The skiing the last two days certainly has made me happy. Whether you want winter conditions or spring conditions, both were available. I started my morning jumping on the B2B, because now that it’s there, we may as well use it. This was the least busy I have ever seen the other side, ever. Being a mid-week day, and the day after the Super Bowl was likely the reason for that.
We skied from the top of KT down to Wa She Shu and saw almost no-one. That continued as we made out way to Granite Chief and spun a couple of laps. Tomlinsons was busy at Shirley, but none of the other runs there were busy. All offered very nice winter snow. By our 11ish return to the B2B, Sunnyside was smooth corn skiing, and I was kicking myself for not taking Broken Arrow and skiing the rarely groomed Tower 16 zone. Heading back to Alpine Meadows, I got to experience the “two section gondola” for the first time with the awkward KT cabin change. Doh.
Back at Alpine Meadows after lunch, it looked like a spring day. I did a quick lap at Sherwood and found it extra soft. So I headed immediately to Lakeview, which was blissful yesterday. Yesterday, it was about 75% corny. Today we were back at 90% ripe corn. I alternated high speed laps on Outer Limits with slightly slower speeds on the lightly bumped Scotty’s Beam. So much fun!
A Chill Down
I wish I could say that tomorrow will be just like today, but it’s supposed to be mostly cloudy and about 20 degrees colder. There’s also a chance of about half an inch of snow. So plan on bundling up if you’re skiing with your special someone tomorrow. Wednesday is also cool with strong east winds…and so is Thursday. The storm you may have heard about for Friday? It’s vanishing quickly. Things look to stay basically dry. Out of the last 12 model runs, about 1/3 of them try to bring in a storm for World Cup weekend, but that is fantasyland territory for forecasting.
Great Reading
The topics of overcrowded slopes and roads have been a hot topic over the last month. Everyone is talking about it. I’ve even had a couple of requests for interviews. Apparently people think I know something. There’s a couple of interesting articles that have been shared with me.
The first one is from The Guardian and addresses the general crowding in Lake Tahoe, in particular since the pandemic. Here’s the link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/12/lake-tahoe-resort-housing-crisis
The second one is from 5280, a journal from Denver, Colorado. The article dives into Arapahoe Basin, and the factors that influenced their decision to limit pass sales, and increased both profits and skier satisfaction by doing so. Here’s the quote that caught my attention:
“Say you’re a rock star coming out with a bunch of great records, and you’ve got a raging drug habit. Yeah, things are good today, but eventually what you’re doing is going to destroy you.” – Alan Henceroth, Arapahoe Basin COO
It seems like the leadership at Palisades Tahoe could learn a few things from the article. Here’s the link: https://www.5280.com/how-leaning-into-its-status-as-an-anti-resort-made-a-basin-more-profitable/
Badges ‘N Rewards
So the astute readers will remember that I talked about earning badges, no matter how meaningless they may seem to be. Yes, I did have the most gold stars in Mrs. Chase’s class in fifth grade. Thank you for asking! I did earn the “Furthest Corner” badge by skiing both Granite Chief and Sherwood today. One friend had already done it and that only motivated me more so. Somehow I failed at the “Shirley Five” badge. We skied all five groomed runs at Shirley this morning, but apparently those were not the correct “five tree-lined runs at Shirley”. You win some, you lose some.
Then there’s the matter of the “Legendary Rewards”, which are real things you might be able to earn just by letting the Borg track your days via the Palisades Tahoe app. Various rewards are available for skiing three, twelve, twenty five, fifty, seventy five and one hundred days at Palisades and Alpine Meadows. The details are listed here.
Almost none of those rewards interest me at all. When the program was first announced, at fifty days, the reward was listed as getting 50% off one item at a company owned store, which would have been a fantastic reward. But when I reached fifty days and asked about it, the deal was quietly changed to 50% off of one logo item. If you know me, I have turned down countless free logo items.
The Palisades Tahoe app was recently updated to note which rewards you have earned. It says emails will be delivered with details on redemption. I am past 75 days and have seen none of these emails yet. At 100 days, the reward is a $50 lunch for two at Sun Bowl in the village. The marketing department has a little over three weeks to figure out the email thing as I do plan to redeem that one. They can keep the special edition tee shirt.
have you figured out what the 8 peaks are? Haven’t seen anything on the app or website. #gottagetthebadge
The Guardian article doesn’t really shed any new info. Yes, too many people, but not enough people who are supporting the tourism business being able to afford to live near where they work. There are many resort towns that are experiencing that. Are there any that have made significant progress in addressing that? Is the Hopkins Village project helping?
The article about A-Basin was interesting. But being independent gives them the flexibility to switch pass partners, limit lift tickets, etc. With PT being owned by Alterra not sure that is a viable option. I would like to hear more dialog on potential viable solutions.
Alterra has already limited Ikon access at other mountains it owns. They could limit Ikon passes to X number of days, and then sell a more expensive PT only pass. They absolutely can limit ticket sales, or pass sales overall, they can reduce pass sales by raising prices…plenty of options.
We will NEVER buy ANYTHING with a palisades logo
Will not buy, will not wear, will not stick.
I too will not buy nor wear but WOULD be more than willing to provide guidance on wear to stick .
Interesting thought from Dan in our locker room today. How about Alterra significantly raising the cost of the Ikon pass for non-residents/local homeowners, thereby maintaining revenue and hopefully reducing the number sold to those coming from afar, thus reducing traffic and overcrowding on the mountain?