Hello Skiers and Riders,
Friday was another sunny experience in the Sierra. Cool air is keeping the snow surface from transitioning from winter to spring. In some instances we found a thin layer of soft snow from the 6 inch storm visited last week. In other cases, firm to icy conditions were hiding just under the surface or perhaps exposed for all to see. The best conditions we found were under the Alpine Bowl Chair , in the High Yellow area, and in Gentian Gully. We did have fun playing in the low angle forest off the Sherwood Chair as well. Of course the groomed runs were in good condition, if you could find one that was open for normal skiing.
Now for an observation that is beginning to upset more and more Alpine skiers and riders. It appears to me that the mountain is shrinking. More and more runs are disappearing before our very eyes. Alpine Meadows, as many of us know it, is becoming closed to regular skiers and riders.
First, we lost Dance Floor, one of the highest used trails on the mountain, to a terrain park that seems to grow daily. Not only is the park growing wider and longer daily, but it is roped off and nasty signs have placed every few yards in an attempt to keep normal people away. “Enter at Gates Only”. Of course the gate is at the beginning of the park. This means you cannot cross from one side of the mountain to the other.
Second we lost Terry’s Return. It is now completely roped off. One either enters the park and skis around the terrain features praying someone will not fly over a feature and land his head, or one is stuck hiking back up the hill to try and find a trail that is meant for intermediates, or you pray you are advanced enough to traverse to High Yellow and ski off piste. We once had a lovely long flowing trail from the top of the Summit Chair through Terry’s Return and down Dance Floor. Now we have stop signs or blocked trails that interrupt the flow.I feel like I am crossing town to get home and every time I get to an intersection that should take me directly to my house, there is a new gated golf community, thus forcing me to continually find alternative routes until I finally give up and move to a new city.
As if it is not bad enough to have multiple trails blocked for terrain features, this past Friday (one of the busiest) found even more trails shut off for race courses. Stop! Do not pass. Half of Wolverine Bowl is now closed for a race course. Stop! Do not pass. Try and find another route (if you can), Ladies Slalom is closed. Stop! Do not pass! Try and find another route. Outer Limits is completely roped off for race training.
What the heck! Where I am supposed to ski, especially when the snow is slick and not the best on the portion of the mountain that is not groomed. Welcome to Alpine Meadows, please check our website before entering to see if any of our named ski runs are open today. On top of the fact that the mountain was packed with skiers, who were forced onto the few remaining overcrowded runs open to the public (who may not care to get inverted), ski teams from Squaw Valley were on hand (twenty or more in a group). They screamed down the few open slopes all at once creating an invasion akin to a horror movie.
We love our mountain, and we understand the need to compete with other areas and stay abreast of changes in the sport, but someone needs to figure out how to balance the new with the old so these great trails are not lost forever. This should be done before a lot of the Old Timers leave for greener pastures.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Editor’s Note: We are hearing more and more about this Andy. It’s not just the parks – so park rats and park employees, don’t get all bent out of shape again 🙂 Here’s what we’re hearing people talk about:
• Groomers being overtaken by terrain parks and race courses
• Off piste fall line runs blocked by the Firing Line park
• The invasion of Alpine Meadows by an overwhelming number of Squaw Valley teams
If you have not filled out the official SquAlpine passholder survey yet, you get an opportunity to express some opinions there. You are always welcome to comment here or send us your guest editorial.
Here is the classic “I told you so” moment. Been waiting for UA to publish something like this for almost a month. I decided not to go skiing this past week with the ski/skate crowds up from the Bay Area as well as locally knowing the insanity that would develop at Alpine this week. Over on Facebook on the Move Park site there have been a few lonely souls like myself yelling into cyberspace warning this was happening only to be crushed under the diatribe of insults and illogical reasoning. There have been even efforts to suggest alternatives. Those suggestions have been met with silence from the KSL overlords. I now fear unless some sort of public pressure is applied soon we will lose the character and soul that most of us fondly recall that was Alpine Meadows. In the season of 2012/2013, Alpine Meadows has been mutated into something most of us can barely look at but only wonder what they were thinking. We’re witnessing the systematic destruction of a mountain that once had a soul and life.
