The Weekend Report

Was it a perfect weekend? Nope. But I did achieve my goal of making the best of it. There’s two parts I got right about the weekend. Right around two inches of new snow did fall during the Saturday storm. The second is that many, many people came out to enjoy the improved conditions.

While technically only two inches of snow fell in the Saturday storm, it was also windy enough to move that snow around. I have a motto, “Follow that snow!” This meant that over the last two days I skied one lap at Sherwood, and zero laps at Scott and Lakeview. Most of the snow in those areas was being blown to Paige Meadows, or perhaps Diamond Peak. Summit, Roundhouse and Yellow all offered a ton of fun laps, especially if you took the time to see where snow was being transported. In this case, everything from John’s Peril to Palisades was skiing deeper than two inches. On Sunday, the upper bowls were a bit deeper, offering some scratchy but fresh turns for those willing to hike.

As far as crowds go, all upper lots were filled as well as Deer Park and White Wolf. I don’t think Hidden Valley was used this weekend, but it’s certainly possible for next weekend. At the mid-day peak, all major lifts were exhibiting lines of 5 minutes or so. The longest lines seemed to found at Sherwood and Lakeview. Sherwood is currently suffering from a small platform for a corral. Mountain ops has been patiently awaiting a storm that provides more snow so they can expand the corral size. Lakeview is always a junk show on busy days unless a mountain host does line control.

One of my favorite parts of the day was finding mountain host Andrew Mayne back on the job Saturday. Tyler, George, Captain Clay, and others, we like you too – but Andrew always manages to bring real spirit to Alpine Meadows. Out attention was caught on Saturday by the sound of a megaphone. It was Andrew, making a fun game of line control at a nearly full Summit corral. He politely cajoled guests to make friends, let people know they were the best skier on the mountain and complimented their steez. Smiles were seen all around.

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, the hopes for a mega-storm have diminished. The Gulf Of Alaska low is just not going to push as deep to the south or the east, and models have cut totals roughly in half since my last report. This will ease travel for next weekend and reduce the likelihood of a mountain or lift closures. Winds may be a problem at times. Reduced snow totals…hopefully this is not a trend that will continue.