The comment of the day was “That was far better than expected!” While a low pressure system moves in to Northern Nevada today, so far it only has brought a bunch of wind and a few clouds to Alpine Meadows. While it did keep High Traverse and Sherwood from opening, it meant that we had more time to appreciate the frontside of the mountain.
I was thinking that we’ve posted far too many pictures lately that make it look like there’s dirt and rocks all over the mountain. That is not the truth at all. The northern and eastern exposures of the mountain are still well covered, right down to the base area. It’s not a huge base, as we’re still sitting somewhere around 70% of average snowfall for the season. The mountain ops team has made miracles happen when it comes to managing that small amount of snow, and the investment in early season snow making.
When the whole mountain is open, the standard spring mantra is to “follow the sun.” But as we move into the part of the year where temperatures get warmer and Sherwood, Lakeview and Scott are not open, you should adjust that mantra to “follow the sun, then hide from the sun.” I already mentioned yesterday that Sunspot has been getting too soft, and that was the case again today.
Things change quickly in the spring, and often one particular run is only good for three or four laps. They start out too firm and rapidly get too soft. It just takes some experimentation to figure out what patterns work for your level of skiing. I like to watch from the lift and look for those skiers that are leaving a track on the corduroy, without leaving a trench behind.
The latest update from NOAA is still calling for some snowfall, mostly overnight. The point forecast suggests 1 to 3 inches at mid-mountain. It could be fun, at least until the sun comes out.
That Gondola Thing
Yes, the “official” announcement of the start of construction on the B2B gondola was released by Alterra this week. Some of the other bloggers jumped on the announcement and quickly copied and pasted some paragraphs from the press release into their “Breaking News!” announcements. It’s not like I’m trying to pretend it’s not happening, we’ve already mentioned a couple of times this season that it is definitely happening. I’m working on a more in depth report on the gondola and should have it out in the next week or so. For this week, I am preoccupied building a website about pizza, which I like better than the B2B gondola.
The SF Chronicle article about the gondola in today’s edition lists the cost at $60 million and confirms no new skiable terrain comes with that price tag. I just don’t get it.
Replacing Granite Chief or Lakeview with a new chair makes more sense, D
Yes, these are both things that will be the subject of discussion in my upcoming post, not that it will change anything….
Yeah, another lift, very arguably unneccessary, more uglification. At least it’s no longer going through the Granite Chief Wilderness Area and the Five Lakes Basin, at least that’s my understanding. I never understood how that was possible, legally and in other ways.
I’m fairly certain that the 60 million covers multiple Alterra projects. They will “try” to finish this summer and I will not be surprised if they do complete it in time for the renaming and rebranding SquawAlpine. Projected new name. GreedMountainValleyMeadows