My day on the hill did not begin until 1 or 1:30 this afternoon, but I had a good time even though there were a heck of a lot of people milling around. Lines at the lifts I skied were not out of hand making the afternoon more enjoyable than I thought it might have been before taking the Mountaineer Van to the lodge. Driving up was not an option.
Parking was full at both sides of the mountain by mid-morning. However, the line of cars pulling into Alpine Meadows from Hwy. 89 was nowhere near its end. I feel sorry for those skiers and boarders who were unable to find parking and therefore may never have made it to the mountain. After all the lots filled, Palisades Operations suggests people park somewhere in Truckee or Tahoe City and take TART, our local public transportation to the area. I wonder how this has worked for those who arrived late. I rode the lift with someone who arrived late and after circling the parking lot for half an hour actually found a spot to park.
Everything was full from the parking lots to the decks, ski racks, tables, and food service areas. The good news was that people seemed to be in pleasant moods and resigned to the fact that lines are part of skiing. I also noted that many people were using the gondola. I rode the chair with a few people that had parked in Olympic Valley and come over to Alpine to ski.
Enough about parking and crowds. The weather could not have been better. Blue sky overhead and no wind. There were fifty people, at least, having their pictures taken at the top of Lakeview Chair with a perfectly still Lake Tahoe in the background. Tahoe looked like a mirror surround by white capped mountains.
I skied Promised Land, Seldom Slides, Palisades, Medium Yellow, God’s Knob, Fall Line, Gunner’s, Scotty’s Beam, and Sherwood Face. All the north facing slopes remain in winter condition with slightly growing moguls. South facing slopes such as Sherwood Face have softened over the passed two days. Daytime temperatures have increased and will create spring conditions soon. As it was cooling down this afternoon I felt some balls of snow firming up as as soft snow does when it cools down. I imagine Sherwood will be firm in the morning.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
When I left at 2, the lots were still full, with cars circling the parking lot looking for any sign of movement meaning that a space might open. I noted a lot of traffic coming on the gondola from Palisades today, It was so much that they said the gondola would run until 445 to get people cack to the other side. Demand is outstripping capacity…writing about that for tomorrow.
Alterra Mountain Company AMC aka Already More Crowded
Oversold and underdelivered in any business model is not a good quality product.
On the Inn shop KT22 cam at the wye in O.V. yesterday at 10:30 lot was full and CA hwy patrol were turning people around. At the same time on google maps it was saying 1 hr and 33 minutes to go from Truckee at the mousehole and west river st intersection to go to OV with all those people still headed there to be turned around. Seriously AMC!! And at least they’re gonna make it even worse with upcoming Men’s World Cup FIS race in late Feb. OH BOY.
Glad we got the good ol days when Alpine was Alpine and Squaw was Squaw under seperate ownership and season passes cost about triple more than today.