This Is Summer Skiing

There’s no denying it now, we are skiing during the summer season this week and next. As a former teacher of science, I have been working on educating y’all on the difference between meteorological summer and astronomical summer. With the passing of the Summer Solstice this week, we can now all agree that we are summer skiing at Alpine Meadows. That said, it was rather chilly and cloudy day on the slopes yesterday. Today was much warmer. While that does add to the fun factor, it does mean that the snow got draggier much sooner today than yesterday.

What’s also starting to look like summer is the amount of snow on the mountain, and the amount of water running off the mountain. Last week, I predicted that the only way that Mountain Ops would be able to keep the runouts to the lifts alive would be to sacrifice some runs and farm snow from open runs to fill in the gaps lower on the mountain. Andy mentioned yesterday that snow had been farmed from Charity (Red-Green) to fill in the area around the bottom of Werners (Blue) and at Sandy’s Corner. Then it rained more than an inch during the Thursday thunderstorms, leaving only narrow strips of snow in that area.

Higher on the mountain, snow was pulled from the moonscape features on Howards Hollow and from the two big jumps at the bottom of Terry’s Return. It looks like most of that snow went into saving Rock Garden and the flat runout of Rock Garden toward the Sugar Shack.

Lastly, an extensive farming project pulled snow from the ridge above Alpine Bowl to create a WROD leading back to Sunspot and Wolverine Saddle. Overall, it’s been a huge project to keep the mountain skiable to this point. I got assurances from several levels of management this week that there will be skiing on the Fourth Of July Weekend, except there are no guarantees as to exactly what that means.

There is still a lot of snow in Alpine Bowl, essentially above 8000 feet. It’s going to take a lot of cat time to continue to move that snow downhill where it is needed. In particular, the Sandy’s Corner zone is somewhat frightful once the crowds start showing up around 9am. There’s just a few groomer strips wide at the choke, along with assorted bamboo and a slow sign posted above a mid slope spring. There’s a lot of kooks and chuckleheads that don’t understand the concept of slowing down in that area.

Honestly, if your ski group includes children or beginner/intermediate skiers or riders, my advice is to not ride the Roundhouse or Summit lifts. The flow of traffic on Alpine Bowl, Rock Garden Werners and Dance Floor is too fast given the runs being narrow ribbons, and there are few opportunities to pull over off piste and be out of the way. The term Andy coined earlier this season was “like a tricycle on a freeway.”

The Weasel Run off of TLC is still very well covered on the main run, thanks to snow farmed from the secondary runs on the right. The pace of skiing and riding is generally much more family friendly on TLC. The only caveats are that the Trail of Tears between the Chalet and Tiegel is quite slow when the weather warms up. Also, the Chalet is now sitting in an island of dirt and is not open for food and beverages or a break.

Off-piste skiing is becoming more and more rare on the mountain. The off piste terrain that is available generally has moguls the size of minivans. You can see that on The Face, Palisades, Pygmy Forest and much of the D Chutes. Where there’s not moguls, the sun cups are pretty large, or stop signs indicating terrain closures are popping up. Terrain closures are really a thing and they serve a great purpose. At this time of year, Ski Patrol will close terrain when they feel like they can no longer get a toboggan in or out of an area where a skier or rider might need rescue. Ski Patrol has been very busy already this weekend, they don’t have the time to be hiking you out of closed terrain.

Thoughts About Skiing & Riding Next Weekend

• This has been about the coolest month of June in California since 2011. That’s about to change. The high temperatures at Alpine Meadows will continue to be in the low 60’s through Tuesday as one last cutoff low moves through the area. Then high pressure moves in midweek. As of now the high temperatures mid-mountain at Alpine Meadows show 65 on Wednesday; 70 on Thursday; and 75 on Friday. Overnight temperatures only drop to about 50. The “window” for decent skiing and riding each day will likely be very short.

• The rate of snowmelt is about to increase by a lot. Mountain ops folk are going to have to double down on snow farming efforts to keep the lower mountain alive so we can get back to the lifts. “Back in the day” the old-timers say, they just spread straw for the runout back to Summit. I don’t think that will happen, but I do expect that there may be fewer routes down the mountain, and even fewer opportunities to escape from the crowds by skiing off piste.

• With the exception of Friday, June 30th, only paid reserved parking is available at Alpine Meadows. Contrary to what you might think there is no information about that to be found on the Palisades Tahoe app. If you don’t follow social media or subscribe to the official blog, you might not know much about the paid parking. Here’s a simple link to reserve paid parking for next weekend. I find it interesting that paid parking has not sold out yet on any of the days from July 1-4. I would have predicted that differently. Then again, I always find myself shocked at how people show up every day knowing absolutely nothing about conditions, lift operations, etc.

• Free parking will be available at the Olympic Valley lots. Shuttles are scheduled to run “approximately” every 15 minutes.

• The official blog did state the caveat that “the parking program for Freedom Fest is different from what we expect to offer for the 2023-24 winter season”. On Tuesday, I wrote a blog post that did say I supported the use of paid parking for next weekend in an effort to avoid complete gridlock in the North Tahoe area next weekend. But I will now state my caveat that I am opposed to paid parking programs for next season as a solution to traffic issues during the regular season. While paid reserved parking may have helped some ski areas encourage more people to use public transportation, we do not have a public transportation system in our area that can handle the amount of riders necessary to make a meaningful reduction in traffic. It would take years, or decades, to build out the remote parking lots, expand highway 89 to accommodate a safe bus lane, and acquire the buses and drivers needed to make the system usable enough to get people out of their cars. For the ’23-’24 season, Palisades Tahoe should focus on minimizing its 24-7 marketing campaigns. For seasons beyond the next, limitations should be placed for Ikon passholders, and a Palisades Tahoe only pass should be available for locals with limited interest in traveling.

Thanks again to every one of the usual Alpine Meadows mountain operations staff, with assorted support from the other side, in keeping skiing and riding alive through our extended season. We are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity.