That would be an indirect quote this morning from Locker Room 3. Most of the regular crowd was missing this morning, unless their kid was a part of the race on Kangaroo. When we bailed out just after 10, the few regulars that were around were also heading for the parking lot, done for the day.
That’s not to say that skiing was terrible. There were a number of visitors there this morning. They just couldn’t spread out too much. Scott and Lakeview were on wind hold right from the opening bell, and Sherwood was extra firm after yesterday’s record warmth. Our first two laps on Roundhouse were actually very enjoyable with the groomed runs being much softer than expected. The visibility on Summit started off a bit bad and went downhill, literally, as the snow showers moved in. Off piste terrain was heinous this morning, moving from the “coral reef” descriptor into the territory of “frozen broccoli and chicken heads.” So the groomed slopes were the only game in town and the level of grooming was a bit more minimalistic than recent weeks. So things were quite “busy” on Alpine Bowl, Rock Garden, Dance Floor, Yellow and Weasel.
There were a lot of families and teams from other mountains around for the kid’s race on Kangaroo. The energy level was high for that event and some football game that was on TV later this afternoon. By the fourth lap, we were noticing that slick spots were already appearing and sugar piles were building in Rock Garden, Dance Floor and Weasel. We decided to spend some time at home enjoying an annual viewing or two of “Groundhog Day.”
Springtime Saturday
First things first, I did not got to Alpine Meadows on Saturday, so this report is pretty much second or third hand. The temps did reach record levels, as did the number of skiers and boarders that arrived to enjoy a spring day in February. The tweets arrived saying that the Hidden Valley lot was in use before 11 am, so we know it was busy. The places that we predicted might be corny were as corny as they could be. It must have been a fine day. So why did I skip skiing?
I did not. We instead took a day off to ski at Northstar with my nephew and his family. You can’t turn down the opportunity to ski with your grand-nieces, aged 5, 7 and 9. Fortunately, my friend Spencer is an instructor at Northstar and was willing to pass on two vouchers for us, making the skiing part free.
You might wonder why I don’t ski at Northstar every day, as we pulled into our parking space just 11 minutes after leaving our house. It might have something to do with that the next part of the process taking an hour: put on your gear in the parking lot, ride the shuttle bus, walk through the village, wait in a long line to get your ticket, ride a gondola to the Big Springs Lodge, where you can finally get on a lift that you want to ski. At the end of the day, you’re still going to do pretty much that same hour getting back to your car. It’s downright maddening. I don’t understand how people choose to be pass holder there, unless they also have a condo right there.
This is why most us do choose to ski at Alpine Meadows. If you’re willing to just get up early, it’s easy to park within 150 yards of the lodge without a shuttle bus or schlepping through an overpriced village. Speaking of overpriced, being giddy about not paying for tickets, we wrongly chose to not bring a sack lunch. For two of us we managed to spend $17 for a mid-morning snack and $60 for lunch…from a food truck. Melanie, you spoil us when it comes to on mountain food.
The ski conditions at Northstar were actually quite good. We stayed in the sunnier sections of the mountain and found that things were more corny than Alpine Meadows. My guess is they saw a bit more rain and less snow from the last snow event due to a lower elevation. The lines at the Vista lift and Comstock lift were pretty long, but the lines at Zephyr were almost non-existent for much of the day. That’s important when you’re skiing with a 5, 7 and 9 year old that are each very independently minded.
I am aware that there are some “workarounds” that can get you on the slope faster at Northstar, in particular if you have an Epic pass or multi-day ticket. Sharing those would be tantamount to sharing powder stashes (if there is such a thing anymore) or the secrets to surviving Safeway on a holiday weekend.
Next time the family is in town, we’re going to have to get creative in finding some deeply discounted tickets for Alpine Meadows…because most of us really don’t need or want a village.
