The storm slowed down again, making today a bonus sunny day at Alpine Meadows. Combine that with KT-22 opening over the hill and the resultant reduced pressure on Alpine Meadows, it doesn’t get much better than this during the holiday season. The parking lots did not fill and neither did the lift corrals.
For the most part, the snow is also holding up well, in particular north facing exposures. Some of the southern exposures and groomers are starting to show some wear. Of course, none of that matters as we enter the next storm cycle. Also, I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time lately on Hotter Wheels and Subway, as we have slew of family in town with kids ages four to fourteen, all wanting some ski and snowboard coaching. Watching kids progress rapidly in the sport is better than a powder day. Hopefully teaching those kids to handle powder will go well.
Powder days are what’s on tap, currently at least through next Tuesday. The storm waves just keep reloading as you watch the model runs. Here’s the picture we dreamt about for much of last season:
Looking at the point forecast, none of these days are going to be a “bury the mountain” sort of event. Most of the totals run around a foot of new snow or so each day, giving mountain ops and ski patrol a fighting chance at keeping the mountain open. We hope they can do it. That said, the cumulative effect of a week straight, or more, of snowfall means that travel will certainly be difficult at times, and it is very possible that there could be some days where the mountain is unable to safely open. We have a long season ahead.
Here’s the cumulative totals just through Christmas Day:
The End Of An Era
The writing has really been on the wall ever since the Palisades Tahoe name was announced, and the new eagle logo started appearing everywhere. Although the name Alpine Meadows still appears on the lodge and trail maps, the Alpine Meadows logo is once again being pushed into retirement. It made a brief reappearance on team uniforms and in Estelle Sports the last couple of years, because that’s what Alpine Meadows regulars really wanted. But the official word became known this week that the old logo is completely going away, at least officially.
If you’re struggling for Christmas shopping ideas, Alpine Meadows logo wear is now on sale for 25% off in Estelle Sports. As of yesterday, there was still a pretty strong selection of t-shirts and hoodies. The selection of hats and stickers is pretty slim. So grab that while you can, as it’s still fairly easy to find. Once it’s gone from Estelle Sports, it’s just going to be a bit more difficult to find. The last time the logo disappeared, there were a number of people distributing bootleg items. We won’t be advertising it or selling it here, but it will no doubt be available. You won’t find me sporting a Palisades Tahoe logo anywhere, not if I can help it.
“One of the most iconic logos in the ski industry is being retired…it’s like replacing a classic Ferrari with a Camry.” — as a former NYC editor and arbiter of trends and signs, I can attest that the Alpine Meadows logo is strong and timeless. I suspect that PT Marketing will figure that out and revive the brand sooner rather than later…
Yeah, Mark, It became obvious to me a while back that Alterra’s scheme is to disappear your cherished Alpine Meadows and that the former two resorts become one larger entity with PR boasting it as one of the largest North American snow sports areas. But you always knew and worried about this. Please accept my condolences.
Biggest, Worst Richest
Actually it appears that the Alpine Meadows name is also going away. We received word from the marketing dept. that they have again changed the naming scheme. Instead of calling it ‘Olympic Valley’ and Alpine Meadows’ for the base areas and ‘Palisades Tahoe’ for the name of the combined resort, they are now saying that what was ‘S%^* Valley’ is now ‘Palisades Tahoe’ and what was ‘Alpine Meadows’ is now just ‘Alpine’. I was willing to stay on board with the rebranding effort, but I wish they would make up their minds!
I have also noticed they dropped using Meadows
Once upon a time there were two very popular ski resorts in France. Someone had a bright idea to merge them and call them the Espace Killy (after local hero Jean-Claude Killy). This made the combined area almost the equal of the other vast linked areas in Europe. For years they tried to market the Espace Killy but the people loved the two separate areas because they were different, had different characters and attracted different people. Being linked was nice because both areas had great skiing. However some people liked the first resort and others preferred the second resort because they were different. Luckily this story has a happy ending and the people won and continue to visit and ski at Val D’Isere and Tignes and nobody cares how many acres (or km of skiing) Espace Killy has.
Mark, thanks for the heads-up regarding “AM”-logo’d clothing still on sale at Estelle Sports. I just bought myself an “AM” logo hoodie from what now is a very small remaining inventory. Count me as another skier who is highly unlikely to billboard himself for PT. Meanwhile, I do encourage you to promote bootleg “AM” items in this space, or at least indicate to your readers where one might find such booty.