Back on Wednesday, my post explicitly said that there would not be a powder day this weekend. I was wrong, and that happens to all weather forecasters, good and bad. But today was actually a pretty good powder day, given that it is May 6th. I have always said that the cutoff low is one of the most difficult of forecasts. I realized that snowfall potential was increasing yesterday, but it was Andy’s day to do the report, and he seemed pretty excited about it.
Neither of us reported on Thursday, summing it up “it was firm and foggy”. I did 6 laps and called it. Yesterday fell into the “mini-pow” day category that then turned into clear powder. Today, the snowfall felt like it exceeded the forecast, at least in favored locations. It was not all that difficult to find boot top deep powder off of Summit, although the visibility was vertigo inspiring at the top. Visibility cleared at about the top of D8.
It was not the lightest powder ever, so first tracks was always the best strategy. That said, the snowfall was almost heavy enough this morning to qualify as a “free refills” day. In lightly traveled zones, repeat trips worked out well. The heavily traveled groomed runs, not so much. Chunder piles started building into moguls mid-morning as the temperatures crept upwards on the lower part of the mountain.
One part of the forecast I had totally right was that Wednesday would be the busiest day of the week at Alpine Meadows. It was not busy at Alpine Meadows today, by weekend standards. I rolled into Lot 3 at 7:40am and was the first car in that lot. When I left this afternoon, Lot 3 was still not filled.
Tomorrow will be the sunniest day of the last 7 days, with no snow expected in the forecast. It’s reasonable to expect that all of this new snow will get sticky fairly rapidly as the sun comes out. There’s a reasonable chance that some terrain will start out somewhat smooth, as the snowfall should continue past the 2 pm lift closure today. We shall see. Arrive with an open mind and spring wax.
Alpine Meadows is closed for Monday and Tuesday. The slight chance of snow for Monday seems to be diminishing. Both Monday and Tuesday offer warmer daytime temperatures, followed by strong nighttime freezes. These are the key ingredients for spring corn formation. By Wednesday, we’re hopefully most of the way through that transition. From Wednesday onward we go rocketing right back into spring temperatures, with highs at Alpine Meadows into the 60’s over next weekend…at least as of now.
A Great Interview With Palisades Tahoe COO Dee Byrne
I had the opportunity today to listen to a lengthy interview with Dee Byrne by Stuart Winchester of The Storm Skiing Journal. While Dee and I don’t see eye to eye on everything, I am happy to say that we each respect each other for who we are and what we stand for when it comes to skiing, and Alpine Meadows in particular. The interview is one hour and twenty two minutes long, so I am providing a little bit of an index below to help you find some of the more interesting parts. That said, you may want to take the time to listen to the whole thing, as it certainly reminds us that we are all humans that have a love for the mountains, in particular Alpine Meadows and Palisades Tahoe.
Click the image above to go to the podcast. The podcast is not available to the public until May 7th. If you like The Storm Skiing Journal, you can subscribe to Stuart’s publications for early access. Out of respect for Stuart, I won’t recap the entire conserversation. Here’s a quick index to interesting parts:
- 23:15 Catching up to Vail Resorts
- 24:00 Not a Disney experience
- 30:00 Regarding the name change
- 35:45 The Alpine Meadows experience
- 47:00 The proposed Rollers chair is a long ways off
- 101:30 Lift upgrades specific to Alpine Meadows
- 116:00 The future of Ikon passes and parking next season and beyond
Okay…so I know you want to know more right now. I will spill the beans on Ms Byrne’s thoughts on lift upgrades at Alpine Meadows. Her thoughts pretty much mirror the things that I have heard Mountain Manager Jeff Goldstone talk about in previous conversations:
• Replacing Subway and Meadow with one high speed lift. This also includes moving the endpoint higher to access Scott and Yellow. Also included would be a regrading of the terrain to eliminate the double fall line around Meadow. If you have ever taught someone to ski or ride there, you know all about that! This project is in the planning stages.
The rest of these are in the thought process, but without a specific plan. The most current Master Plan for Alpine Meadows dates back to 2015. It’s being reworked now.
- Replace Yellow and ABC with one lift, likely with an angled mid-station
- Consider a high speed lift for Lakeview
- Consider a high speed lift for Kangaroo with a possible extension to Lower Beaver
- Keep Scott as is…”it’s perfect” as it controls the number of skiers on the terrain.
I encourage you to listen to the podcast for further details. See you out there tomorrow!
Thanks for the share! Much appreciated!
Lift updates are interesting. Thanks. Hit Donner Ski Ranch, was there for the rope drop on the back side.. Super awesome pow day. Sleeper pow at a sleeper ski hill.
Looks like you have to have a paid subscription to listen to the podcast? Unless is drops for free tomorrow?
The release notes say it will be open for the general audience on May 7th.
What a good podcast. Playing fantasy ski resort with alpine is interesting to hear with people who aren’t overly familiar with it, kanagaroo to the top would be such a hard lift to construct as is