It was a Christmas miracle today. The snow just kept dumping and the winds blew at a level that kept many ski areas closed. But the employees at Alpine Meadows, and the sister mountain next door, managed to keep the doors open and a couple of lifts spinning. Even a short power outage during mid-morning did not result in anyone pulling the plug on operations. I know of quite a few families that always go skiing on Christmas day and that is a fantastic tradition. Our family has skied on Christmas day every day that Alpine Meadows has been open on Christmas for the last 20 years or so…until today.
As my posts have indicated, we have had a lot of family in town over the holiday week, many of who have not grown up skiing on Christmas day. Today, Santa and Christmas presents won out over going skiing. That’s not to mention that with snow coming down at 2-4 inches per hour and having 5 extra cars in our driveway, snow management was a full time job today. That’s nothing compared to what the Mountain Ops team goes through on the mountain during a huge storm cycle! In the end, building igloos and having hot chocolate and marshmallows around the back yard fire pit will provide some awesome memories for the next generation. Still there was a sting to missing my first day of skiing at Alpine Meadows over that last 165 days that Alpine has been open.
Tomorrow is still looking challenging. The point forecast has another 40-60 inches of snow at mid-mountain over the next 48 hours. The winds are also expected to be just as fierce as well. It will almost certainly be another day of lower mountain lifts for Sunday and Monday. The bonus is that the blackout week for Base level passes begins tomorrow and that should cut down the number of people on the mountain, not that today was crowded.
Terrain expansion will happen some day. This storm series is totally setting us up for a great season. We just need to be patient.
The Operations Blog
If there’s one good thing that has come out of running the Unofficial Alpine blog over the last 13 years, it is that it encouraged the marketing team to come up with their own official blog. I’m not referring to BA’s weather blog that appears at the Palisades Tahoe site, I’m talking about the Mountain Operations blog that started appearing a couple of seasons ago. Since then it keeps getting better and better. Yesterday’s and today’s posts were gold. Each offered a frank discussion of exactly is going on with Alpine Meadows and our neighbor. It explains the challenges that mountain ops faces when it’s dumping snow. They have also started being a bit more clear about plans for terrain expansion. Based on today’s post and a little mistake in a morning marketing tweet, it looks like Lakeview would be the next expansion to expect.
Of course, it’s going to take a ton of work just to get Roundhouse back and then Summit once the winds abate.
Many thanks to the mountain ops team for your efforts at keeping everyone posted. It’s really appreciated.