One Inch Down And Many Questions To Go

Don’t panic. Only one inch of snow has fallen at Alpine Meadows, but the forecast is still on track. The front stalls for a bit today as it pushes past the crest, giving us one more day to prep for snowmageddon. Here’s a quick look at the forecast:

Looking at the details in the point forecast for Alpine Meadows again this morning, the possible snow totals for mid-mountain still add up to 55 to 80 inches through Tuesday night. One part of the forecast that has changed is that there is not going to be much of a break on Wednesday before the next wave moves in Wednesday night into Thursday. Another 1-3 feet is expected out of that second wave.

Monday morning update: The remote data site shows about 20 inches of new Sierra cement at the base since yesterday. This is exactly what we want as our base. Here in Truckee…it’s been a Slurpee-fest so far. Not even my Honda 8/28 will deal with this slop.

So that clear travel day that was expected for Wednesday is no longer a safe bet. Friday now seems to be the first time you can expect that roads may clear of snow. Surely there will be a storm of skiers and boarders headed to Tahoe to take advantage of the new snow. That is not great news if you’re headed to Tahoe from the west. It is guaranteed to be a long trip pretty much no matter how you slice it.

Clues About Opening Day?

Cruising around various places on the interwebz, there’s some angry discussions about why Alpine Meadows and the place over the hill have not specifically announced an opening date. That’s not surprising, since Mount Rose opened Friday, Vail Resorts opened terrain at Heavenly and Kirkwood yesterday and Northstar today. Alpine Meadows will likely beat out Homewood, Diamond Peak, Soda Springs and Donner Ski Ranch in the race to open. We have that going for us.

But today there are some clues about what the mountain managers and marketing department are thinking. If you try buying a lift ticket for next week, you’ll see what I mean. Here’s the calendar view:

Only $49 tickets are available for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. If you actually click on those dates, it lists First Venture, Subway and Meadow as being the only lifts available. My guess is that is “weather and conditions permitting”. The current forecast does include an avalanche warning. One does not expect an avalanche on beginner terrain, but both Subway and Meadow are potentially in a slide path. I would not count on them being open, but they are considering that option. With the higher prices beginning on Thursday, it’s a pretty clear indication that they expect to open more lifts at that time. Clicking on Thursday gives minimal detail: “Valid for 1 day of skiing/riding at Palisades Tahoe.” So it appears that Thursday is when you can expect to ski anything other than a beginner lift at Alpine Meadows.

Update: This popped up on the official AMOV site today. It seems that Friday is the advertised go day for Alpine:

 

About that Palisades Tahoe thing…we visited Alpine Meadows yesterday afternoon to preload our locker before thing got busy. There was a nice young couple with two young kids parking next to us in the parking lot. We assumed that they were doing the same, as it looked like they were preparing some ski gear. Ten minutes later, as we toured the Sun Deck additions, we found the same family wandering the deck. That’s when they came over and asked “They’re not open?”

Apparently, they had a lesson scheduled yesterday afternoon at Palisades Tahoe, and were unaware that Alpine Meadows is not really Palisades Tahoe. My guess is that they were coming in from Tahoe City and saw the sign at the bottom of the road and headed on up. As we were also unloading ski gear from the car, they figured that this must be the place. We explained to them that they had to go to the “other Palisades Tahoe” over the hill and gave the directions to find it. We’ve said it before and we will say it again. Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley are really two separate resorts, and the whole idea of trying to slap one label onto two separate areas does not always work.

This Looks….Interesting

Yesterday was the first time I have actually set foot at Alpine Meadows since closing day last May. Things look “interesting” for lack of a better term. The other word that describes the current look at Alpine Meadows is “temporary”. They are going to be able to operate in this transitional season, but it may not always be pretty. Where should we start?

The “breezeway” will need a new name. It’s no longer going to have much of a breeze, being mostly closed off at the southern end. Yesterday it was looking more like a cave as some of the last workers were installing a plywood wall over the previous opening. While there’s plenty of artificial light, it feels a bit claustrophobic, and that’s before it’s loaded up with a herd of wet skiers and riders making their way to the slopes or into the locker rooms. I have no doubt that some clever new nicknames will be applied to this area soon.

If memory serves me correctly, the old stairs that led up to the Sun Deck were metal grates. The new ones have a solid metal surface with a lot of grip tape for safety. In order to increase safety, and reduce the shoveling workload, a roof and walls have been constructed over the area where the steps come up to the Sun Deck. Again it all seems pretty temporary, or maybe it was an afterthought. Inside the walls of that “shed”, safety rails around the opening are installed to prevent people from falling into the hole. It’s like they built it and then decided “Let’s build this shed over it.” Sorry no picture was taken.

The Sun Deck is marginally bigger. As we have noted before, a large concrete wall was built that forms the new foundation of the Sun Deck, extending it out about 12 feet. For this season, the steel grate extension is reportedly temporary. I’ve heard that the permanent surface and brick will extend all of the way to the edge next summer. As of now there’s roughly the same number of tables as last season. Once everything is all filled in, you will be able to exit the Sundeck right onto the snow. Previously, the only exit was via steps to the breezeway or on the western end of the deck. The fire pit is gone, replace by the steps and shed.

Alpine Meadows will not be very friendly for families with a lot of kids that need rentals or lessons this season. If you’re leaving the rentals and lessons department, here’s what you are going to find:

No, I do not want to be the adult or instructor that has to drag my young kids and all of their gear up these steps to make it to their 10 o’clock lesson. Because of the gondola construction, this is the current path to get to the snow. It is not going to be pretty. I also don’t want to be the person that is in charge of keeping those stairs snow free. I am sorry for you Pat. For what it worth, these steps are not a permanent installation. They are very clearly the types of steps you install for temporary bleachers.

I am guessing that the plan was to have the Alpine Meadows side of the gondola more complete for this season, rather than only getting it to the haphazard construction zone stage. It’s going to be interesting to see how this situation develops as the season progresses. Unfortunately with a delayed opening, there’s no way to ease into it. There’s going to be tons of snow and tons of people to test it out right away.

There is a bigger plan in place. In a Zoom meeting last month, a rough plan was shared with employees for building a “learning facility” at Alpine Meadows. This screen shot was shared of the potential design:

Update: That was NOT a correct description of the drawing below. The building to the right of the new gondola (not there yet!) would be the gondola maintenance and car storage building. Although a plan was announced for a new learning center, there is no specific plan just yet. Thanks for the guidance.

I’m not sure I get it. What happened to the TLC lift in that plan? Reportedly more details will be shared in a town hall meeting soon. One takeaway from this photo is that a lot of thought went into making arrivals at Alpine Meadows super easy if you’re coming over from the faux village at Olympic Valley via the yet to be finished gondola. For this season, things are going to be a little bit rougher for guests parking at Alpine Meadows that want nothing to do with that village.

Oh well, who’s ready to go skiing? This guy is!