We made it through the first holiday period of the ski season, and Alpine Meadows was the shining star of the North Tahoe ski scene. The quality of skiing was pretty good, and still is doing pretty good. With the exception of opening day, the crowds were fairly manageable, with only a couple of caveats. Again this was mostly made possible by the Mountain Ops team more than Mother Nature.
Over the last seven days of skiing, the groomed runs at Alpine Meadows is where 90% of skiers and riders chose to spend their time. Given that basically Weasel and Dance Floor were the only groomed runs available, they were crowded and took a beating each day. The two areas that took the most severe beatings were Rock Garden and the last couple of pitches of Dance Floor. The sugary texture of the snow and the high traffic counts pushed a lot of snow downhill, leaving ruts and imperfect moguls by the time the sun dipped behind the mountains. Solid work by the mountain grooming team each night reset those runs into smooth corduroy for the morning crowd.
There were some lines that occasionally spilled out of the small mazes, mostly at Roundhouse. Consequently we made smart use of the Yellow chair to avoid that line. First time guests were less likely to figure out that the TLC to Yellow loop allows you to ski the best parts of the open terrain while avoiding the Roundhouse line.
Looking back at my ski history on the Palisades Tahoe app, over the last 5 days, almost all of my skiing was off piste. Very few people were skiing off piste and that seemed like the place to be, once you learned the locations of rocks and obstacles to avoid.
Looking ahead, the next two days are going to be more of the same. The light today was a lot flatter with quite a bit of cloud cover. There will be gusty winds and colder temperatures that will keep things a bit more crispy. Then things get interesting. We’re not positive how interesting they will get and I am trying not to add fuel to the hype train.
It looks like we get one, and maybe two, storm systems this week. The models were all over the place until yesterday. Now all of the models seem to be in agreement, and the GFS has been pretty solid for the last 10 model runs. The GIF below is a model comparison of the GFS, Canadian, Euro and UK from the morning run showing potential snow totals from the Thursday storm. This morning, all were estimating into the 2 foot range. That would be at the top of the mountain. The point forecast is showing around a foot of snow for mid mountain.
A second weaker system is possible for the weekend. As of today it looks like it could bring another 18 inches of snow to the top of the mountain. It’s a little bit early to be counting chickens on that one as it is outside of the 5 day window. But it could happen. The other not as good news is that we are not looking at a full on pattern change. This looks more like a double header then done. Next week we drop into a dry but cold pattern again. That’s better than a dry and warm pattern.
The PNA Index tells a slightly different story. As a reminder, negative PNA generally correlates with a Pacific trough, and that brings is stormy weather. You can see that we are headed down as we get to the end of the week. After that the trend is a bit toward positive. But it is looking less positive today. My fingers are crossed that that trend continues.
What will it mean for Alpine Meadows? It all depends on how much snow falls and how quickly teams can pack it down before it gets blown away by an east wind event. If 2 feet falls, that may not be enough to get Summit in play. It would be potentially enough to consider grooming Charity, Werners and Boomerang. It would also likely allow the opening of terrain off of Yellow chair. It also could bring Meadow and Kangaroo into play. If we get 3 feet or more between the two systems, it’s possible they could maybe get Summit prepped, but it will take some time to build roads and ramps and all of the other prep work for opening terrain.
The other thing is that getting a couple of feet more snow would definitely allow more lifts to open over at Palisades. Opening Big Blue and Shirley would do a lot toward reducing the pressure on the Alpine Meadows side. No matter what happens, I know just about everyone is looking forward to terrain expansion.
Are you looking for some backcountry skis? I thought about putting together a new NTN package on some skis I won in a contest. That’s when I learned that NTN equipment is in short supply and apparently made of gold. The skis I am willing to part with are the 2023 Kastle TX103 in 181cm length. Reportedly, the orange tips glow in the dark for night touring. These are new in the wrapper, so I have not tested that feature. Â Make me an offer via the contact page here.
If those are not the skis you want, I will do a shoutout here for Rob and the gang at the Tahoe Sports Hub in Truckee. I’ve been in a few times this month, first looking at NTN and AT options and then making a few other skiing purchases. The Sports Hub has come a long way since Rob and Wrenn Cavallo bought the place years ago. Not only is it probably the best ski shop in Truckee – it’s probably better than all of the Reno shops as well. They now have more than 2 full walls of skis, a full wall of snowboards, a huge selection of boots and a team of good fitters. Shop locally and you will feel better about life.
Keep those snow dances going…I think I will wash my car this afternoon.