Final Thoughts: The Alpine Meadows ’22-’23 Season

The reality is sinking in about now that I will likely not be clicking into my ski bindings for another 4 months. My first ski day of the ’22-23 season was nearly 8 months ago. Wow, that is the opposite of what most people think about when it comes to “ski season”. That’s the reason that I am feeling okay about putting the skis away for a bit and enjoying some summer activities. But before I do that, I wanted to put together some final thoughts about the amazing season we just experienced.

It Was A Whopper Of A Snow Year

Going by the official Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol snow statistics, we saw 607 inches of snowfall at Alpine Meadows between November 1st and April 30th. This is 170% of the 52 year average. Yes, that number is lower than the “700+ inches” you saw in the marketing materials. The official measurements are taken at the base area weather station near the bottom of Roundhouse. Theoretically, it’s an area that is less likely to be affected by wind loading or other phenomena. How does that stack up to historical records  (since 1970)?

• 1994-1995:  662 inches
• 2010-2011:  616 inches
• 2022-2023:  607 inches
• 1982-1983:  598 inches

So it was the third biggest snow year that has been recorded at Alpine Meadows. Ask anyone on that works at the mountain, all of that snow meant it took a lot of work to keep the mountain open, not to mention the road and the parking lots. It meant hundred of hours of digging out lifts, moving tower pads up, resetting rope lines, avalanche control – and everything else that goes along with big storm cycles. Just when the employees had about enough, ski areas started announcing that operations would continue until the Fourth of July, extending their work season an extra six weeks or so. We have nothing but gratitude for all of them.

Looking back at the snowfall tracker at the official website, I counted 40 days that could be considered “powder days” last season, counting any day with 4 inches or more snowfall. Amazingly, there were only two days that there was a full closure of Alpine Meadows due to storms. That said, I noted that I stacked up 32 runs on the Meadow lift this season, most of those being on days where Meadow was the top of the mountain. Is that a record i should be proud of?

One often asked question over the last two weeks is why the snowpack seemed so thin for the summer season, relative to 2011 (the last time Alpine Meadows was open on July 4th). You have to remember that the “official” stats above do not include the month of May. Most of the big storms this year were done by March. Only 14 inches of snow fell at the base of Alpine Meadows in April of this year. April of 2011 saw 33 inches and April of 1995 saw 68 inches of snow. Then there’s the month of May, which was a big month for snow at Alpine Meadows in 2011. It’s those late season storms that kept the snowpack deeper later into the season.

All Of Those Storm Days Changed How I Ski The Mountain

I set a personal best this season for number of days skiing, ending my season at 188 days. You don’t have to tell me I am slacking, I am well aware that Randy S, Patty R and Fletch all crested 200 days this season, and I am certain there are others – kudos to all of them. The interesting stat that I see is that I am ending the season short of 3 million vertical feet skied, which I thought I might attain this season. (Yes, no free pair of Peak Skis for me. I will somehow soldier onward.)

The answer lies in my stats recorded on the Palisades Tahoe app. I skied the Summit lift a lot less this year than in any other season, 200 rides less. Yes, I skied nothing but the Meadow lift for probably 5 days this season.

This should not come as a surprise. I typically avoid the Summit lift on powder days. Often the visibility is terrible, or Summit is on windhold. Frequently it’s just that I don’t like the aggressive behavior that results from powder fever. Summit offers roughly 1600 vertical feet per lap. Scott, Sherwood, Lakeview and Roundhouse only offer 800-1000 vertical feet per lap.

Not surpassing 3 million vertical feet skied this season is not a terrible thing. Spending more time on the other lifts meant that I discovered a lot of great new places where the powder is less travelled. Most of those will continue to be trade secrets. I will remind you that sometime this season, we found that the lower reaches of Bear Creek off of Meadows skied far better than expected on a powder day. I am happy to trade vertical feet for better visibility, less time spent in line and less powder fever aggressive  behavior.

The absence of Alpine Bowl Chair was notable this season. It was a long wait in the early season for an elusive wiring harness to show up from a supplier that would allow for control of the new backup engine. That was followed by multiple dig outs of the upper barn, only to have it be buried again by the next storm cycle. Hopefully we see a return to normal operations for ABC next season! And yes, it would have been amazing if they could have run ABC last weekend.

The Gondola Didn’t Really Change Things

The Base To Base Gondola finally became a reality at Alpine Meadows. Looking at how people used it, it did not really have that terrible impact on Alpine Meadows that many expected. Several employees felt obligated to let me know that the numbers showed that just as many people went in each direction, Palisades to Alpine Meadows, or vice versa. That comment always leaves me scratching my head, as every time I rode it to Palisades, I did indeed always ride it back. Maybe they are just looking at the initial departures. That said, there were only a few days this season where I looked at the gondola and said “Look at all of those people pouring off the gondola”.

There is the thing that those shiny boxes ran far less frequently than most people expected. Between mechanical issues and wind holds, it was not necessarily something that you could really count on. It seems like not a day would go by that you didn’t see a Tweet suggesting that it was windy and you should return to your base mountain by the gondola. After that little snafu with a gondola cabin getting all twisty at the KT station, those warnings grew even more frequent, earning the shiny boxes the nickname “Windola”.

