Closing day arrived at Alpine Meadows today, albeit a month early. Many people arrived to celebrate the end of a mediocre season. Yet hearing people talk today, many people were heard to say that they actually salvaged a lot of fun days out of the season. People learned to love corn, with some saying they now like it more than powder. Others learned to perfect their east coast ice skills. Some learned to appreciate the art of navigating a sneaker line.
For those of you that had already given up on the season and stayed home this weekend, we thank you too. It was another very crowded day at Alpine Meadows. Some might even venture to say it was a bit too crowded for the available terrain. Here’s some observations we heard today; each only conjecture by various people – but it gives you an impression of what people were thinking:
• The terrain parks had more traffic during the last two days than the previous 130 days of the season combined.
• The number of hours of “full corral with full line control” at Summit over the last three days exceeded the total number of hours of line control for the previous 130 days of the season.
• This may have been patrol and first aid’s busiest day of the year.
• Snow melted faster over the last two days than many had ever seen.
I just could not make myself spend much time in the Summit line today. I missed a lot of classic final runs for closing day: Upper Beaver, Keyhole, Lower Saddle and High Yellow. It’s likely I’ll be back to hike those runs over the next month when things are much less busy. Plenty of people had a lot of great runs in those areas today. I found that Yellow offered a lot of nice firm snow for most of the day, with almost no traffic and short lines at Roundhouse. We also enjoyed a number of quiet laps on Gunner’s Knob – where we saw nobody all day. Not much gnar there…but plenty of smooth laps and zero crowds.
As expected, there were plenty of parties on the hill, on the Sun Deck and in the parking lot. There was the usual battles for last chair, with the usual snowballs being thrown at the last chair. All in all – a fantastic closing weekend. Thanks to Alpine Meadows for keeping it going one more weekend – it’s clear it was not easy.
Thanks to everyone that has been a reader and supporter of UnofficialAlpine.com this season. We’ll continue to do updates in the offseason about once a week or so. Our off season updates include:
• Reports from other ski areas and summer backcountry ski opportunities
• Andy Wertheim’s summer reports on hiking, biking and other Tahoe activities
• Equipment reviews
• Breaking news items on Alpine Meadows/KSL as we hear about them
Looking forward to an even better season in 2013-14!
Thanks so much for all of the updates this season, I really appreciated them!!!!
Had to work this weekend in Tahoe City, so had a chance to see skier traffic going by with boat trailers, bikes, paddleboards and motorcycles in just a few minutes. Only in Tahoe could one see such diverse fun activities going on in one weekend. The beauty and wonder of this special place many of us call home. So, it’s with sadness I see the season end. UA did a fantastic job keeping everyone in the loop on what many of us call our home mountain. Highlights up on the mountain had to be the fantastic grooming that saved Alpine’s season without a doubt. I hope Alpine brings back everyone of those folks back for next season. Same with the lift ops and ski patrol folks. Great human beings who were able to handle the crowds with dignity and humor. Unlike management, these folks understand customer service. The downside? Really, a terrain park on high traffic runs defy logic and common sense. Granted, SPT designed a world class terrain park that blew away Squaw’s efforts and Alpine’s crew were masters of keeping 4 month old snow in such good conditions, but the location for this park continues to be controversial. Does the traffic, time and money justify such a massive park? Only the KSL overlords who answer only to their stockholders know that answer. We will never know. So, outside of the powder hounds, this was a acceptable season. UA, keep up the good work through this now longer than expected summer. Thank you!
Nice work this season. Thank you.
Mark
Last weekend (April 21-23) was the closer for me, and the skiing was terrific. Great lines off Keyhole and Saddle, as well as upper Beaver, and not nearly so crowded as it seems it was this weekend. It was tempting to come back for one more, but life got in the way. But really, this is just to thank you and Andy for carrying the Unofficial Alpine torch, keeping us all informed and inspired, and keeping the mountain management on their toes. If KSL wants to know what their die-hard fans are thinking, they only need to look here. Many thanks, and keep up the good work. It is always a pleasure to open my email and find an Unofficial update there. Have a great summer.
John
Mark,
Great reporting this season. The headliner for me was the animated post concerning the Terrain Park, that was great. I hope “Move the Terrain Park” didn’t steal any of Unofficial’s thunder. I always made an effort to promote this page as well as my own. Have a great summer, I too am always looking forward to the next post from UnofficialAlpine.