Well said Andy. Thank you for your articulate summary. I could not agree more.
A reality at Alpine is lots of run and trail intersections, which used to mean lots of choices–take a different way down, pick up some off piste or whatever you wanted. Now those intersections mean an often dangerous situation with superfast no turn skiiers (yep mainly skiiers) crashing through cross traffic. Add the long group of a team, entitled not to look or stop because of their size. Now the intersections have closed off and more traffic is getting shuttled to the same run. Not only is it a lot less fun, it’s a lot more dangerous. Much of the problem is man made with the terrain parks. BUT a lot of the problem is no serious attempt at Alpine to slow down a few crazies. Or to help clean up crossings/ closings. Squaw has very few crossings, so you can pretty much ski how you like. the mayhem of Mountain run is sort of supervised..not so the headwall trail to cornice terrain. Alpine groomers need to be opened up again and the maintain needs way more patrol slowing down traffic and confiscating passes for two weeks. (that’s what happens at other resorts)
This situation that Andy describes is a result of the carpetbagger corporations that now run everything in the valley. They have no concerns for the local folks and don’t understand the Lake Tahoe culture. All they know is come in, take as much as they can then, leave the land in worse shape than it was before they came.
It’s a sign of the times, not good times.
You folks that are old time Alpine folks know how much better the experience back in the days of Nick and Howard when it was a pretty much family owned operation. You folks need to organize and let these carpetbaggers like KSL and DH&R over at Squaw Creek know that they are going in the wrong direction and will fail with these current ideas and plans.
I don’t think this is the result of any ill will or corporate misbehavior. In fact, I think they’re trying to figure it out in an era when the ski operation–lifts, runs, etc. is a money loser. It’s retail, food and beverage, etc. that makes the money. Thus, Alpine’s in a bind. It does seem that there’s been a big effort and resources put into making the skier experience better, friendlier, easier. I just don’t think they’ve got it right at Alpine.
Here’s some of the good stuff: fabulous grooming (often a necessity this season), the midweek clinics are a great idea. Of course, love the Ice Bar, the cinnabuns at Chalet, Margaritas at the main bar. The lifties and everyone else is typically pleasant-friendly (that’s true at Squaw now, too). The terrain parks aren’t in the right place–yet–and they’ve created some big problems–forced too many onto crowded runs, made Alpine worse/difficult for the improving low intermediate skiier and there are scary places where patrol or employees should be conducting traffic control. It’s kind of chaotic and confusing, where can you ski, ride, enter a terrain park or get around it? And it’s smack in the middle of the main runs. Who wants that when they’re out for fun and a great day of skiing/riding.
There’s no supervision in the parks on many days–like today. Hopefully these things can change. The terrain parks are almost empty, which is interesting. Isn’t there a better way to figure out how to retain people who love Alpine and attract new skiiers/riders? It isn’t working here yet. I ski lots of places in the west and I have never seen a mountain with the terrain and safety issues that Alpine has right now–all man made and all can be fixed.
ok, one last thing. It used to be possible to ski or ride from the top of Yellow Chair down to Alpine Bowl chair. No more! A terrain park blocks the route.
I’ll chime in here on something I dealt with many times today. FWIW, I consider Rock Garden as the Mountain Run of Alpine Meadows, albeit a lot shorter. The point is, it is a choke point that most of the upper mountain travels through to get back to Roundhouse or Summit. It’s a huge mix of skiers and snowboarders of all levels and often gets scraped down. There’s people going 1 mph and people going 35 mph or faster. I am generally going pretty fast and often with minimal turns. But I am also open to my destination so if I end up shunted to Weasel, Yellow or Charity, it will be okay. My eyes are forward and fixed on potential collisions.
