Another Busy Day At Alpine Meadows

Parking lots filled, the lodge was packed, and line control was required for large parts of the day on most chairs. Like it or not, it’s the way things are supposed to be at Alpine Meadows at this time of year. It’s these busy times that support mountain operations during the shoulder seasons that some of us enjoy (and demand 🙂 ). There were scads of Squaw Valley teams present again today – and that did seem to affect the crowding of the main groomers and chair lines. I take that as an indication that Squaw has been over crowded.

It was still a great day at Alpine. The groomers were in fine shape again today. The off piste terrain was also similar to yesterday. It wasn’t the best , but it certainly was not the worst either. As always, you just had to know where to poke around and be accepting. If you managed to do a run with just a few good turns in powder, call it a win and celebrate the moment. 🙂

The Rahlves Banzai was in full swing today and just being a spectator was on many people’s agenda. The course was lined with spectators at just about every easy access point. You could hear the enthusiasm of announcer Roy Tuscany’s voice throughout the day. I even heard it while making quiet laps in Gentian Gully. There were some upsets throughout the event that kept the crowd enthralled. The Banzai Tour is certainly a great fit for Alpine Meadows, rivaled only by the spring High Fives Trains events. Complete results of the Banzai are available at the Banzai Tour site. Here’s a brief overview from Alpine’s Fakebook page (now deleted as they were not right either!)

Even with a lot of people today, it was pretty easy to avoid crowds. Our morning groomers included Ladies Slalom and Bobby’s, where we managed multiple runs with nearly nobody else there. Lift lines did build at most chairs, requiring lift staff to bring back line control skills. This would be the time to give a shout out to Ryan at Scott, whose line control was efficient, fair and fun with a flair. Nice work boss.

I took a lap with Andy just before lunch into Gentian Gully, with mixed results. The top half was very pleasant, but the bottom section had some very slippery moguls that required great ski skills and concentration. We noted that the few other people there did not seem to be having fun in the lower section. Nonetheless, I took the challenge and did a half dozen more laps there in the afternoon, seeing less than a half dozen people the entire afternoon.  As a bonus, the mini park on Subway provides great entertainment while riding the slower than slow Subway chair.

It was great to see Alpine Meadows busy again. I am sure it was good practice for next weekend…