The “regular” season has arrived at Alpine Meadows, with more parts of the mountain opening every few days. Today was the busiest day of the season so far, with mostly blue skies, new snow and busy ski teams bringing more people to the slopes. That said, with just a few exceptions, lift lines were minimal and crowds were easy to escape.
Unfortunately, the grand opening of the new chair, formerly known as Hot Wheels, was marred by a delayed opening this morning. Guests arrived early to collect some schwag, that reportedly included SquAlpine beanies and some Yeti mugs, as well as cookies and hot beverages. The backdrop for that was the chairs all neatly garaged on the storage rail instead of on the cable, ready to run. Ice is the reported cause for the delayed opening. The storm was quite erratic overnight, with snow levels fluctuating between 6500 and 7500-ish feet until about 10 pm.
Looking at some of the ice build up on some Roundhouse chairs this morning, you can see what they were up against.
Right around 11am, loading finally started on the Hotter Wheels chair, to the cheers of a good sized crowd. Having already ridden the chair about 45 times, none of our crew felt a need to go get in line. About the same time, High Traverse opened for the first time of the season. While I am sure that some people found some great turns out that way, I didn’t feel a need to be a part of that stampede on a weekend day.
If you knew where to look, there were some great lines with soft snow, even on the lower mountain today. Up top, the powder was schralped pretty quickly. That did not mean the fun was over. In many areas, the skiing improved as the crusty areas were broken up and powder runs became packed powder runs. Coverage is really quite good. I might mention a run or three that I really liked today, but honestly just about everything skied well.
Overnight, another 3-5 inches of snow is forecast, which would provide a nice little refresh for Sunday skiers. As of today, the Wednesday storm is looking like it splits. There’s still a storm on tap for next weekend, and but today’s model runs did weaken it a bit, but at 6 days out, I wouldn’t read much into that yet.
The upper lots were just about full today, and that is a reminder that we are about to head into full holiday mode by next weekend. Four lifts have yet to open at Alpine Meadows and we’re confident that mountain managers have a plan to make that happen as skier and rider counts grow. Word on the street is that Scott will be the next chair to open, hopefully early next week.
That young hiker is Willy, 3rd generation Alpine Meadows passholder.
Love the photos. Great storm. Still digging ourselves out in the Rockies. keep sending snow!!