Updated: Thoughts On The Base To Base Gondola

Love it or hate it, the Base To Base Gondola is just about here. Just a few days from now, a giant celebration is planned to celebrate the grand opening of the beast. I probably won’t be a part of that celebration. Honestly, I have no idea who Aluna or Dillon Francis might be. I certainly don’t need a guided tour of Alpine Meadows. I probably won’t want any of the free schwag that may be given away, as it all has a logo I care nothing about. But it’s going to be quite a marketing stunt, and that’s really all the gondola is, a marketing stunt.

The gondola is not being built for us locals and day skiers, it’s being built to attract destination skiers. Alterra is hoping that convenient access to 35 lifts will encourage more people to stay in the Village at Palisades for their week long vacation. Eventually, assuming the Placer County once again rubber stamps the village expansion project, Alterra hopes to sell time shares. (It likely that Alterra won’t actually sell the time share themselves. Once approved, they will sell the entitlements to build timeshares to some other developer.) You would think that two great ski areas and Lake Tahoe a few short miles away would be enough to keep people happy.

It’s no secret that I am not a big fan of the gondola myself. I have said countless times that it seems like a huge waste of money that could have been better spent on making the ski and ride experience better for everyone. There’s lifts on both ends of Palisades Tahoe that need to be upgraded and modernized. Employee housing and bumping employee salaries might go a long way toward having enough employees to better serve the tens of thousands of people that purchased an Ikon pass or might purchase a day ticket.

Talking to long time Alpine Meadows skiers & riders, the consensus seems to be that many are fearful about what the gondola will do to our Alpine Meadows experience. The same would be true for many of the readers at Unofficial Alpine. The thing is, we are in our own little echo chamber.

Once the construction began on the gondola, the excitement has been building. We traveled a lot this summer. No matter where we went, once we mentioned Alpine Meadows, people wondered if the gondola was complete yet and then expressed their excitement for the project. Outside of our little bubble, the stoke level is kind of through the roof. Looking at the number of people skiing and riding at Alpine and Palisades this season, it’s pretty clear that more passes were sold than ever. While a lot of early season snowfall has helped bump up numbers, I think we’ll see some record days on the mountains the season, starting this Saturday.

It’s weird that there is so much excitement for the connection between the mountains. There are very few people alive that really need access to 35 lifts in one day. Even the idea of skiing both sides of Palisades Tahoe in the same day seems like an incredible waste of time to me. I’m going to admit something here. I actually like skiing some parts over at Palisades. In particular, I love Granite Chief. But if I am skiing Sherwood and suddenly think, wow, I want to go meet a friend at Granite Chief…it’s not just a 16 minute ride on the gondola. It’s also a Funitel Ride and a Big Blue ride, plus a short run down Shirley to get to Granite Chief. That’s more like a 45 minute trip if you include some lift lines. You would have to be crazy to consider that as a good use of time. (Actually that trip will earn you a medal in the Palisades Tahoe app, so I may be obligated to do it. I am motivated by the dumbest stuff!)

What Scares Me About The Gondola?

The biggest fear that I have about the gondola is its ability to throw a huge wrench into skier and facility capacity on the Alpine Meadows side. Since 1961, there has been a great balance between parking availability and mountain capacity. Even if the upper lots and Deer Park are full, the mountain can handle it when in full operation. When additional remote lots were added at White Wolf and Hidden Valley, things got a bit more snug, but were still tolerable a few days each season.

The Base To Base Gondola has the capacity to bring 1400 skiers per hour into Alpine Meadows. That’ the equivalent of about 500 parking spaces worth of additional skiers, or somewhat like full shuttle busses from Palisades arriving nearly every minute of the hour. The 2015 Master Plan for Alpine Meadows claims there is capacity for 18000 skiers at Alpine Meadows, but realistically things get really crowded when the numbers are around 7,000. You can see how adding 1400 skiers per hour can really change the experience.

The flip side of that is that the gondola has the potential for taking 1400 skiers per hour off of the slopes and out of the lodge, making things better for everyone. We’re just going to have to see how things pan out over the season based on how people actually use the thing. One oft asked question is how often it will actually run during stormy periods.

The people that should really be worried are the Palisades loyalists that ski nothing but KT22 all day, every day. Because you will be able to exit the gondola at the mid-station, from either side, that puts a whole lot of new people near the top of KT22 every day the gondola is running. Yikes.

How Will People Use The Gondola?

One question I have fielded over and over in the last few months is “Will you ride the gondola?” Over the last few years, I always jumped to the answer “No @#$## way!” But now that the beast is actually here, and I have to look at it, and push around it to get around the base area, I’m thinking I may actually ride that thing every so often. There’s some medals to achieve in the app ya know, and yes, I always enjoyed earning stickers in elementary school.

Here’s some other ideas:

• One idea that is frequently brought up is that Alpine Meadows will become the easier parking option for skiers and riders driving in from the Tahoe City area. Even if all of those people then just got on the gondola and headed over to Palisades for the day, it would mean that the Alpine Meadows parking lot would fill up even faster than it does now. Coming from Truckee, we have to leave the house ridiculously early to avoid traffic and parking issues. People that visit our house during the winter are appalled that we do that just about every day during holiday periods. Fortunately, every management person I have asked about this assured me that the gondola will only be available to the public from 9am until 4 pm. That makes remote parking at Alpine Meadows less attractive for most people. That policy could certainly change…gulp.

• It’s generally expected that the gondola can be used to shift employees around as needed to better utilize employees. This makes sense but is unpopular with most employees, that generally prefer to work at one mountain or the other.

• The gondola could be used to shuffle team programs around. That has happened over the last few years via the shuttle busses. Since there are far more teams, and kids on teams, over at Palisades – it’s more likely that they would come toward Alpine. That’s not to say that Alpine teams would never go to Palisades. As for group lessons, instructors have been told that they cannot take groups on the gondola. Private lessons will be able to request going on the gondola – although that is an expensive way to burn dollars. (Update: Comment on our Facebook page says teams will not be allowed to use the gondola…not confirmed.)

• If family or friends are in town and they insist on going to the other mountain, the gondola makes it easier to do a little sightseeing tour, or to at least send them on their way and say “Have a good time!”

• If you’re an Alpine Meadows regular with a seasonal locker and had a hankering to go ski Granite Chief, going by gondola is probably preferable to going via shuttle…since the gondola is there, you may as well use it. I hate walking through parking lots, or the village, in my ski boots.

• One thing that is lacking at Alpine Meadows is indoor seating for dining. There’s just not enough for those cold snowy days where sitting on the Sun Deck is not attractive. Using the gondola for a scenic lunch ride with your family and friends is an attractive option, assuming the thing is running on a storm day. It’s quiet, sheltered from the wind, and has some nice scenery. You won’t have people tapping on your shoulder asking “You leaving?” There’s certainly a side hustle possible here selling gondola ready picnic baskets. Maybe we can get Captain Dan to at least park the new taco truck closer to the gondola. (The caveat here is how often that thing will actually run on storm days…my Magic 8 Ball says “Don’t count on it”)

• Certainly there’s some nefarious activity that I am sure some people already have planned. If you’re thinking about pulling a Squirrel Murphy in the gondola (IYKYK), there’s not much time due to the two mid-stations. Although…maybe that tunnel portion on the White Wolf property could be dubbed the “Tunnel of Love”. Hot boxing has also been mentioned by many. They don’t call them “ganjolas” for nothing. Some ski areas have really cracked down on that issue…time will tell.

• If you’re already an UberEats driver, there’s a new gig for you. Take orders for food at the Palisades village for delivery to the Alpine SunDeck, delivery via the gondola. Pick up some lox bagels at Treats for delivery to the KT deck on the way back. Save miles on your Kia and still get paid for delivering food.

• If you’re an insurance salesman, real estate agent, or have some NFTs to hustle…yup, you have a captive audience for 16 minutes. Start in either parking lot, follow the people getting out of Teslas and follow them right to the gondola. You could make bank!

• The is no doubt that the gondola will be the scene of many special events: birthday parties, marriage proposals, breakups and cage match wrestling…to name a few.

• “Influencers” take note, the Base To Base Gondola is going to be THE background for product placement and self promotion in 2023.

There’s just a few of the ideas I’ve kicked around, or that others have shared. I’m sure some of you have ideas too.

Well the comment section got pretty hot. Some information given by commenters has been verified but not all of it. I ended up doing some heavy handed editing on commenters.

We shall see how this plays out over the next week or so…but one rumor we heard is that the transfer of gondola cars from the Palisades side to the Alpine side is currently not functional. So for now it’s two separate gondolas. Here’s the direct copy and paste from the official blog:

This Saturday, the Base to Base Gondola will operate as two separate lifts. Guests planning to ride the entire length will be required to disembark at the KT-22 mid-station and re-load to continue on. Otherwise, they can exit at the top of KT-22 and ski/ride that terrain. Please note that KT-22 is Advanced/Expert terrain with black diamond and double black diamond terrain only. Team members will be there to assist with information and re-loading.