It was another fine spring-like day at Alpine Meadows. I am a bit underdressed most days at Alpine, preferring a bit of a chill to being overheated. With the afternoon temperature nearing 50°, I found myself asking what I was thinking wearing long underwear or anything more than a light sweatshirt today. I can’t imagine being one of those people that was sporting a full down jacket and scarf today! I even saw full onesies out there.
The snow also got a bit temperate in places too. We are not at the corn stage yet. We’re mostly in the clumpy sticky stage. Having overnight temperatures near 40° on the mountain contributed to the problem. So rather than seeking out the sunnier areas of corn today, it seemed more productive to catch those places that were just a bit slushy. I found my happiest moments in Wolverine, Terry’s Return and Yellow. Weirdly, if you hunt around in northern exposures, you can still find some wintery snow in areas like North Peril or Gentian Gully.
This is the warmest day of this current streak, as the winds pick up over the next two days. For Thursday, a strong southwest wind should bring temperatures down about 10 degrees. More importantly, we get a dry cold front moving through on Friday. The current forecast drops temperatures to the mid-30’s for Friday, with an east wind gusting up to 50 mid-mountain. If this pans out, the Summit lift will almost certainly be on wind hold for Friday. We would also not see much warming of off piste terrain. So pay attention to that possibility if you’re considering an early start to the weekend.
For the weekend and Monday, the east winds should abate and bring us back to the low 40’s with sunny skies. The models are hinting at the possibility of a pattern change by the end of the month again today. The last run of the GFS puts that out about January 28th out in Fantasyland. I would not count on it yet Robert.
What Will The Holiday Weekend Bring?
For those that have lost track of time, due to the kids being on remote learning again, or that it’s just always busy around Tahoe now…it’s the Martin Luther King three day weekend coming up. This is the second of three blackout periods for Base level passholders. In past years, the blackout periods have been some of the less crowded times on the mountain. But as we saw during the recent holiday blackout, that was not really the case this season. The second week of the holiday seemed almost as busy as the first.
How many Ikon passes are sold of each type by Alterra Mountain Company is not public knowledge. So I am not certain what caused the most recent blackout period to be so busy. Maybe more passes were sold. People (not me!) seem to have unlimited money these days and didn’t seem to mind buying day tickets at $229 each. It may just have been a crazy demand situation because of the huge snowpack and the prime conditions that created. We will have to wait and see how crowds actually pan out this weekend.
What we have going in our favor is that more of the mountain is open, and the mountain can handle that traffic, until the shuttles start arriving from the other side. It’s parking and traffic that are the bugaboo. Pretty soon, we’re all going to need to leave Truckee or Tahoe City at 3am to avoid traffic and get a parking spot.
I chatted with Captain Dan about food services today, noting that the Sun Deck bar is being prepped for a weekend opening. It is going to be open this weekend, for beer and beverages only. No Báhn Mi this year as Placer County has dropped the regulation requiring that bars serve food. Maybe someday we will get back to having an outdoor BBQ because tri-tip and I get along very well.
Food service will return to the Last Chair Bar this weekend. A friend was able to sample that this week and said it was good. Ordering will be available online only. I am going to assume you find that via the PT app or some handy QR code that will be posted. This is all good as more options is a good thing. That said, with the current COVID spike, you won’t find me anywhere in the lodge this weekend, other than a brief stop in the locker room. What if we could order from the Alpine Grill or Last Chair Bar and pick it up at an outdoor window or pickup station? Planting seeds…until then, it will be Treats, Mogrog or the Ice Bar.
Agreed with the outdoor pickup windows in these omicron days. Over on this side of the ridge in Pally Valley, pretty much every indoor location seems to be content with pretending like the pandemic is over.