Let’s start out with the obvious facts. Today was probably the busiest day of the year at both Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley, as well as every ski area in Tahoe. We knew it would happen, and all you could do was be mentally prepared for it. Because this was the first day of the season for Sherwood, I was extra motivated to deal with it. We left the house earlier than ever (which was still a bit too late) and planned for an early departure in the afternoon.
We weren’t the only ones that planned to line up early at Hotter Wheels and go directly to Sherwood. The pictures below show the difference between lines at Hotter Wheels and Roundhouse at 8:30 am. You can see that 8:30 wasn’t anywhere near early enough to be near the front of that line!
Fortunately, once we got off the chair, we made the decision to rip down the Sherwood groomer to get to the chair. That was fortunate, as we noted many people having a strugglefest in the wind-affected and slightly crusty snow on Sherwood Face and South Face. Further testing on the second run showed that if you picked your line carefully, it was reasonably fun.
The best part of Sherwood is that it just gave more space for people to spread out, and it lured them away from the frontside lifts. We went back to the front side and enjoyed some quick laps on Roundhouse and Scott and Yellow with almost no lines.
Summit continued to be busy, so busy that I have had zero interest in riding it the last few days. Reportedly High Traverse and the upper bowls were open today. I heard some very mixed reviews. Knowing where to go is important. But I would rather not deal with the Summit Line. The app reported 10-20 minute waits for most of the day. Real users reported that waits were significantly longer.
The sun was out in earnest today, making it feel much warmer. Quoting Andy here: “It says 34 degrees but if feels like 80 degrees in the sun.” I know I overdressed, prepping for the longer wait at Hotter Wheels this morning. Slopes that saw a lot of sun today may not be so pleasant tomorrow morning.
We returned to Sherwood in the afternoon when the lines were almost non-existent. Fortunately there is a pretty good ski track set by ski patrol along Ray’s Rut so we could avoid going back via TLC. Ray’s Rut is NOT groomed. I’ll give the standard advice here: If you are a snowboarder or beginner skier, you are going to have a bad day if you choose to use Ray’s Rut.
Lakeview is looking better than it has all season, but it’s not quite there yet. Cats have been at the base of Lakeview prepping that area. But the top area of Lakeview requires a ton of snow to make that level surface for getting the perfect Lake Tahoe selfies. Word on the street in that another couple of feet of snow is needed to make it happen.
We’ve got two more sunny days before the last in this series of storms moves in Monday night. The GFS is still showing the potential for 2 feet of snow out of this next system. Hopefully that is enough to get Lakeview into play, because after that we are back into a dry spell.
Huge thanks to everyone at Alpine Meadows that is making this season work. It can’t be easy on these huge days following on the heels of a big storm. You all rock.
You mean we don’t like sitting in traffic for 2.5 hours to get to work ?! People were surprisingly very pleasant today
Yeah…those employees that have to stay until closing and join that throng headed home. 🙁 No hanging out at the Last Chair this year to wait for traffic to clear.
It was fun to see the stoke out there this morning. The early turns in Big Bend were the best I’ve had all season. It got a little heavy after the sun baked it. Bring your rock skis if you plan to take High T from Summit to the backside tomorrow.