No Complaints

Hello Skiers,

If I wanted to make a list of complaints for today’s operations at Alpine Meadows, I could easily compile one. However, I do not want to complain when I believe most of the items on the list would be related to snow safety. Waiting in a long line of skiers and boarders for a lift to open that is closed for snow safety is okay with me. It is my option to wait in the line if it is important for me to get first tracks on some slope. Lifts opened one at a time today over a period of hours as snow safety was completed in each area accessed by the particular lift. All lifts were open by noon with the exception of Roundhouse that was on mechanical hold into the afternoon and may not have opened at all. This does not include the Base to Base Gondola that was on Mechanical Hold all day.

We walked out of the locker room this morning at a little before 9am. A line had formed at Summit, but it did not look like Summit was ready to open. Roundhouse was closed because of a mechanical issue. Our choice was limited to TLC that was open to the mid-station. The line moved fairly quickly, and we were soon heading uphill. I lost my partners, Mark and Reese, within the first minute or two. I guess I was a little anxious and took the first turns I found that offered untouched powder. Second run was a repeat of the first hoping that TLC would be open to the top, but Sherwood was not ready yet.

My First Turns of the Day

As we were heading for Summit Chair a group of anxious skiers broke for Scott Chair. Thinking it was about to open we followed them. This was not a good move as we stood in line at Scott for a good amount of time before giving up and heading to Summit.

The line at Scott Chair after it opened.  It was similar when we were standing waiting for it to open

By this time Summit was turning so we took the shortcut from the top of the Terrain Park (currently buried under snow) to Summit. This trail can be jarring, and it was, as troughs form along the way that can throw one, who is going to fast, off his balance sending him into the air only to hit hard on the landing. This happened a couple of times today as the dips were pretty deep.

The line at Summit was not all that long, and before we knew it, we were wondering where to go as we stood in low clouds and low light at the top Summit Chair. Alpine Bowl was the only area open in the morning. We did find some semi-untracked snow in the area of Sunspot. This worked for a couple of runs. Later, we went back for a run through Pgymy Forest and Deer Camp. The snow was soft and beautiful and untracked in spots.
TLC was open to the top by this time so we headed to Sherwood where I smiled picking my way between trees at the top as we headed for Powerline. It is always fun to find fresh tracks and that is what we found in the Powerline area.

It was a very good morning, and I have no complaints. Turns in soft fresh snow always make me happy even if I have to wait awhile to access it.

Enjoy your day,

Andy