From Corduroy to Corn

We are making the best of what we have these days. There is plenty of coverage on the mountain so that we do not have to worry too much about unseen obstacles. Grooming continues to offer an ego building surface for the morning crowd. This morning was no different as we destroyed corduroy with smiles on our faces in Alpine Bowl, Sunspot, Terry’s Return, Wolverine, D8, and all the trails off Roundhouse Chair. The concerns voiced yesterday over fencing being erected for a race today fizzled as just Kangaroo Ridge was blocked off. The Face and Werner’s Schuss were untouched by race paraphernalia. Off piste in the shade is firm and shaved off, but it will hold an edge. Peril Ridge, Lower Palisades, and High Yellow (under High Yellow Face and Our Father) are slick, but I still enjoyed them.

By 11:30 or so Sherwood’s south facing slopes softened. We skied on the groomed slope and under the chair on Sherwood Face. Finding spring snow on these runs took us far out onto South Face for the next run.  Moguls were a little smaller and the snow spring-like on the farthest west ridge. We headed back to the front side and hiked the High Traverse to Upper Saddle where there are a lot of rocks showing (just on the ridge). Dropping into Sun Bowl was perfect for making slow easy turns in what one might stretch to say was corn. There were patches of ice and some places where the snow was spring but not perfect, however overall it was a pleasant change to skiing groomed runs. Lakeview also turned to smooth spring snow as I imagine Bobby’s and Ridge did in the early afternoon although I did not ski either today.

Once again the identification of the Alpine Meadows Day Lodge logo and name have been changed. We now have the bird logo followed by the words, Alpine Lodge, over the entrance to the breezeway. Hopefully the words Alpine Lodge will help new arrivals to the area realize they are in Alpine Meadows and not the other valley. I am not sure what type of bird the logo represents as it looks like a Crow to me, but I think it is supposed to be an Eagle. In either case they are sacred to the Native American Culture. The Eagle represents honesty, truth, majesty, strength, courage, wisdom, power, and freedom. Native Americans believed the Crow had the power to talk and therefore they consider it to be the wisest of birds. This afternoon I am wondering about the relationship of these birds and the meanings they have to Native Americans and the owners of Alpine Meadows.

Sunny and warm weekend ahead. Hopefully guests will find a place to park and all lifts will be turning.

Enjoy your day,

Andy Wertheim