Who turned on the difficult sign? Mother Nature left us with a beautiful blanket of cold, dry, light snow as of this morning, but why did she leave the wind machine on full blast?
Skiing was perfect this morning. Almost anywhere you pointed your skis the snow beneath them was soft and just delicious. Lines of local and holiday visitors were rather long at the main lifts, and parking lots were busting at the seams, but the skiing was so good that the overcrowding did not bother me.
As the morning progressed, the winds that were pretty nasty at the top of Summit and annoying at the top of Scott began to increase. It was unfortunate to see Summit and Scott placed on wind hold early in the afternoon. With so many people out on the hill enjoying the snow consistency it was a shame to see the major lifts on wind hold. Mother Nature has been making if difficult to get a full day of skiing on the entire mountain thus far this season. Hopefully tomorrow will bring lower winds and allow everyone to enjoy a full day of skiing on a fully opened mountain.
One suggestion to the Alpine staff, especially on a holiday or weekend day: I would remove one line of ski racks that have been placed on the snow just beyond the edge of the lodge deck. As it is currently configured a person has to maneuver through closely spaced ski racks with people clogging up the lanes putting skis in place, walking to the lodge after placing skis in the racks, or standing on skis getting ready to step out of them and place them on a rack. There should be a clear lane as wide as the stairs for skiers to walk off the deck and toward the lifts. This is true for the reverse case which is returning to the lodge to leave and have to maneuver there the maze to the deck. It is too congested.
One other observation that I made today. Winds were blowing this morning and a gust hit me as I was walking up the stairs to the deck. I was taken by surprise and almost lost my balance. This seems like it could be an issue in the future.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Mark’s editorial addition: There was so much to like today, as the skiing was really quite good. There was still some powder stashes, some nice soft winter bumps and some perfect wind buff. It was also the busiest I have ever seen it during a holiday blackout period, with all parking lots filled. The overall experience was definitely not great with long lift waits and crowded main runs back to the base area.
I can deal pretty well with long lines when all of the available terrain is open. I completely understand that there’s a lot of work to be done to open Sherwood and Lakeview due to record amounts of snow. That said, Yellow, Meadow, ABC and Kangaroo should have all been put into service today to give people more options and pare down long lines.
I understand that staffing is an issue. Maybe it’s time to cross train employees. I’m not talking about sending out J1’s out to patrol or groom. It is maddening to see extra yellow jackets in the breezeway while lifts sit idly. If it’s really impossible to get the staffing to run more of the mountain during the busiest part of the year, then it’s time to limit the number of visitors on the mountain. Severely limiting the number of day tickets that are sold or not utilizing all available parking lots would help ease the crowding. Today was insanely busy, dangerously busy at some choke points…and the next few days will likely be worse.
Looking at the schedule for tomorrow…Meadow has been added to the schedule. I am afraid that will not be enough. Sorry for the rant.
I wrote some comments on Andy’s post on FB earlier today. I’m really frightened about omicron and Alpine- there is essentially no attempt to have safe masking inside the lodge. I’m a doc in the bay area and we are seeing sky rocketing rates- I’m sure Truckee has the same issue. The resort will have even more staff out with infections if they aren’t careful and we don’t want to have Alpine be the cause of people getting ill. Many of us can’t work remotely and can’t take a week+ off to isolate if we get a breakthrough infection. I sent an email to Dee bryne yesterday but do you guys have any “ins” to persuade the resort to be more careful?
We were surprised to see there were no singles lines at Cirque and Roundhouse. Late in the day when they were the only lifts open, many were going up half full. They may say because of COVID but it’s easy for the single to ask permission, and clearly COVID is not a priority as almost nobody in the lodge had masks on and there was no enforcement.
Please add singles lines tomorrow!!
I totally agree about the need for singles lines. Usually people figure out pairing up as they approach the loading zone. But the turnstiles are acting so wonky that people get stuck there, resulting in empty chairs with hundreds of people still in line. Again there is no one to staff that spot. So if there are no ticket checkers, then we should be able to just go around the turnstile gates!
Totally agree that it is a frustrating mess to not have the mountain running at capacity when the crowds are at capacity. I hate to say it but maybe it’s time to jack the holiday day ticket price so high that it either discourages people from coming, or if guests still will pay it, Alterra can use the proceeds to raise wages enough to bring back some of the bodies that have left for better pay and housing opportunities.
I love your blog and the positivity, but you should have led with this: “Today was insanely busy, dangerously busy at some choke points…and the next few days will likely be worse. “. When I arrived at Noon-ish (after a fight with the wife whether it was worth it) the winds were howling 60+ mph at base and blowing snow so badly the entire mtn should have been closed down. One run up Summit getting off on 100% zero vis full whiteout conditions was a scary experience. There has to be a balance and jeopardizing safety at the expense of a few turns is never worth it!
Mark,
I completely agree with your comments regarding crowding. With full lots there must have been 3500+ folks on the hill with line times exacerbated by ski team / lesson priority (numbers there were massively increased from last week). I have been hearing talk all month of labor challenges, which are not unique to the ski industry, and wonder if it is time for management to consider a coop approach to supporting operations with a dedicated group of Alpine Ambassadors? I, for one, would be happy to work a two hour shift at a lift, if it meant opening more capacity for the larger community. This could be an innovative way to address a labor challenge likely to persist for years, and build a strong sense of “ownership” in the community – something that we all treasure from past years (Kate’s management of Summit line…)