But we now have a terrain park above and below Rock Garden. Most of the riders accessing the upper park are high level riders, that are going to essentially rally through straight lining. The skiers that I saw do that today were no problem. But most snowboarders ride “regular”, which means they are left foot forward and facing ABC while riding Rock Garden. While they are straight lining, they are also merging left across 20 lanes of traffic, with only one destination in mind, the terrain park. They are doing this merge on the blindside. It’s really a stupid design forcing that high speed traffic to merge across all lines. I saw several near misses today and was nearly hit myself three times. It’s definitely an accident that is waiting to happen. I am not the only one that knows this is a problem…but it’s documented here now that people are aware of the issue.
I agree with all the comments posted here. Mark, when I first started the “Move the Terrain Park at Alpine Meadows” Facebook page the situation you describe at Rock Garden was one of the biggest concerns. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets taken out, it’s a MAJOR safety concern the way they have choked down Rock Garden. If coming out of Alpine Bowl, you really don’t have any where to go anymore. My line has always been to stay on the skiers right of things, but now there is a terrain park there. With all the traffic coming down from Roundhouse, all the traffic coming down Alpine Bowl, all the park enthusiast trying to get to the right for the park in the trees by Alpine Bowl Chair, or to the bottom section of, the “Firing Line” where are we supposed to go? I’ve typed this stuff so much it’s like banging my head against a wall. With the situation that Andy describes on Wolverine, it sounds like everyone is coming down Alpine Bowl because that’s all we are left with on the frontside of the mountain. There is no longer top to bottom skiing back to Summit without some kind of traverse or detour. We don’t have a mountain run anymore. Look, my motto is if it’s not broken don’t fix it. What was so bad about having the racing over on Lakeview and the Terrain Park on Kangaroo. IT WORKED FOR EVERYONE!!!! I’m encouraging everyone to go to Alpine’s Facebook page and under “recommendations” type Move the Terrain Park! I have done this numerous times, only to get,deleted. If we all do it, I think a lot of long time pass holders will be,a little upset to see their requested opinion deleted.
https://www.facebook.com/MoveTheTerrainParkAtAlpineMeadows
Skied Alpine last week and with the multiple runs blocked for ski teams the situation is getting worse, not better. Didn’t see any ski teams when I passed by, just closed runs. I have NEVER seen anyone fly off those huge jumps at the bottom of the terrain park. I keep looking because I can’t imagine doing it myself.
Never have I been on a ski mountain the size of Alpine where so much prime acreage was set aside for so few.
Right now Northstar’s a way better deal than Alpine for most average skiers. You get lots more groomed runs. All that off-piste stuff at Alpine has limited value this crummy snow year. Northstar feels like a ski mountain instead of a place where full paying customers are crowded into part of the terrain. Just wish Northstar was a tad steeper. But that’s where I take my day pass buying guests this year – always used to be Alpine.
Here’s a suggestion for Andy. Why don’t you call Andy Wirth and ask him for his thoughts on these concerns. Perhaps he could even be a “Guest Poster” for a day. He seems like a straight up guy who cares about his product. Maybe he’s unaware of the depth of the problem or maybe there a bigger picture we are all missing. Don’t see how it hurts to share ideas in either case.
Andy – with this site you have more pull than you think. I’m sure you can get him on the phone with a little persistence. Worth a shot. We all want to be happy customers and Andy Wirth definitely wants happy customers. Seems like a win-win to me.
Hi Al –
Great suggestions. Just FYI, Andy was the guy who started the Unofficial Alpine Ski Report back around 2001, and continues as a contributor here. But the site is run by me, Mark. Most of the posts come from me, or from ideas that other people that I write about. I want to make sure that Andy does not get the blame for things I have posted! FWIW, I have bumped into Andy Wirth several times and although he seems to be a nice guy, he does totally ignore me. I am not sure that he cares about anything that is not in his master plan.
Andy Wirth said when KSL bought Alpine they did not want to change the character of the area. But that is just what they have done by turning over terrain parks to Snow Park Technologies, folks who have no connection to how good it was. Change the culture and you change the character. It was better when Kangaroo was dedicated to the park rats. Alpine was a natural terrain park, which is why we all fell in love with the place. Sad state of affairs.
Saw the newest addition to the terrain park in rock garden. All I can say is “wow” (and not in a good way.)