Inquiring minds would like to know why the digital sign across from the Deer Park overflow parking lot welcomes guests to Palisades Tahoe and says nothing about Alpine Meadows. We have heard about skiers not familiar with the area driving up to the Alpine Meadows Lodge not realizing that they were not in the other valley. These particular people missed their ski lesson because they were in the wrong place. The digital sign should say Welcome to Alpine Meadows or Welcome to Alpine Meadows / Palisade Tahoe.
Skiing was very good today. Our blue sky became clear shortly after the early opening at Summit Chair (8:45). The grooming crew laid down some perfect corduroy this morning. Of particular interest was Yellow Trail which was Mark’s run of the morning. Yellow was perfect for making long sweeping giant slalom turns at speed. After messing up the corduroy for an hour or so I hunted for chalky snow in the shade. As it has been for many of the past few days Our Father, North Peril, Pygmy Forest, Sympathy, D7, and others were enjoyable. I think it warmed up a bit sooner this morning than yesterday and the day before because the south facing slopes seemed to soften earlier. I heard Sherwood softened and was very good before the noon hour.
Some of us who have been skiing at Alpine Meadows for more years than we might admit, would like to let the management know how we feel about having the name of our ski area relegated to our memory banks instead of leaving it prominently displayed for us to feel welcomed back home each time we arrive at our mountain. Perhaps the sticker pictured about will help drive home our point.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
I hope your message re. correct place names gets the attention it deserves. Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley are two very different places, each with their own individual culture, as Alterra has confirmed and promises to honor. Palisades Tahoe is the name of a ski area. How confusing for newcomers! No one in either valley will ever say, “I live in Palisades Tahoe.”
I’m with Eddy…I live in Alpine Meadows and ski at Alpine Meadows!
I am all in on Alpine Meadows. The whole idea of creating the over-arching name to create the perception of being the 6th largest resort in North America is just dumb. There is far more value to having two different resorts with two different personalities. I am most certainly not saying Vail is better, because it is absolutely not…but Vail can claim 3 Tahoe resorts, while Alterra had two and is trying to make it one. Alterra desperately needs a third mountain in the Tahoe area to handle the number of passes it has sold. Let’s keep Alpine Meadows “Alpine Meadows”.
I too think the marketing strategy, let alone the history lost with the Alpine Meadows name, is off. If the concept behind the base to base gondola is to market to tourists a two-mountain experience, then why change both mountains to the same name. Two distinct ski hills with different characters seems like it would sell better and maintain what the loyalist like about each. I also wonder if mountain operations knows led that when they announce an event at “Palisades Tahoe” no one knows where they mean.
YES!
Let’s keep Alpine Meadows, Alpine Meadows! The name is not offensive to anyone, and doesn’t need to be changed.
Andy is right, that electric sign should say Alpine Meadows.
Eddy is right too!
We are all long time Alpine skiers, and many of us also live, or have lived, in Alpine Meadows!
I’ll fly that sticker with pride- where can I get one?
Odds are pretty good that if you see one on someone’s skis, they may have more…ask around.
Thanks so much Andy for stating what so many of us are thinking. The digital sign near the bottom of the road manages to tweek me every morning as I drive past. Since the top (permanent) part of the sign says Palisades Tahoe…why repeat that in the digital display? I guess they want to double down on that name. Suggestions…how about Welcome to Alpine Meadows or at least, Alpine Meadows Base. Don’t erase…embrace. I too, have talked to a distraught family in the parking lot that “somehow” ended up in the wrong valley with so many plans gone awry. Safe to say, they were less than happy.
I want one of those stickers. In fact I want that on hats, t-shirts and anything else I can get my hands on. Always Alpine Meadows!
Sunday the 9th I rode the shuttle up the hill with some very confused people. They asked me about “the back side” and I thought they were talking about Sherwood. Turned out they thought they were going to Olympic Valley and wanted to know how to get from there to Alpine later in the day. I suspect lots of people haven’t ended up where they thought they did. One guy I rode up Summit with the other day said he had skied Palisades the day before, but of course theoretically he was still at Palisades while at Alpine. Good grief the naming and marketing is frustratingly confusing.
The Super Dolomiti pass which is many many years old not to mention the first electronic one at least that I’m aware of. It entitled its users to something like 400 lifts — maybe more now — connecting via primarily chairlifts and gondolas a large number of Italian ski resorts and mountain villages. I never heard of any campaign to give them all the same name.
Amen, Andy. I’ll be looking for the sticker on a ski……….
I think the single name makes sense for what they are doing, but they still need to make a stronger distinction between the two resorts like Alpine Meadows at Palisade Tahoe or something. Also they seem to be referring to the Olympic side more often just as ‘Palisade Village’ You will see this in their twitter feed when referring to what lifts etc. are open, so I think even they are confused. They should be referred to as Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley and signage etc. should reference those names.
I have been skiing Alpine from 1979 . Sure wish it could keep its name and identity .
I would be proud to have a sticker Don’t call me Palisades – Always Alpine Meadows
T shirt and hat also
I am assuming, and hopeful, that as soon as someone figures out where to get one of those stickers/hats/t-shirts, that they’ll post that info here and we can all don them proudly…..