It was another fine day at Alpine Meadows. My word of the day was “slushtacular”. When we left this afternoon, temperatures had reached into the mid-40’s and it felt just like a day in March. There were the typical firm surfaces to be found if you went to Scott or Lakeview too soon, reminding you that timing and following the sun is everything.
It seemed like just about everybody on the mountain was able to find their groove somewhere on the mountain today. My jam today was finding that smooth stuff that had just the perfect amount of melt. In the morning that was Terry’s Return to Red Ridge. In the afternoon, it was Tower 19 to Charity to Kangaroo Ridge. Speaking of Kangaroo, it ran today for the first time this season. We caught 4 laps on Nicks with almost no tracks in perfect slushuroy™ this afternoon.
We saw a lot of people enjoying off piste laps in the gullies at Sherwood in the morning and coming out of Lower Beaver in the afternoon. It’s spring at Alpine Meadows…except it’s January.
Winter does return for a bit tomorrow. There’s a couple of good things. There is still a little bit of storm out there. The models show the potential for about 3-4 inches of snow. The point forecast at mid-mountain shows 1-3 inches. Hopefully we get the higher end to avoid a total dust on crust situation. I heard some gloomy Gus types talking about the potential for rain instead of snow. As of now, the snow levels look to stick to around 6000 feet. it won’t be the lightest snow ever, but it won’t be super deep either. Sunny skies and seasonable normal temperatures then are expected for the weekend.
Update Friday 2pm: My sincerest apologies to Gus! I did not go skiing today but just drove over Donner Summit, where it was raining at 7200 feet.
Historically, this upcoming weekend is very busy. Last weekend, Base passes were blacked out. Next weekend, Base passes are blacked out. That leads to strong demand the weekend before MLK weekend. Be mentally prepared for parking lots to fill early and some traffic on the road. With the whole mountain now open, lift lines should be much less of an issue.
Looking ahead, after this little storm, things are looking dry for the next two weeks. This is something I said would eventually be coming. We’re going to be under the high pressure part of the dipole for awhile, while the east coast gets a run at finally getting their winter season going. With the exception of the very top part of Lakeview, coverage is great and we will get through. We’ll be keeping an eye out for a change to the pattern. Until then, we can enjoy the spring weather a bit and rejoice that there’s a little less shoveling for all of us.
We Are Living The Good Life
I know there’s been a couple of blips with how the mountain has opened this season that I have reported on. I wanted to take a minute here today to note how good we have it at Alpine Meadows. All of the terrain is open at Alpine Meadows, and on any given day, we generally have 90% of lifts running, with only redundant lifts not open. There are many ski areas that are really struggling this year. I mean really struggling: less than 50% of their terrain open, many lifts closed and many services not available.
There’s a variety of reasons this is happening: A shortage of employee housing which leads to a shortage of employees, and the rapid spread of the current version of COVID. Over and over during the last two weeks, everybody suddenly knows people in their world that has COVID and therefor needs time off work. Fortunately people that have been vaccinated seem to just be getting mild cases, but it’s been a struggle for every local business.
So kudos to team at Alpine Meadows pulling together and keeping this ship moving forward. Want to hear how bad it is at other resorts? Here’s some links for comparison:
• https://www.heraldnet.com/news/at-stevens-pass-epic-lines-not-so-epic-times-amid-staff-shortage/
• https://www.stormskiing.com/p/idle-lifts-bare-slopes-stunted-operating
Yup, we are definitely doing better than many ski areas at Alpine Meadows…thank you again team.
D7 and The Face were exquisite past 2:30…so slushtacular there. Appreciate the write-up. Who has the details on the fog cover over just the lake? Inversion layer?
Sorry, NO slushtacular there…..