I missed the opening ceremonies and the swag that was given away this morning at day one of the running of the gondola . There were a few people standing around between 8am and 9am waiting for the ribbon cutting, speeches, and the first public ride. Evidently there were many people that rode the new lift between Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows during the day. As you can see in the photo below there was a long line of people waiting to get back to where they came from at 2:45pm.
As they stood waiting for their turn they were serenaded by a band playing at a rather loud volume. They blasted out music that included some of their own tunes and some Jimi Hendrix.
I did not hear any negative comments from those who rode the new lift. The comment I heard most was that the views were incredible. It was a beautiful sunny day on the mountain. Fog obscured views of the lake from the top of Sherwood Chair, a place where photos are often taken, but the rest of sky was clear blue.
Although lift lines were not that long, amazing considering that parking lots at both resorts were full and a number of lifts were not spinning on the Alpine side, the groomed runs at Alpine appeared overcrowded to me. There were a lot of people skiing on limited groomed runs at speeds I consider too fast. This is especially true when you mix skiers with snowboarderes on Dance Floor and Weasel.
My friends who swore not to ride the gondola until all the bugs were out of it, which meant at least a week after opening, changed their minds quickly and twisted my arm until I gave in. We rode the Alpine Meadows half of the lift. Comments were positive from my group of friends who stood taking photos from the mostly glass cabin. The views appear to have been what motivated them as we did not exit the cabin at the top of KT22.
View of the parking area from the gondola
Another friend did ride it to the top of KT22 and exited at that point. They continued skiing down the Saddle moving on to Headwall for a few runs before returning to the Alpine side. The marketing of the gondola indicates it is for up to 8 people. Perhaps 8 smaller people, but it appeared most comfortable for 6 adults.
It was a lovely day.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Nice report Andy. I found a moment around 1 pm with no line and we jumped on for a scenic tour. What I found is that the gondola is quite an engineering feat with spectacular views. As it operated today, it really did not make all that much of a difference in crowding other than congestion near Roundhouse. Skiers unfamiliar with Alpine seemed to jump off the gondola and gravitate right to Roundhouse, usually just getting in the ski school line. Otherwise with parking lots full at both resorts, and all major lifts running, it did not feel overly crowded.
The exception was the very limited amount of groomed terrain available to handle that crowd. The main groomers were frighteningly busy. We spent just about all of our day off piste. Off piste skiing will improve as it gets skied in, but more grooming is really needed as that is what most casual skiers want and need.
Is the gondola a necessity, nope. The amount of money spent on the grand opening is obscene given that they did not run all lifts today, nor all food services.
Just imagine how much less expensive it would have been to just upgrade Scott to a high-speed quad and add one or two lifts (base of Subway up to the broccoli tree and the same with Kangeroo while pulling a TLC-like turn up into the bowl………………………..ah, what might have been.
It is what it is. Nice ride for sure and to your previous post, plenty of upsides to counter the downsides. From what I saw, it didn’t seem to impact either valley, other than a lot of smiling faces. That of course could have been the great early season snow, and and it was day 1, so likely a bunch of extra traffic each way as people check it out.
Time will tell. Just grateful to be skiing great conditions this early in the year. Hope it continues.
I didn’t go yesterday, didn’t care to be first or care about the festivities but if I knew it wasn’t going to be open today then I would have. Kindof a joke to have a big opening celebration and then close the very next day.
Bryan, guess you didn’t read the memo put out by Palisades? They had a grand opening webpage dedicated to the opening, it shows the opening on the 17th & 18th. But they left off the part about NOTHING happening on the 18th beside a small blurb saying it wasn’t going to be open on the 18th. Chalk it up to another mistake of many. The curse of Alexander Cochrane Cushing is real.