Halfway There…Or So

We are about halfway there. It’s been a bit over 100 days since we made our last turns at Alpine Meadows. We have a bit more than 100 days to go before what seems to be an “average” opening date, the Friday before Thanksgiving. We’re already getting to that time where summer starts to wind down and the kids go back to school. Fortunately, I am no longer going back to school and I can look forward to another season of being a ski bum blogger.

In terms of weather, meteorologically speaking, we have one more month of summer before meteorological autumn begins. I even caught an NOAA post the other day claiming that average daily temperatures start their decline from this point. The fine print on that graphic reveals that it came from the Detroit office of NOAA. We are well aware that the dog days of summer can stretch well into September and October in California. That’s not to mention that the wildfire season is just getting going.

Still, it probably time to mention some things about what’s happening at Alpine Meadows as we start looking toward the upcoming season. There’s more going on that you might know, and it’s not just about those shiny new boxes.

The Base To Base Gondola

Construction on the gondola has continued, although if you have visited the base area at Alpine, you might not have noticed too much yet. So far this summer, most of the construction effort for the gondola has focused on the two different mid-stations located between Alpine Meadows and that valley that is now known as Palisades Tahoe. One of those mid-stations is located near the top of the KT-22 chairlift. The second of those is located on the White Wolf property, just a stone’s throw from Troy and Sue Caldwell’s home. Both of those mid-stations received little attention during last summer’s build, so there was a lot of work to be done. The official “Construction Blog” at the PT website indicated that Leitner-Poma would be starting to work on the base area terminal at Alpine Meadows this week.

How anyone ever really thought that project was going to get done in one summer, I don’t know…I imagine it just might get there after two summers. The only other thing to note here is that it was announced that the “Base To Base Gondola” is now the official name for the project, rather than the name “California Express”. It’s probably a more accurate reflection of what the beast is, as it opens no new ski terrain, and it’s certainly not fast.

The Alpine Meadows Lodge Sun Deck “Plaza”

Last season, we only saw a portion of this project completed. The goal of the project is to create a mostly level space between the Sun Deck, the B2B Gondola, Hotter Wheels, Roundhouse and Summit. Last season we saw the completion of the wall for the new edge of the Sun Deck, but the temporary grating was not really usable for seating space. For this season that grating will be replace by permanent decking, which will greatly expand the seating area on the deck. The other side of that wall will get backfilled with dirt, rather than needing massive amounts of snow to make things level. There’s still the lingering question of what does it look like if we have another 17.5 feet of snow in one month?

An expanded deck surface with more seating is a great thing. The cost of that is accessing that deck from the breezeway or parking lot. Last year, the stairs from the breezeway were a real chokepoint for getting people up to the snow surface. Just about everyone I know took a fall or had a close call on those steps, or nearly lost an eye when Jerry was swinging his ski poles around. That particular set of steps will not be changing for this season, so much depends on what sort of solution replaces the stadium bleachers along the east side of the lodge. If that solution is attractive enough to draw traffic from the parking lot, we may see a meaningful reduction in traffic on the breezeway route.

New  Maintenance Building

Well this wasn’t really on my radar, but it is happening. The vehicle maintenance building on the west side of the lodge is being replaced this summer. While this is not something that really impacts us as visitors, it’s certainly a win for employees that work in that area. Investment in the ski area is a good thing.

Strike that…are they talking about the maintenance building that previously existed or the gondola storage/maintenance building that is shoehorned in between the B2B and TLC? That makes far more sense. Here’s what the finally updated official construction blog noted just now:

At the Alpine Base, the maintenance building steel beams are being placed and the decking will be installed next week. Backfill work around the gondola terminal base is in progress, and Leitner Poma plans to bring a crane in this weekend and will stage materials in order to place the terminal on the pylons. Their crews will be working on Saturday to expedite the work.

The Chalet

There’s been a lot of chatter about this one this summer. Hikers and bikers that have been around Alpine Meadows were dismayed to find that pretty much every tree around the Chalet has been removed. Those trees were yet another spot for safety meetings or a place to conveniently stash some mountain beers. There’s more to it than just tree removal. There’s some expansion plans in place for the Chalet, and I actually heard about them last spring. The size of the deck at the Chalet is growing be at least doubled, if not tripled. Seating has always been a problem at the Chalet, and over the last few seasons, we have seen the amount of chairs and tables out on the snow grow. That’s problematic as that stuff all needs to be moved for grooming. Also planned for the chalet is a prefab kitchen (aka food trailer) that will be placed on that new deck area. The plan I heard was that the current menu of brats and pretzels would move to the outdoor kitchen, allowing the Chalet kitchen to produce something more like previous incarnations.

