This TRAiN Is Bound For Glory…Saturday At Alpine Meadows

The premier North Tahoe ski and snowboard freestyle ski and snowboard contest is back for another year at Alpine Meadows. The TRAiNS event is primarily sponsored by the local non-profit group, High Fives and Volkl Skis. There’s a number of other companies, large and small that have jumped on board to support the event as well.

Thirty “world class athletes” will compete as teams of 4 in what essentially is a team big air competition. Although a lot of big name athletes are invited to compete – we often end up with a better show put on by local pros. The past few years of competition have been dominated by Alpine Meadows ski coaches, park staff and members and alumni of the Alpine Meadows freestyle team.

According to High Fives, the goal for this year is to return to the simple roots of the event and  focus less on spinny flippy tricks that leave most of the crowd saying, “What was that?” The contest originally was based on the categories of the best 540 and the best “high five”. Judges will also be looking for the best switch trick and backflip. If you’re wondering about the name of the event, each run consists of a train of four riders hitting the jump rapid fire. For the final round, all riders join for one big spectacular train.

Each team’s winnings are donated to the charity of their choice, with athletes taking home only clothing and gear from event sponsors. There’s a lot of food and merchandise available, and many of those merchants donate large portions of their proceeds from the event to High Fives. There’s a great BBQ put together by the people from the Full Belly Deli. If you have ever wanted to customize a Big Truck hat, they will be doing an SOS (Sew On Site) sale at the event.

For the last several years, the venue for TRAiNS has been at the bottom jump of the Dance Floor park, with a spectator arena set up on Gunner’s Knob. As of last weekend, that venue was looking pretty thin. One would assume that massive amounts of snow farming was done while slopes were closed this week. The Alpine Meadows grooming and park staff has been making miracles happen all season with very little snow…pretty sure they will make it happen.

Riddle me this, Batman….The TRAiNS event is scheduled from 11-4 pm on Saturday. That does not quite match up with Alpine Meadows operations schedule for the weekend. Lifts are set to roll this Friday through Sunday from 9am until 2pm.

The weather should be amazing for the weekend. Saturday’s forecast at Alpine calls for a sunny day with a high temperature of 53°. Alpine Meadows is expected to roll Roundhouse and Summit this weekend and Hot Wheels, conditions permitting. We meant to tell you earlier:

• Reload and 3 Day Pre-purchase Adult tickets are down to $39 for the next two weekends.
• Passholders from other mountains can buy tickets for $35.
• Squalpine passholders can buy friends and family tickets for $35
• Employees from other mountains can buy tickets for $19

Mere mortals can afford a day ticket at Alpine meadows at this time of year. See ya there!