It was another day pretty much the same as the last number of days with the exception of the fact that the winds died down overnight. Air temperature increased during the day into the mid thirties on top of Summit and low 40’s on the Sherwood side of the mountain.. All lifts at Alpine Meadows were operating this morning. This helped disburse the crowds somewhat and assisted in keeping wait times for the lifts to a reasonable level.
We carved turns on the nicely groomed Alpine Bowl, Terry’s Return, Sunspot, D8, and Wolverine during the first hour on the slopes. I wandered under Alpine Bowl Chair and in lower Palisades where the shaded slope continues to offer moguls that will hold an edge without any problem. Tower 19 and other slopes in the sun and off the groomed areas were pretty solid this morning. We cruised over to Sherwood just before 11 where slopes were slowly beginning to soften. Area that were groomed overnight were okay, but getting scraped off quickly. Of the groomed areas it was what one might have expected, hard and frozen.
A quick request to lovers of Alpine Meadows who may have located a green sticker in recent days, please only stick them on your personal property. Do not attach them to any property belonging to the ski area. Towers, chairs, lockers, tables and benches, signs on the mountain or at the lodge are off limits. These stickers are for individual use and can only be placed on your personal property. Your car, skis, or helmet might be a good place for place for a sticker.
Our Alpine Ski Patrol put on a demonstration of how their specially trained avalanche dogs help locate and rescue people that might have been caught in an avalanche. A good sized crowd listened to a talk and answers to their questions near the mid-station of Treeline Cirque. Golden Retrievers and Labradors are the most used breeds, but other breeds are trained for this purpose as well. The dogs live with, and are trained by, their owners. We watched as Brian Slusser was rescued by his dog Milton. Brian was hiding in an igloo. One with an opening at the front of the igloo which allowed Milton to find him. This represented Milton finding Brian as if he would not have been completely buried by a slide. A second time the opening was closed up with snow imitating a buried person. A third time Milton located an unknown person (not his owner) who was closed in under snow. This was a good educational talk with on snow demonstrations that everyone in attendance appreciated.
If you missed today’s demo, you can see it on January 30th again at 11am at the TLC mid-station.
Enjoy your day,
Andy