Skiing and riding has been great at Alpine Meadows for the MLK weekend. With temps in the upper 30’s and light winds, it’s not quite winter and it’s not quite spring. As expected, southern and northern slopes are skiing quite differently.
Many people were all about the groomers again today. It may be safe to say that we have never seen so much groomed terrain available at Alpine Meadows. Some runs are groomed twice as wide as normal, while at the same time, groomers are sneaking in to areas that have never been groomed before. The Alpine Meadows Grooming Department’s Facebook page said to look for the “Tidy Bowl” to appear on Monday – giving the impression that the entire Alpine Bowl will be groomed by that time – for now it looks like a 27 lane highway. If you love just screaming down fresh corduroy, then Alpine is currently your happy place.
If you’re seeking park skiing, the park continues to grow and has been kept in immaculate condition by the groomers and park staff. The park was busier the last two days, especially with freeride ski and snowboard teams from both Alpine & Squaw. The park also proved to be a popular return route to Summit for those seeking an alternative to Charity or Werners.
North facing slopes continue to hold chalky snow. We heard reports of excellent snow in High Yellow Gully, Pygmy Forest and Gentian. The challenge in those places are the ever increasing size and amount of moguls.
We spent the day today chasing corn, an effort that was hampered by a brisk east wind. By 1 pm today we found nice corn on some limited southwest facing slopes. Off piste slopes never quite warmed enough today for corn-aholics.
The biggest topic of conversation, besides the 49er’s game, was the lack of crowding at Alpine Meadows. Saturday was no more busy than any normal weekend, and today looked like a midweek day at Alpine Meadows. The parking lot has not even filled on either day. We’ve come to expect that overflow parking extends to White Wolf, Deer Park and even Hidden Valley on busy holidays. The weather was perfect, the coverage is great and roads were clear and open…so why is everyone going to other resorts? We have about 104 ideas about that…. It’s not that us regulars aren’t enjoying this lack of crowds this season, it’s that fear that we will see reduced services later with shortened seasons and limited operations.
So let’s talk weather. It’s certainly time for more snow. South slopes are starting to get thin. Sherwood’s groomers are fine, but South Face is showing more brown every day and some brush is showing through on Standard Run and Bobby’s. The good news is that a storm appears to be brewing for next weekend. There’s quite a bit of debate on whether or not it’s going to be inches or feet of snow. The models always have a tough time handling the break down of the big high pressure ridges. There’s also some debate about whether we are opening the storm door or if this is a one hit wonder. So head on over to BA’s forecast or Paul’s forecast and start keeping track. We’ll update on weather later in the week.
Of course your holiday rate ticket is a better value at Squaw Valley 😉
Maybe the fear of crowds has kept some people away–as Yogi Berra said “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded”.