Tuesday and Wednesday this week were virtually the same at Alpine. The one new thing starting Tuesday (and rumor has it for the rest of the week) is that FIS racing is here! I understand these are under 21s. They are REALLY good, with some of their hips only 6” off the ground as they fly down the GS course set on Werner’s Schuss (or Blue for the ol’ timers). There is a slalom course on the other side of the mountain, and the GS course at Alpine. The boys and girls trade off each day. Today (Wednesday) the girls were racing GS.
The mornings have started out with bright sun but with temps on the lower mountain still in the low 30s keeping it rock hard for the first hour. The upper mountain starts to cook fast. Sunspot has been a good choice for the first couple of runs for the day. The lower part of the mountain is bullet-proof and sadly so far each day there are accidents involving sleds 🤪 – Be careful on that ice!! It’s unfortunate and confounding to me, that they don’t run ABC in the morning since avoiding the lower half of the mountain at least until 10 would make a lot of people VERY happy! So far (Tues and Wed) Yellow chair is all they’ve been running.
If you wait it out til 10, Dance Floor and Charity are good ways to get down the mountain from Summit. Wolverine has been awesome starting about 10am, but this week, unless you want to try your skills on the very bumpy/ rocks showing, Face you need to cross the race course. Crossing isn’t too challenging, it’s arriving on the other side, where the very icy construction that they’ve set up for the racers, bleeds over to the skiers right of the fencing and it’s extremely narrow and icy. Take it slow!!
Around 10-10:30aM other spots that start to be fun include, Tower 19 and Lower Beaver. The traverse to get to Lower Beaver can be dicey at times and rocks are starting to show in some areas but the run was absolutely lovely – it certainly helped me having Andy and Colleen as guides!
With Mark drinking Mango Margaritas in the South and Andy off to do some Heli-skiing in the North, I thought I’d provide a small update for your reading pleasure. I’ll be glad when they’re back though. I totally appreciate their posts with the humor, and skiing with them too 🥰. But while they’re gone, get your Alpine skiing in as there isn’t a lot left. Also note the Alpine logo gear is almost gone from Estelle’s but what is left is seriously discounted…
Great job reporter Rhonda! I like all the emojis throughout your report.