It was the calm before the storm at Alpine Meadows today. It’s not just the idea that there is more snow moving in this weekend, it’s the idea that a whole bunch of people will be making their way toward Lake Tahoe in the coming days. We know it happens every year, and we can choose to hide from it and complain about it, or we can choose to make the best of it. For me, I’ll adjust my schedule to arrive earlier, and spend more time in the car and possibly more time in a lift line, because I do love skiing. Mountain managers assured me today the the entire mountain will be open and ready before the crowds arrive, and we are super appreciative of their efforts.
But this morning, we were standing on empty slopes, still skiing fresh lines around the Lakeview chair. Their was nobody around except our group of three. It was quite the moment. Thanks to everyone that was a part of the decision to open the Lakeview terrain, even before the chair was ready to run this week. To those that were anxious to catch fresh tracks off of Lakeview when it opens later this week, we’re sorry. We’ve been making a solid effort to fully utilize the fresh snow before it got baked in today’s warming temperatures.
With the Lakeview lift not running, each lap required a trip over Rays Rut to Sherwood. After a trip up Sherwood, we noted some perfect powder 8’s in Scott Meadow. There wasn’t much doubt who left them. Sure enough, Andy and BobL provided the photo proof when we returned to the locker room in the afternoon.
We also found incredible fun anywhere with some small bumps again today. Probably less than an inch of new snow fell overnight, but it was just enough to fill in some of the troughs for some tiny bump runs. Red Ridge, Ladies Slalom and Yellow offered consistent fun all day, especially for those moments where the sun popped out.
More snow is still expected but the timing seems to get pushed out just a bit farther with each run. As of today, it looks like the front finally pushes in Saturday night or Sunday morning. The latest runs are still showing the potential for 12-18″ of snow, with snow levels running around 4500 feet. As long as that stalling trend doesn’t turn into a splitting trend, early next week is looking good. Another blip is on the horizon for Christmas day.
Friday morning update: As mentioned, the trend is for models to pull back on the Sunday storm. The point forecast is showing only 4-6 inches at mid mountain for Sunday. In bigger news, expect that winds could be a problem for Saturday and Sunday. Ridge winds are expected to exceed 100mph. That seems to be part of our new normal. It’s quite possible that some lift operations could be affected.Â
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Andy and Bob L (AKA Tom Petty) – nice tracks!