While we are on the food expansion thing, although not necessarily for next season, the expanded deck at the Alpine Meadows lodge will open more opportunities. Word on the street is that a BBQ offering will return to the Sun Deck once an approved kitchen can be added to handle the load. One would assume that also might look like a food trailer. The Stoked Oak BBQ was removed a few years ago as it reportedly was not built to code and was the source of frequent flooding in lower levels of the lodge.

Years Later, Technology Catches Up

Google Pay was introduced in 2010, followed by Apple Pay in 2014. Late in 2022, we will finally get the ability to use that technology at Alpine Meadows and our neighbor to the north. We will finally have the ability to just tap a phone or watch to a payment reader rather than digging out a wallet or season pass. Props to Melanie at Treats for being ahead of the game on this. Not only has she done Apple Pay for a while – I can get a sandwich with just my smile.

Snowmaking Improvements

Expanded snowmaking improvements have been happening at Alpine Meadows over the summer. In addition to reconstruction of some main supply lines during the base area reconfiguration, improvements are being added to the Weasel area. It was reported that 12 fan guns are being added between the Chalet and the TLC mid-station. Since the replacement of the Hot Wheels chair, it seems like this has become the preferred “first chair to open” at Alpine Meadows. Expanding snowmaking capabilities in this area without having to haul around dozens of the old Ratnick guns is a good thing.

Employee Housing

There’s a little bit of movement in the area of employee housing. For much of history, very little employee housing has been available via our favorite local ski areas. Most of their efforts focused on picking up seasonal leases on houses. Reportedly, 140 employees were able to utilize this housing last season. Others were forced to make weekly pleas on the Truckee Tahoe Facebook page looking for sympathy. Last season, there was a trial of offering spaces in the Granite Chief campground for “van life” during the spring. The program was declared a success, although I never saw more than a camper or two at any time other than the host.

Many ski areas have committed to building employee housing. Palisades Tahoe and Alterra have instead been looking for existing properties to purchase. It was reported that they acquired an 8-plex in Kings beach and are in escrow on another North Tahoe property that offers 37 units. Those two properties could host as many as 100 employees. Additional properties are under consideration. As all of these properties are off site, transportation will remain to be an issue. It’s a start.

Why does employee housing matter to us visitors? More housing means better chances of having enough employees to open more “stuff” – more lifts, more food services, more ticket windows, rental techs, etc.

The Weather

You never can know for sure with weather…and with climate change happening faster than predicted, historical averages may not mean as much as they used to mean. The last two years were La Niña years for the Tahoe area, and generally speaking, that is not a good thing for us. Historically, La Niña years favor a jet stream that carries farther north than normal. That means the Pacific Northwest gets the brunt of the storms and the Southwest is much drier than average. In the 2020-21 season, this lead to a very dry season in Tahoe.

In the 2021-22 season, we saw almost normal snowfall in North Tahoe. The problem was that much of that fell in two big storms in October and December, and that meant the snow pack did not build as it might in an “average” year. The Pacific Northwest, on the other hand, was buried in snow. We took a trip to  Oregon in late June and the volcanoes were still covered in snow. Meanwhile, Souther California is parched.

A true "triple dip" #LaNina event (3 consecutive such years) is looking increasingly likely. Not good news for ongoing megadrought in #ColoradoRiver watershed. https://t.co/QEY2JV99jV

— Dr. Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) July 9, 2022

As of now, the signals for another La Niña year are there again. Daniel Swain at WeatherWest.com reported earlier this month week the signals are stronger than ever. Some weather pundits are suggesting that this may become our new normal. Does it mean you shouldn’t go skiing the season? Absolutely not. Does it might mean there are fewer powder hours (we don’t call them days anymore)? Probably so. If we have another drought year, fewer powder days will be the least of our worries.

We will have to wait and see, as right now we are on the 5th day in a row of temperatures over 90° in Truckee. Colder temperatures will get here some day, and until then I hope that some nitwit does not start a wildfire in our area before winter arrives.

Editors note: Apologies for the horrific editing of the first release for this post – there’s a lot going on for me this summer!