Early Thoughts On The 21/22 Season At Alpine Meadows

Like clockwork, the first hint of fall appeared this week. Gusty winds and a few sprinkles of rain moved through the north Tahoe area over the weekend. The pine needles are piling up in the front yard quickly and my thoughts are turning more to skiing each day. That has led me to wonder what the 21/22 season looks like for skiing at Alpine Meadows.

It’s Looking Drier Again

Nobody wants to hear that news, but through the summer and into the fall, most of the signs are pointing to a greater than even chance of another drier than normal winter in all of California this winter. There’s a couple of things at work here. Once again, the odds of a La Niña setup happening look good through February of 2022. La Niña years typically see a ridge build in the Pacific Ocean that drive storms further north. That means that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia have higher than average precipitation while California sees drier conditions. That does not always happen, there have been exceptions, most recently in the 2016-17 season.

With overall rising temperatures on Earth, these high pressure ridges are tending to set up farther north than they have historically, which means that stronger systems have a tougher time occasionally breaking through that ridge. So historically La Niña years have not necessarily been drought years, but just years of less than average precipitation. That historical pattern seems to be changing with stronger and more persistent ridging.

There is one difference between this up coming season and last season. The amount of polar ice reached a historical low point last summer, and meteorologists are fairly certain that has a great impact on how storms form. This year, the polar ice caps did show some recovery. That could change the pattern of how storms form this season. To quote Lloyd Christmas “So you’re telling me there’s a chance!”

If you really want to know more about weather, I always suggest that you start following Daniel Swain at WeatherWest.com.

If you need deep powder days to make your ski season complete, you might be disappointed. I’ve learned to love all kinds of skiing, including mid-winter corn and adventure lines during low snow pack. I’ve also really come to appreciate the smaller crowds during the drier spells. That said, another dry year in California would be terrible news when it comes to wildfire danger, farmers, or simpler things like drinking water.

We’re Not Done With COVID Yet

As vaccinations became widely available during the spring of last season, it seemed as if a dark veil was lifted off of the world and there was a hope that things might return to “normal” for the 21/22 season. I never really imagined that choosing not to get a vaccination would become a widely accepted point of view. Throughout my life, I have accepted that medical science would smartly keep me safe from the dangers of polio, measles, mumps, chicken pox and tetanus. As I crested the wave and headed into my fifties, I even started getting annual flu shots. Even throughout a long teaching career, I can count on one hand the number of students that had opted out of vaccinations, generally only when faced with very serious medical implications.

But there’s a different world out there now. With the help of vaccine hesitancy, new variants of COVID will continue to arrive and we will keep living with COVID for the upcoming season, and possibly beyond. I know by even stating this that I will be losing readership. I can already hear the sounds of people clicking the unsubscribe link and deleting browser bookmarks. So be it.

Several ski areas have already drawn a line in the sand and have mandated vaccinations for their employees. I applaud Mount Rose for being the first local area to announce that policy. They join Aspen-Snowmass, Arapahoe Basin and a few others that took a brave step in mandating vaccinations for workers. [Vail Resorts just announced a mandatory vaccination policy for employees this season as well] As of now, Palisades Tahoe is only recommending vaccinations for employees. Employees choosing not to get vaccinated will be asked to wear an appropriate mask while working indoors.

I understand the hesitation on PT’s part to mandate vaccinations. Getting enough employees in Tahoe has become a real issue over the last few years, as affordable housing is just not available as “work from home” has become more of a thing, and more homes are turned into hotel rooms. It’s one thing to lose staff that serve in entry positions that are easier to fill. No mountain wants to lose lift maintenance staff, patrollers or other staff members that are difficult to replace. It is amazing to me that we are at a point where people would choose to quit before getting vaccinated. But that is where we are…

President Biden recently mandated that all businesses with more than 100 employees will have to mandate vaccines, or weekly COVID testing, for all employees. I think it’s a given that Palisades Tahoe has more than 100 employees and may have to accept the mandate, assuming it survives legal challenges that have already been filed. Again, it is mind boggling that a president would need to mandate the vaccination for anyone. If you want to take a deeper dive into the subject, Stuart Winchester at the Storm Skiing Journal dedicated his latest podcast to the subject.

So What Does It Look Like For Us As Skiers And Riders?

No policy announcements have been made by Palisades Tahoe of just what things will look like at Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley next season. But I’ve been reading up on what other ski areas have announced, and checked out a great podcast from Ski Area Management magazine titled “Dusting Off The Covid Playbook”. In short, it’s too early to tell exactly what will happen, but some general trends are appearing. Local decisions by Placer County and the State of California will ultimately dictate this season’s operational policies.

Here’s some general thoughts:

• Masks will likely not be a thing on the slopes for the upcoming season. As we have learned more about COVID transmission, it’s much less likely in an outdoor setting with reasonable social distancing and crowd control. Eliminating mask enforcement in lift lines and outdoor areas will reduce a lot of headaches.

• Ghost lanes and social distancing in lift lines will likely continue this year. This results in lines that look longer, but aren’t necessarily slower.

• Masks will likely still be required in indoor areas of the lodge, including locker rooms and dining areas.

• There will still be limits on numbers of people inside of the building at one time. Because of the reduced space, limits on time spent indoors still seems reasonable. My guess is that guests will be advised again to treat their car as their personal day lodge.

• Food services may return to more of a normal look. Rather than having everything pre-cooked and packaged, we could see regular lodge service return. The bugaboo there is whether or not there will be enough staff to make that happen.

• I have no idea on whether or not alcoholic beverage service will return to normal in the Last Chair or Alpine Bar. There seems to be no limits on bar operations in Placer County at this time.

• I have heard nothing regarding how things might be for ski lessons and ski teams at this time. With limitations as to who could ride together on chairlifts last season, several of the younger teams were forced to operate at Olympic Valley last season. I know that many parents of those children are looking forward to their kids being back at Alpine Meadows this season, so they can be back at Alpine Meadows this season.

We’re right about two months from the traditional start of our ski season. I’m looking forward to the end of fire season as soon as possible, and a return of long streaks of days sliding on the snow at Alpine Meadows, whether I have to wear a mask, or not.