and helmets around Alpine and Squaw.
online
Our regular Unofficial Alpine logo stickers and #FreeAlpine stickers are also still available here.
I would how long it will take for these stickers to show up on the lift towers? Not that anyone would ever do such a thing…
Like this will get wirth and the rest to make positive changes.
Best anti ksl wirth sticker i ever saw was one years ago of the small pink keep tahoe stickers modified and stealthily placed on the lower panels near bullwheel on kt.
After mr wirth laid off all those long time dedicated local employees under ksl 1st year of ownership.
It read “Send Andy Home”
Childish yes but also classic.
Mark,
You are not saying anything new and much of what you say selectively distorts the truth. Everything evolves. Better that you work productively to guide change and not constantly bemoan how things were better in the old days.
@Christopher,
Mark has his point-of-view and I’ve poked him for things that I thought weren’t fair–as well as calling out a recent guest poster for what I perceived as exaggerations and misleading information about the Wilderness Act and legalities of the gondola proposal. I find Mark’s reporting on the goings-on extremely helpful. It’s hard to keep up with such a fluid development situation. Mark doesn’t attempt to hide his POV and you can apply the appropriate filter, but I feel that he does an admirable job of informing the public without constantly ranting and raving.
Keep up the good work, Mark. And Andy’s posts are a welcome addition too.
Thanks Colin for the vote of support. This site is not for everyone, but nobody is forced to read it.
Total strawman. Mark has done plenty to describe what is important for making Alpine a quality and unique resort with high value for its clientele.
I just ordered one of each color. What can I do to send you another buck or two? Do you have a tip jar?
No tips needed…just spread the word. Thanks for your positive comments
This sticker deserves a GNAR point!
Seems like the next step is to have a reader contest to send in photos of their sticker placements.
There’s a Raptor I would like to stick one on…
Double dare you
I’ll have to go with only putting stickers on my own stuff. 🙂
Mark, you have too much time on your hands! Do something admerible, give back, & gain respect! Your relentless territorial bitching is childish & a waste of precious time!
We all have our own opinion. I, for one, appreciate and respect Mark’s work in holding the ownership responsible for their actions.
This format works on many levels.
It keeps people informed.
Allows folks to voice an opinion.
And since KSL management reads it daily …these posts have been known to have a positive effect.
Also, a picture is worth a thousand words!!
Abro, Meow….
Just one bruh’s opinion or perhaps a paid shill, hard to tell these days. Here’s just another person’s opinion. Through his hard work and genuine concern for the future of his community, Mark has earned a ton of respect from a great many people who live in north Tahoe and Truckee. The information he provides on his website IS GIVING BACK to the community! His diligence is absolutely not a waste of time. Why are you so concerned with how he spends his time anyway?
Mark has gained more respect than you will ever see. Standing up for something you believe in and fighting for it is not a waste of time. It’s too bad you feel this way. Time for you to move on along with KSL. Stop wasting your time reading unofficialalpine.
Hope you’re doing ok these days dude.
Seems like maybe ok if you’re back to grousing at Mark?
On that point, the stuff Mark does for local kids seems like “giving back” quite a bit to me…
For starters, over the years, I have done about a half million dollars of fundraising for my school programs…but this isn’t a pissing match.
Abro, can you please define “admerible”?
As long as there’s no retail village and only a modest base lodge at Alpine, we shouldn’t expect an early opening. KSL isn’t going to send potential retail customers to a place with no shops. Alpine is for Squaw’s overflow only (and ski team members who probably buy lunch and not much else)!
Nailed it. It’s only going to get worse if and when the squaw base development and the base to base gondola is completed. So sad…
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