Gettin’ Busy

We saw the busiest days of the season at Alpine Meadows this weekend. Even the Deer Park parking lot was put into play for Saturday. But, thanks to to proactive planning from the Alpine Meadows team, things went off without any major calamities.

My theory is that a lot of people paid attention to the call for big storms last week and made plans. Reservations were made, tickets were purchased, and pet sitters were hired. When the storms failed to materialize, people said “Let’s go anyways!”

Many of these were day trippers. I had some business in Auburn after skiing Saturday. As we headed back to Truckee in the evening, there was heavy traffic coming down the hill on 80.

The skiing was still really good in most places. Knowing where to find those places is the challenge. Generally speaking, if you were smart, you avoided Alpine Bowl, Rock Garden, Werner’s, Dance Floor and Weasel. There were still plenty of routes to choose down the mountain with good snow, good coverage and few people. The lines, not so easy to avoid. The best advice I can give is to be flexible. If Summit is busy, try another lift. Keep your eyes open, as one minute a line is really long and the next lap, the line is reduced.

Terrain expansion was minimal for the weekend. Kangaroo was open to the public for the first time this weekend. Kangaroo trail was dedicated to race training, but Nicks Run and off piste terrain was available. Over on Scott, access to Scott’s Chute was opened, as was Gentian Gully and the Promised Land. Did I take advantage of any of that new terrain? Nope. Maybe tomorrow.

Nothing else to report on High T or Sherwood…patience.

It’s been an interesting week, and I’m sure that will continue. So I hope you can laugh at the photo below, posted by Ryan on NextDoor.