Myth Busting

The penultimate day of the ’22-’23 Alpine Meadows ski season is now complete. While the skiing was still good, it also was the shortest day of skiing for me this week. I managed 6 laps on Summit in two hours and called it a day. Before we get to the myth busting, just a shout out and thank you again to the Mount Ops and Ski Patrol people that are making this extended season happen. Don’t ever think we don’t appreciate you.

Myth Number 1: The skiing and riding you saw in the marketing video posted by Palisades Tahoe yesterday is a good representation of what your day might look like on Monday or Tuesday. Nope, it will not. Every ski and snowboard shot in yesterday’s video was taken within 200 yards of the top of the Summit lift, where the coverage is still pretty spectacular. There’s no mention of the other 90% of the mountain, where the coverage is not so spectacular. They failed to mention the part of way too many people on a narrow WROD or that part about walking through the mud to get back to a ski lift. Fortunately, if you are a frequent reader of UA, you know that the marketing videos produced by Palisades Tahoe aren’t always an accurate representation of what to expect. Shocking. That said, I still had a good time today, as did most people, especially those who keep up at Unofficial Alpine and already knew what to expect.

Myth Number 2: Having to walk about 100 yards through the mud to get back to the Summit lift will stop many people from skiing and riding. Nope, walking through the mud and portaging skis and boards was not a deterrent at all. Although I heard complaints about it as people saw the mud as they walked up to Summit this morning, people just dealt with it. I saw a few kids cry. I saw some hero dads and moms carrying three or four sets of skis. I watched one dad make multiple trips through the mud to get several kids and all of their gear back to the lift.

Myth Number 3: Monday will be the least busy day of the holiday weekend at Alpine Meadows, as not everyone has the day off. Nope, this also seems to be incorrect. I am not privy to the exact numbers that were there today. From the first look, the parking lot was slightly less full today that it was the last two days. But I also noticed that there were more shuttle busses arriving today from Olympic Valley than the previous days. One possible explanation is that more people said “I’ve already paid for two days of parking and that’s it, we’re parking and shuttling tomorrow”. Nonetheless, things seemed more crowded today. I had to work harder to find routes down the mountain, as Dance Floor (aka Red trail) was downright terrifying. Over the last three days of skiing, you could just pull to the side and wait for wave of traffic to pass by, then jump back into an open pocket. Today there were no open pockets, just one continuous wave.

Myth Number 4: When the slopes get overcrowded and it is obviously very busy, you can count on people to do the right thing by slowing down, avoiding other people and not jumping off every little bump. Nope, that was not the case at all today. Apparently the trials for the World Cup are still going. Also, it’s a mistake to not leave just a few small park features out to give park skiers and riders something to slide on and jib off of other than other skiers and riders. We count on people to be smart. We have to remember, these are the same people that grew up eating Tide pods, zoomed their way through school and now routinely pass 4 cars on a blind curve on Highway 89. Putting every ski patroller in Tahoe on the mountain today would not have controlled all of the idiots.

So what did ski well today? Both Alpine Bowl and Wolverine are still skiing very well, as was the upper reaches of Weasel Run. If you’re mogul capable, Palisades and the D Chutes (6,7 and 8) offer a lot of fun, and less traffic. Beyond that, finding the route back to Summit that was least hazardous to my health was the name of the game for most people I know today. The options are slim. I found that Werners and Boomerang offered a lot more enjoyment for me today. I love skiing, but not when you’re feeling like you’re in a game of real life Frogger. Both Werner’s and Boomerang do require some walking over mud and rocks. There were some snow bridges near the bottom of Werners that were fairly treacherous today. Tomorrow it will be a longer walk. But that will likely be my jam tomorrow as well.

Today I noted a lot of people bringing out their classic “I Skied Alpine Meadows On July 4th” tee shirts from 2011. it made me smile. I’ve located mine for tomorrow, as I certainly won’t be in line for this year’s tee. See you out there.

The mud slog to Summit, before it got even longer and busier.

One of the less busy moments on Dance Floor, around 8:40am.

Randy caught me checking out the relative solitude of Boomerang

One of the many snow bridges found on Werners.