The new sign appeared sometime recently at the bottom of Alpine Meadows Road. One would assume it was some time today, as 3 different people emailed me a photo of the new sign. That’s far less than the number of people that emailed me when the SVAM sign was removed, and less by a factor of 100 than when the old Alpine Meadows sign was removed.
To be honest, I am not offended at all by the new sign. I think it’s rather an improvement on the sign it replaced. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the resort now known as Olympic Valley. There’s great terrain over there and a ton of variety. Some people actually value the village experience. It’s an okay place.
What offended me about the old sign was the Squaw Valley logo replacing the Alpine Meadows logo. It represented the hostile takeover of my favorite mountain by KSL Capital and it’s feared leader, the bad Andy. Imagine a hostile country planting their flag over the US Capitol building. Most of us would be incensed.
The replacement of the Squaw Valley name and logo by Palisades Tahoe and their new eagle logo takes a negative thing and makes it neutral. I can’t imagine myself ever sticking a Palisades Tahoe sticker or logo on my bumper, nor any part of my ski gear. Alpine Meadows will always be Alpine Meadows to me and that is all I need.
Let’s say that Lucky Charms is my favorite cereal. All I will ever notice in the store is the Lucky Charms name and that cute little leprechaun. I completely ignore the name General Mills and their logo. Truth be told, I just used Google to verify which company makes Lucky Charms.
So thank you to the powers that be at Palisades Tahoe for replacing that old sign at the bottom of the road with something that is more tolerable for many of us. It was a good move that goes far beyond doing the right thing for native Americans. That said, every time I turn the corner headed up to Alpine Meadows, this is the sign I am going to see:
I am delighted to see the old ‘AM’ incorporated into the new sign.
Okay, you know that bottom picture is just my imagination with a little help from Photoshop? 🙂
Mark, good job on the photoshopping. I was excited for a minute there.
Oh wait a minute … is the last sign photo-shopped?? I love this sign. 🙁
That AM logo does fit nicely over the eagle. Hmmm. Somebody is going to make a sticker. I can see it now.
I’ll buy a dozen
I’m going to throw in a reminder that we are heavily moderating comments these days…
For those of us with a long-time connection to that mountain, “Alpine Meadows Green” will always be the color in our minds. The orange and bright blue color combination is more modern and fits with their plans to expand their reach.
Lucky Charms? I mean…Lucky Charms???
They are “magically delicious”!
Being that I’m on the South Shore and I ski at The Ranch, I probably am out of turn but the sign looks like a realtors for sale sign for a property in the A.Meadows area. Will any of you actually say, “I’m skiing/riding at Palisades today”?
Nope
That’s what I thought first..For Sale..