We certainly enjoyed the relaxed and chill vibe today at Alpine Meadows. The first of two blackout days for the Martin Luther King weekend was more typical of a busy weekday than a holiday weekend. That’s a good thing, as many resort employees experienced a very long day following yesterday’s avalanche incident. I’m sure they appreciated the littlest bit of a break, as did those of us with full passes or day tickets.
When we left in the early afternoon, the upper lots were just barely filled, and only loosely packed. All chairs showed lines of only 0-2 minutes and only a handful of areas on the mountain seemed crowded, mainly the areas below Sandy’s Corner and Trail Of Tears.
We spent a good part of the morning enjoying some high speed corduroy laps on Lakeview. High Traverse opened today, although I did not bother. We saw some photos of great turns, but each of those photos was backed with the qualifiers that there were also large patches of wind scouring.
We noted a couple of neat things on the mountain:
• A complex but organized diamond-alternate lane system was setup at Lakeview to handle expected lineups. It eliminated the stressful “who’s turn is it now?” system that has been the standard setup for years. Kudos to whomever was responsible for making that happen.
• A “family ski/ski school only” zone was set up on Weasel. We’ve noticed that the Hotter Wheels chair has increased the pressure on Weasel run. Not only is there more traffic on the slope, it’s mixed in with high speed traffic that is hot lapping Art’s Knob/Hidden Knolls/Sherwood Cliffs via the new chair. Again, kudos to those responsible for making that decision. We hope that faster skiers and riders do the right thing and avoid that zone.
The Next Storm Arrives Monday Night
Things are looking up for the next storm, which should arrive Monday night. Over the last 2 days, the models have trended this storm a bit wetter and colder. Mentions of rain have been removed from the forecast, and models are showing snow levels running about 5500-6000 feet. That won’t be champagne powder, but it is better than the clear variety of powder. The latest GFS run shows the potential for a foot of snow, which is an increase over the 5-9 inches shown in the last point forecast. We don’t need this storm to become a monster. I would be totally happy if the storm just holds together.
Monday Afternoon Update
It looks like this storm does NOT hold together for Tahoe. Northern California from Highway 70 northward could see as much as a foot of snow from this storm. But we’re barely going to get a lick of the kitten’s tongue as the storm passes to the north. The current forecast now looks to be more like the trace to 3 inches range overnight. After that we dry out a bit until at least next weekend, where a weak AR event is taking shape. We’ll keep an eye on it.
You’re right, HT wasn’t worth it😀.
https://youtu.be/FSAkjPdI2sc
I am sure this is a deep fake!