Redacted Is Not A Trail

Hello Skiers and Snowboarders,

A number of skiers have ask me if “REDACTED” is a ski run within the Alpine Meadows open boundary. This came from a post I wrote a few days ago that included the name “REDACTED” as if it were a trail I was describing. The simple answer is that there is not a trail that I know of named REDACTED at Alpine Meadows. The word was part of an edit that my cohort did on that particular post. The names of trails that I inserted into my post were names of runs that cannot be found of the official trail map. Actually, they cannot be found on any trail map. The names I have used in the past, that friends of my also use, are personal names of areas that we use amongst ourselves.

In theory, these are relatively secret, at least some of us would like to think they are, areas that are skied less often than others. They are areas that we would like to keep from becoming overcrowded. Therefore, in future posts I am going to attempt to refrain from using our trail names that are not found on trail maps, as well as refrain from giving directions to these runs that might I might have found sweet on any particular day.

This morning the sun was shining brightly, but fog filled the lake basin below.  It always makes for a beautiful sight.

There were plenty of people on the hill today, but it seemed as if the number was down from yesterday. This is just my opinion from standing in line at different lifts where the lines seemed to move steadily, and appeared shorter in length from those I endured the past couple of days.  At noon, it appeared the lines were definitely becoming shorter as people began to leave the mountain to return to their homes.

I found the area below Idiot’s Delight, a named run on the official map, to be in chalky condition. Very small moguls were forming, but I thought the relatively smooth chalky surface to be delightful. The trail over to this area of Wolverine Bowl traversed a few rocks in one spot, but the rest of the traverse was rock free. The area was good enough for more than one run. Certain areas of Alpine, off piste, varied from firm skier packed winter snow to crunchy more firm winter snow (almost ice, but not quite). Areas that received sun yesterday, along with the wet fog that hung over the upper mountain, were crunchy first thing in the morning, but they got better as the sun warmed the surface.

Most of the main trails that were not groomed overnight sported good size moguls, even so, I found the one’s in shaded areas to be very skiable. I did not ski Scott Chair as the line seemed rather long each time I skied by it, however I was told that the surface was pretty hard first thing in the morning. I assume it became better as the day wore on with warming temperatures. I was surprised that Scott Chute was opened today. I did not receive any reports as to the snow consistency, but it looked very narrow from below.

One of the areas I enjoyed most today were to the skiers left of Alpine Bowl Chair. By the way, Alpine Bowl Chair was not running today. Evidently, there is a mechanical problem with the lift. I found areas such as High Yellow Gully to be skier packed without the large moguls present in other parts of the mountain. Once again, the shaded areas were the best. Groomed runs offered there morning corduroy, but they were soon over crowded. Watching people skiing and snowboarding down a groomed run from a lift is frightening.

Enjoy your day,
Andy