Sharing Some Ski Tidbits

We’re not going to lie. It’s difficult to come up with content when we’re not skiing and the weather has not been so great. There was some May powder to chase with 6-10 inches of new snow falling in favored areas of North Tahoe this week. I saw it on Instagram, but it was still not enough to motivate me to go skiing, especially when I remembered that my preferred skis for such a mission are still in my locker at Alpine Meadows.

So for today, there’s just a few small topics to cover:

You Should Check Out The Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast

We’ve got to hand it to Stuart Winchester. He is the person behind The Storm Skiing Journal & Podcast. Although the author focuses primarily on the Northeast region, there’s plenty of serious content for people that want more than just dreamy powder videos and skiing fails. The blog is clean and understated, with no advertising or distractions. Here’s links to three of the latest posts we liked:

• A one hour podcast interview with Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory titled “We’re Continuing to Strengthen Our Offerings”

• A blog post titled “Bring Your Own Toilet Paper – Why The 20/21 Ski Season Might Be Empty, Expensive & Weird”

• The latest blog post, which makes a strong case for purchasing the Indy Pass (in addition to my Ikon pass) for next season.

Kudos to Stuart. We’re already a big fan and we hope to send you more subscribers.

Skiing Resumes In Oregon

Two ski areas have re-opened in Oregon, Mount Bachelor and Timberline. Each opening is limited in different ways.

Mount Bachelor’s reopening is just a 12 day “pass holders’ only” short run through Memorial Day. The mountain will not be making any money as no food, lessons, rentals or lift tickets were offered. It was strictly all about marketing, and I have no problem with that.

Timberline is well known for generally being open for skiing 11 months of the year. During the late spring and summer months, they are the host of numerous freeskiing and race camps. Timberline re-opened with a reservation system in place to limit the numbers of skiers each day. They also have not opened terrain parks. We would guess that has something to do with reducing the number of ski patrol incident and the potential for skiers and boarder to congregate in park zones. Timberline is hoping to maintain its normal summer schedule, including modified race camps.

We are not hopeful that Squaw Valley or Mammoth will be in a position to reopen for a late season blast. We’re just not there yet. With a zillion passes sold, any re-opening would certainly draw thousands of visitors to counties that are still discouraging too many visitors.

Season Locker Update & Kudos

If you’re a seasonal locker holder at Alpine Meadows, you should have received an email last week that relieves you from the need to commit to a locker by next week. In case you missed it, the TL;DR is:

• The deadline for renewing at the current rate has been extended until October 30th
• If you like, you can put 10% down now and pay the balance by November 12th
• A “worry free guarantee” has been added, meaning that you can purchase now and get a refund for any reason until November 3rd

If your gear is still in your locker, you also don’t have to rush to remove it by next week. Dan notes they are willing to work with you to get your locker cleared out at a later date if you choose not to renew. We hope to see all of the usuals slumming it in Locker Room 3!

Pass Renewal Discounts Extended Until June 17th

This just in, Ikon has extended the pass renewal deadline until June 17th. That’s not that much of an extension. I was sort of hoping I might be able to pay for passes with the next round of stimulus checks…hopefully the Senate will quit the foot dragging.