It was another exceptionally busy day at Alpine Meadows. Many people arrived much earlier, avoiding the stress of highway traffic or remote parking. We still saw some long lines for lifts and long lines of traffic. The longest line of the day was the one that stretched through the breezeway this morning, where people were waiting for one of Melanie’s cinnamon rolls or a coffee from Viva Treats. Hopefully you planned your day to avoid most of those lines so you could focus on the fun of skiing and riding.
Once you got past all of that, there was still some great skiing today. The weather was playing mind games today. The morning started off grey and blustery, with occasional flurries. But as the day wore on, there was more and more blues skies and temperatures exceeded the forecast by about 10 degrees, into the low 40’s.
Conditions around the mountain were variable. At the top of the mountain, in north facing locations, the snow remained wintery soft. We noted a plume of snow blowing over Lower Saddle, filling it in so excited skiers and riders could hike another lap and enjoy the buffed snow before returning to the top on ABC. Most of the rest of the upper mountain is filled with pretty big moguls after the weekend crowds.
In lower parts of the mountain, the surface transitioned throughout the day. What started as creamy corduroy turned into a clumping kitty litter consistency, and in some places was then compacted into a cobblestone surface that was not so pleasant. Hopefully we will see widespread grooming overnight to smooth things back out for tomorrow.
Not everyplace was crowded today. We took a run through Gentian Gully this morning and did not see one other person until we returned to the Subway lift. Yes, there’s quite a few moguls in there now, and going there with my 192cm skis may not have been the best idea. But the snow was soft, and I’ll probably go there again tomorrow, hopefully with different skis.
We saw a cat working at Lakeview this morning, getting the Outer Limits run ready for grooming. This is a good sign of progress. There’s no word on when Lakeview will join the schedule.
The Tuesday storm is weakening with successive model runs. The Winter Storm Watch has been downgraded to a Winter Weather Advisory, with snow amounts now likely totaling about one foot. The advisory extends from Monday night through the day Tuesday. Although this last system came in just about as forecast, nearly every other storm this season has been continually downgraded as it got closer. I heard today that Alpine Meadows ends January at about 87% average for the season to date. I’m grateful just to be sliding on snow.
Very accurate review as usual. I had a great laugh at your 192s in Gentian. I was thinking much the same with my 190s in Promised Land near the end of the day. The Promised/Gentian entry was a roller-coaster ride–is that wind buff effect?
Definitely wind affected heading over to GG!
Great write up as always. The Kitty Litter comment had my family nodding their heads. D7 and D8 were pretty nice today – even into the afternoon after a decent amount of traffic. My son tried High T to Sun Bowl and in the words of teenagers…”meh”.
Hi Mark, just wanted to give a shout out for your goggle recommendation. I bought a pair of the Glade goggles last week and finally got to use them today. They are amazing! Thanks for the heads up 😎 . Don Estabrook