The conventional wisdom in the ski industry is that people just give up on skiing after Mothers’ Day. Here we are, heading into Fathers’ Day weekend and the demand for skiing and riding is still going strong. The main upper lots at Alpine Meadows filled up again today, on a Friday, in the third week of June. Yes, the rulebook for ski industry managers is still being rewritten. The question is, is it still just a novelty for most folk, or will they still turn out next June if we see another big snow year with next winter being an El Niño year?
Even though last winter was a huge snow year for Alpine Meadows, it’s only through some Herculean efforts by mountain ops that the mountain is still open. Last week, there were four afternoons of serious downpours associated with thunderstorms in the Tahoe region. That contributed to an increased pace of snowmelt, and damage to the main runouts that had water flowing both over and under the snowpack. Not only did they use up all of the snow that had stockpiled last week, there was more evidence that snow was being harvested from all over the lower mountain to rebuild the lower runouts to the Summit, Roundhouse and TLC.
The skiing and riding for this weekend is still looking good. Just about everything I predicted last Monday did happen. Almost all of the off piste terrain below the top of Roundhouse has burnt out with only a couple of exceptions. Gunnars Knob, Ladies Slalom and Rolls and Knolls are basically done. Freaks like myself can probably still piece together a line, but for your ordinary skier, they are done. Yellow was quite good today, but very thin in places. It may not make it through the weekend. Sympathy is still alive, as is The Face. Both are spicy and I would recommend rock skis.
On the upper mountain the Alpine Bowl, Sun Spot, and Wolverine groomed runs are still in good shape. The D’s, Palisades and Pygmy Forest have moguls that are growing by the hour. Peters Peril is burnt out at the top, as is Solar Flare and South Peril. The Tower 19 zone is extra spicy. The terrain park in Terry’s Return was in good shape and quite busy today.
By 11am today, it got sticky enough on anything that was flat that I called it. Temperatures were in the mid 50’s by that point. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy, and Sunday even windier. By Sunday, gusts along Sierra Ridges could reach 60-80 mph. If you’re already sporting your red white and blue Speedo, that may be a bit uncomfortable.
Among those of us that have skied this mountain for years, we agree that the existing snowpack is nowhere near as deep as it was at this time in 2011, the last time that Alpine Meadows was open for the Fourth of July weekend. It’s enough to make me wonder if the snowpack will hold out that long on the lower mountain. If it does, it’s likely just going to be WROD for everything below the top of Roundhouse. That may not provide a great experience if the crowds show up as anticipated.
I skied mostly by myself today, having left Summit early for the relative peace of Roundhouse. So I have no action shots today. The gallery below is there to give you a peek of what current conditions look like heading into the third week of June.
We saw you lapping Yellow today and thought we would follow your fun. Thanks!
Opening ABC would solve a bunch of issues. Less traffic on the lower runouts, access to good skiing up top, ability to “lap” the park, etc.
Probably too late for that with so much bare ground that is now all warmed up…
Perhaps people want to get in their last licks before the new world order of paid parking kicks in…
Ah, thanks for the report, Mark, as always. Heading there with the kids for Father’s day.’s weekend. I picture some skiing from 8 to melt. Then hanging around … what’s not to love!