Today was the prelude to the big storm that is expected for the weekend. About 7 inches of new snow fell overnight at Alpine Meadows, but the wind distributed it in a very uneven fashion. Some parts of the mountain were completely wind scoured, other areas ended up with deeper amounts of dense wind packed snow. The best potential for awesome snow was at the top of the mountain, where visibility was extremely variable. Plenty of people made repeat trips to Summit so it must have been pretty good.
In touring the mountain today, we noticed preparations underway for terrain expansion. Andy mentioned yesterday that the summer road has been punched in at Scott. Overnight, cat work was done to start building the corral area at the base of Scott. More snow will be needed for that project, and that should not be an issue after the weekend. After skiing the wind scoured upper end of Sherwood Run, we noticed there was a cat packing the base snow down lower on the Sherwood Run. Neither Scott or Sherwood is expected for the weekend.
As I was writing that paragraph, the official mountain ops blog post was posted and it verifies exactly what I thought might happen: Scott by Monday or possibly Tuesday, then Sherwood by Wednesday. That would be on top of all of the rebuild and reset work needed to keep all of the other lifts open.
The forecast totals that I mentioned earlier in the week are still verifying. Four to five feet of snow is expected at the top of the mountain, and likely around 3 feet is expected at the base of the mountain. Snow levels look good for this one. The official blog mentioned snow levels could rise to near 7000′, but I am not seeing that, unless they were talking about the part that came in last night. Here’s what Reno NOAA is showing:
You would have to be a real dreamer to expect that there will be a whole lot of the mountain open for late Saturday or early Sunday. One thing that has been bumped up is the wind forecast. By midday Saturday, winds at the crest should exceed 100 mph. It’s highly unlikely we will see Summit in operation this weekend. Hopefully Roundhouse can open along with TLC. Yellow, Meadow and Subway can be more wind sensitive, being lighter weight doubles. I’m also hopeful that they will be able to keep KT22 rolling over at Palisades as that will help spread crowds.
As of this afternoon, it seems like some people actually paid heed to the multiple travel advisories broadcast by multiple agencies on the airwaves and social media channels. Alpine Meadows was relatively quiet this morning, and somewhat of a ghost town by the afternoon.
The Plywood Patrollers
One of our readers, Elizabeth, sent in a question earlier this week regarding memories of wooden patrollers used in the distant past to remind skiers to slow down. I didn’t really recall them myself, but decided to ask some of my friends that have been around Alpine Meadows for a very long time. It turns out that the “plywood patrollers” were a real thing from the mid 80’s to the mid 90’s.
The inspiration for the plywood patrollers came from Howard Carnell, then General Manager at Alpine. At that time, there were plywood California Highway Patrol cars used at the summit of Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz. I know they got me to slow down more than one time. Howard figured they could do the same for skier traffic.
Three signs were created and painted by the Alpine Meadows sign department: Larry Plywood, AC Jones and Ray Boardi. If you are a long timer at Alpine you already know those names are based on patrollers Larry Heywood, Casey Jones and Ray Belli. The signs were mainly used at Sandy’s Corner, Lower Weasel and Deer Camp Flats. But they also moved to some other places. Larry Heywood shared this story:
“There are some great stories with these guys. My likeness was borrowed by two groomers and taken on a California road trip. Photos came back with Larry P in the wine country on a hillside with sheep, and shopping for crab in fisherman’s wharf in SF. One of the guys was stolen early one morning by the Squaw patrol. They drove up to Alpine in the patrol medical transport van, went up to Sandy’s Corner and took it. The parking lot crew spotted the crime in action and gave chase, with the parking lot truck chasing the van down the Alpine Meadows Road. Later that day we got a fax (before computers and email) with the guy hanging by his neck. That was the impetus for a major retaliation. The delivery of live chickens into the Squaw patrol room late at night during a storm and the annual Squaw patrol dinner. Somewhere there are photos of this escapade. Oh what a night.”
The signs were a popular spot for photo sessions. They were also a target for snowballs and ski poles. By the time the plywood patrollers were retired, they had multiple holes in the eyes and the nether regions from ski pole stabbings.
Thanks for asking the question Elizabeth! It lead to an interesting piece of Alpine Meadows history. Hopefully someone happens to have some photos to share of the plywood patrollers.
Re: Highway 17 wooden patrol car. It hat a worse treatment than ski pole jabs. Became a convertible overnight.
I remember the plywood patrollers 😂 I wish I had pictures. My name is also Elizabeth…! I love your writing here. Thx!!
I remember the plywood patrollers! Great story. Thanks for sharing.
I remember them well! We should bring them back as sort of an “elf on the shelf” during the holidays.