Twin Peaks

Hello Skiers,

A number of people indicated that they were a little on the depressed side this morning when they woke up and saw snow falling from a sky that was supposed to be clear. Many of us are looking forward to spring. The good news was that the sun did arrive, and the sky cleared, setting us up for a beautiful cool winter day. Skiing was very good today.

Palisades looking good in the sunshine

THIS IS IMPORTANT: A good friend of mine stashed his skis in one of the ski racks just off the main lodge deck between 1:30 and 2:00. When he came returned, shortly after leaving the skis in the rack, they were gone. The skis were Volkl. Model is Mantra. We assume they were stolen, but it is possible someone took the wrong skis. IF YOU TOOK, OR STOLE THESE SKIS RETURN THEM TO THE LOST AND FOUND AT ALPINE OR LET ME KNOW SO I CAN GET THEM BACK TO THE OWNER. If you leave your skis in the racks at the lodge or chalet split them up so they are not easily picked up by someone who is not the owner. THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT APPRECIATED AT ALPINE MEADOWS.

The feature photo used for this report is of Twin Peaks. I was heading to Sherwood on Ray’s Rut when I spotted what looked like a single set of tracks coming down from the saddle between the two peaks. I am not sure it was a good idea from an avalanche point of view, but it was impressive.

We did not do anything as daring today, but we did make another tour down from Lakeview to Snowcrest Rd. through Field of Dreams. The snow was soft and creamy just as it was yesterday.

A few of our tracks in a section of Field of Dreams

Editor’s Note: Field of Dreams is out of bounds territory near Alpine Meadows. It is not controlled by Ski Patrol and there are no guarantees of a rescue out there. Skiing out of bounds is not recommended for anyone that is not equipped with the specific knowledge and equipment that mitigates avalanche risk, or the myriad of other issues that can arise while skiing or riding in uncontrolled and non-patrolled  terrain. While the entrance to the FOD zone is easy to locate, it’s also easy to take a wrong turn and end up cliffed out, lost near the Truckee River, or wandering down into Tahoe City neighborhoods. Rescue in any of these situations would likely be at your cost.

A good number of people headed to High Traverse today. Their tracks showed that some of them skied out to Grouse Rock. It looked good from the chair riding up Sherwood. There were a lot of people on the groomed runs, some appearing to be moving rather fast, but the lift lines were not long which is always a positive. My favorite runs of the day, aside from Field of Dreams, were Palisades, and Our Father/High Yellow Gully. The runs were just filled with beautiful winter snow along with some rather large moguls that I enjoy turning around.

High Yellow Face, Gully, and Our Father were delicious today

Sympathy joined the good skiing club

To Mark and Ann: Have a great vacation in the sunshine with sand between your feet and a Mai Tai in your hands.

Enjoy your day,

Andy