Skiing & riding was better than expected today, but not quite as nice as yesterday. There was a pretty solid freeze last night, which is good. The winds also turned a bit more from the north, keeping things just a few degrees cooler today. That meant that north facing slopes stayed frozen solid much longer today.
Groomers proved to be a challenge to many today. The snow was pretty slushy when it was groomed and that lead to less than spectacular results. There were a lot of ruts, curbs and death cookies. The sugar like consistency of the snow meant that these problems were quickly erased, and replaced by piles of loose sugar snow.
Today was one of those odd days where the off piste slopes were often smoother than the on piste slopes. We found some of our best turns today on Sweet Spot, Ladies Slalom and Skadi Hill. The key is to find those areas that are less travelled, where moguls and ruts are not left from previous days.
By the time some of the north facing terrain softened in Palisades, High Yellow and Peter’s Peril – the long slog back to Summit Chair was good only for some knee wrenching turns. Additionally, some clouds and cooler winds caused the snow to set up in the final hours. We quit a bit early to enjoy the events at the lodge.
The Passholder Appreciation BBQ was moved indoors today due to the cool winds on the Sun Deck. The portions of food were generous and served with a smile. The selection of $3 canned beers was far greater than just PBR. Draft beers at $5 included a cool pint glass with Alpine and Squaw logos. Fortunately the glasses did not include the unpopular tagline “Better Together.”
There was a pretty big pile of schwag thrown out to the crowd at 4pm by Erin from marketing. The scramble for Oakley beanies, Alpine Meadows trucker hats and some nice new die cut Alpine Meadows stickers was pretty chaotic. There was also a nice selection of raffle items from Alpine Meadows sponsors Oakley and GoPro and grand prizes of a pair of skis and a snowboard. The raffle was handled by lift ops manager Kate Z, which meant that things moved along as efficiently as an Alpine Meadows lift line. It was another lucky day for me – my ticket was pulled for some nice Oakley goggles.
Several people were heard saying that this was the best of the appreciation parties…I wouldn’t go quite that far. Several years ago the party included a bonfire and marshmallow roast at the top of Roundhouse, with a moonrise ski with sparklers before the BBQ. There were definitely many steps in the right direction this year. Thanks for all of the efforts from Alpine staff.