Hello skiers,
Both sides of the mountain were closed for the day! The air is relatively warm, the sky is gray, and precipitation that is falling is in the form of rain (at least along the Truckee River).
There is nothing to report as far as the quality of skiing is concerned for this day. I have heard of a few natural slides that occurred yesterday that backcountry skiers should note before heading out. Jake’s Peak on the Westshore of Tahoe slid yesterday or the day before. I saw this on the news. The slide was huge. You can see photos and video of the slides using the link.
https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org/observation/2023/mar/13/1200/jakes-peak
A good sized slide broke somewhere around Munchkins that slid down to the summer horse trail. I also heard that a couple of slides occurred naturally above the Alpine Meadows Road.
It appears to me that many more people are skiing Art’s Knob this year. Perhaps the reason is the amount of snow we have received, and the TLC lift that offers easy access to this slope. I ask a couple of friends, as we were about to slide down Art’s Knob, if they knew whom it was named after. They did not seem to know the answer so I thought I would pass this along.
It was named after Art Linkletter who was a long time Alpine Meadows skier. Below is a link that includes a bio of Art’s time at Alpine along with a little more info about the ski area.
https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/alpine-meadows-the-art-linkletter-connection/
I am hopeful that the crews at Alpine have a chance to catch up with the weather and open for skiing tomorrow.
Enjoy your day,
Andy
Nice article about Art, Andy. Interested that the photo in the article sure looks like the top of Expert Shortcut actually looking at Art’s Knob! Doesn’t look to me like anywhere off Scott chair!
Art Linkletter owned at least one, but perhaps several lots in Alpine Peaks. When John Reilly was trying to develop the Sherwood side into a major resort I thought he turned to Linkletter for promotion of the idea, and Linkletter bought or was given lots there. I remember Linkletter in the 60s as the MC for the Miss Sierra Snowflake contest that my sisters competed in. Well into the 70s Reilly was trying to come up with financing to make his dream for Alpine Peaks come to fruition. Since I lived in Alpine Peaks for 20 years and it was the remote place it is now, I’m glad he didn’t succeed.
Arts Knob…does anyone remember the Warren Miller movie when they skied off of the top of Arts Knob to Pink Floyd’s Time? “Ticking away the moments that make it a dull day….”
Was that Craig Becks movie Daydreams”?
Hey Andy. Back in 1970 when I started patrolling at Alpine Bernie Kingery and Norm Wilson told me that Art’s Knob was named after ski patroller Art Johnson. That’s always been my understanding. Art patrolled in the 60s and got caught in an avalanche there. There are a number of locations name for patrollers that had some sort of mishap. Examples include: Murphy’s Mistake in Scott Chute for Gary Murphy, Foster’s Folly in Subdivision Bowl for Bill Foster, Erb’s Nose out by Grouse Rock for Bill Erb, Larry’s Leap in SP Bowl for Larry Heywood, CK’s Bench in SP Bowl for Chris Knorr, Mike’s Trap by Art’s Knob for Mike Henn, Talbert’s Ride near Shuttle Cornice for Art Talbert, Marhanka’s Chute by Lower Saddle for John Marhanka, Bernie’s Bowl for Bernie Kingery, Peter’s Peril for Peter Klaussen. Lots of tough lessons over the years.
Regarding Art Linkletter. During my high school years he was a regular. Other notables include Peter Graves from the old TV show Mission Impossible, often seen at Alpine and Sunnyside. Paul McCarthy skied Alpine for awhile. And one of my favorites Robin Williams, a regular for many years. One day I got him to introduce the daily weather report on the company radios with a awesome “Goood Morning Alpine Meadows.