One thing that did change was that I skied at the other mountain more than I have since I was doing doing volunteer work with sound and timing for Far West Freestyle events. Being able to get to the terrain on the other side without having to set one foot into a ridiculous faux alpine village turned out to be a good thing, since they already wasted the money on the shiny box thing.

The Gondola Changed Everything

Who are we kidding? The gondola changed everything. The one area where the gondola had a terrible impact was in Ikon pass sales, and in Ikon pass visitation. Because Alterra Mountain Co is not a publicly held company, they do not have to publicly share pass sales numbers. But industry insiders have estimated that Ikon pass sales within the 4 hour “day trip” area surrounding Lake Tahoe increased as much as 20%. Also, there was a huge interest in people from around the world to come check out the B2B Gondola. If you ski Alpine Meadows or Palisades, you have probably already experienced that every distant relative you talk to knows about the shiny boxes when you talk to them on the phone or at family functions like weddings and Christmas dinners.

You don’t have to know the specific numbers for either pass sales or visitation. The traffic and parking situations at Alpine Meadows and our neighbor to the north were out of control this season. Yes, STR’s and weather conditions only made things worse, but it is primarily the number of passes sold that caused so many people to show up this winter, this spring and for the summer season.

Something has to change for future seasons and paid reserved parking is not the answer. I don’t know whether we can use last weekend’s paid parking as a valid test of whether or not it might work. I do know I have seen a number of people report online that they reserved a space but still were unable to park at Alpine Meadows on Tuesday due to a lack of any real enforcement the previous three days.

It’s too late to adjust the number of days available for Ikon passes next season at Palisades and Alpine Meadows, but it’s where they need to head for ’24-’25. For next season, considering slashing the marketing budget is probably the best option. They just don’t need it. For what it’s worth, yes we also sometimes fuel the lust for a powder day. But we are also not afraid to tell you when you might want to skip a trip to Tahoe when it’s not so great. Then again, our reach is somewhere around 1-2% of the reach of official sources.

I spent more time at Alpine Meadows this season just hanging out in the morning as our drive times got pushed earlier and earlier. I also found myself bailing out a little early a little more frequently , hoping to avoid the end of the ski day crush. For that reason, the B2B Gondola sucks.

Identity Erosion Continues

It’s still the same mountain as always. But it’s not the same Alpine Meadows.  The push to erase “Alpine Meadows” from our vernacular went into overdrive this season, this despite being what is claimed by Alterra Mountain Co.

At each destination, Alterra Mountain Company leaders are empowered to be decisive, creative, and bold in order to retain each mountain’s authentic character. Recognizing the innate value of the unique culture found at each of the mountain communities, Alterra Mountain Company’s goal is to preserve, sustain and support its two most important resources: the mountains and the people who live and play in them. – Alterra Mountain Co press  release, June 2023

It’s was the second season since the name “Palisades Tahoe” was announced as the combined new name for Alpine Meadows and that place over the hill. I am not here to debate whether or not the name change was necessary on the other side of the hill. But one thing is clear, there was never a leg to stand on in saying the the name “Alpine Meadows” needed to be changed. We gained a small victory last season, after the powers that be recognized that having two different ski areas called Palisades Tahoe was way too confusing. So it became acceptable to refer to our favorite mountain as “Alpine”.

This season, the marketing department worked harder than ever to make it look like this is all just one big mountain. It is certainly the largest something by some metric! That was the whole point of the B2B. New uniforms arrived in corporately correct colors. Almost every last thing that said Alpine Meadows, or displayed the Alpine Meadows logo has been removed from Estelle Sports. Whole departments of employees were prohibited from displaying the old logo while working on the mountain. Most recently, the Freedom Fest was thrust onto Alpine Meadows, giving Alpine Meadows the most anti-Alpine Meadows vibe I have felt since 2010. I know I am not the only one that just wants to slide on snow and be able to enjoy a simple band and a burger and beer with a view of the mountain we love. I certainly never asked for a huge video screen blocking the view, red white and blue everything, or mud wrestling.

I want to high five every news anchor and weatherperson that accidentally called our home mountain “Alpine Meadows” on the air over the last week. You know they got the smackdown from the marketing department, as in “no more free lift tickets for you”. I want to high five every person that proudly shows up each day wearing their Alpine Meadows logo gear. It’s those same people that walked right past the table offering free t-shirts this week, because they had the wrong logo. Lastly, I want to give a high five to every one of you that have figured out how to create your own Alpine Meadows logo shirts, hats and stickers, just like I have. I doubt that some of us will ever give up.

Thanks For Enjoying Unofficial Alpine This Season

Thank you so much for enjoying Unofficial Alpine this season. We do this because we love the mountain, and we love building the community at our favorite mountain. Financially, the losses continue to stack up here, and that is okay. People approach me just about every week with ideas on how to monetize this thing, but that all leads to too much stuff to worry about. CalSTRS is making it happen.

Looking at our stats for this season, because this was an extra long season with a lot of really great days, Andy and I produced a total of 196 reports from the time Alpine Meadows opened, until closing day on July 4th. Personally I wrote 112 of those reports, so I am going to take some time off and will not write much this summer. As the plans start to take shape for paid and reserved parking, I’m pretty sure I will have something to say. Otherwise, I won’t resort to those idiotic daily questions asked by some of the other ski blogs, just to keep our marketing stats up through the slow season.  Andy may want to write some stuff here and there, or not. Enjoy your summer friends and friends I have not met yet.