We made it through another holiday weekend at Alpine Meadows…barely. The thing that kept me going was the thought that I could come back to Alpine Meadows on Tuesday. My hopes were not high when I left the house and noted the deck of high clouds obscuring the sun while on the Highway 89 commute. But the empty parking lot put a smile right back on my face, and the sun started poking out from behind the clouds as lifts loaded.
The groomed run off of Alpine Bowl was grippy for the first two runs, and it’s getting incrementally wider each day. But after two groomed runs, it was time to head off piste. What a treat it was, provided you chose wisely. In the less travelled areas there was still a coral reef surface. In the areas that saw more travel on Monday, basically all of the new funky snow from the weekend had literally been scrubbed off the mountain, taking us back to the magical chalky surface we had last Friday. I first sampled Sunspot, as pictured above, but then realized that Tower 19 was even better. I did nine more laps there before I thought I might try something else.
After a quick break for a Treats lunch, we headed back out to a few snow flurries, increasing winds and slightly reduced visibility. So we did a quick tour of the lower mountain off piste terrain and found the same. More travelled places that had been scraped smooth yesterday were delightedly soft and playful, my favorite being the bumps on Yellow. Less travelled areas, such as REDACTED, featured a lot more coral reef. One thing I am happy to report on is that I am now at 6 days in a row of refusing to ride Hotter Wheels. I did quite enough of that in the first 6 weeks of the season!
None of this really matters, as there is snow back in the forecast for tonight. In the never ending flip flops of Sierra weather this winter, the snow levels have again trended downward. So snow is now forecast for tonight at Alpine Meadows, with the point forecast calling for 3 to 7 inches at mid mountain. Theoretically it is done before the mountain opens tomorrow. Snow levels currently look to run at about 6000 feet….hopefully.
For Thursday and Friday, we get some sun, some clouds and no rain or snow until later Friday. They should be decent ski days.
The weekend storm is looking promising at the minute. The storm that is incoming has the potential to be the biggest storm of the season. Here’s two graphics from the latest run of the GFS. The left side is the 500mb Height Anomaly, which shows where the low should be at the peak of the storm Saturday afternoon. The right is the potential snowfall, with shows up to 3 feet possible by Monday afternoon. That has been pretty consistent for 10 runs of the GFS. I would also note that the GFS has been the most pessimistic model lately, so seeing it perk up for this storm is interesting.
Snow levels are still a question. Right now they look to run 6000-6500 feet. We have a good cold low moving out of the gulf of Alaska, and a good subtropical connection for moisture. Snow levels will depend a lot on whether we end up on the north side of the jet (cold) or south side of the jet (warm). We will revisit that Thursday.
Firing On All Cylinders?
That has been the tagline that Palisades Tahoe has been using for the season. For much of the season, it just made me laugh. All of those days spent riding TurboWeasel and skiing manmade snow with 17% of the mountain open can hardly be classified as “firing on all cylinders”. That’s not to say that many people did not put in a large amount of work to make that happen. But as we have endured the last holiday weekend with full parking lots, overflowing lift lines and crowded runs – the messaging of “firing on all cylinders” got to be not so funny.
The problem is that once again, not only has the snow been a little thin, the staffing has been a little thin too. We’re finally getting some consistent snowfall that has been slowly filling in the mountain. Staffing is now the thing that is problematic. Not all staffing is impacted, it’s mostly in the area of grooming. You can’t just hire someone off the streets and put them in a cat. Word is that we lost some groomers to other areas due to the slow start this season.
There’s some areas that are still too thin to run a groomer, Terry’s Return and Kangaroo Ridge coming to mind. But there’s other areas that seem like they should be done: Werners, Boomerang and Wolverine Bowl seem like good candidates, as this opens a whole new route for intermediate skiers to get down from the top of the mountain. It also makes all of the Wolverine terrain more attractive if you’re not forced to ski moguls all of the way back down to Sandy’s corner.
Then there’s Sherwood. Yes, it is thinner there, but there is quite a bit of available snow for farming to make it happen. Having Sherwood open would have alleviated a lot of the pain from last weekend. It’s understandable that there were some other priorities for Ski Patrol after two avalanche incidents last week. But hopefully we can see some work begin on the Sherwood side sooner rather than later, truly “firing on all cylinders”.
Note: I meant to capture a screenshot of that campaign all last week. Then I went to capture it this morning on Facebook, scrolling for 20 minutes not finding it. I searched both Google and Facebook for all things Palisades Tahoe for several minutes, hoping to jiggle the algorithms, but still the ads would not appear. You’ve probably seen them anyway.
It’s Tuesday, and that means it is parking reservation day. I just checked and the 12pm block of free reservations is already gone for the upcoming weekend at Alpine Meadows. There’s a clue that it could be very busy again just a few days from now.
To Beacon Or Not To Beacon?
Well I have certainly had a lot of feedback regarding beacons this week. Some people were irate that I suggested that beacon carriers should also carry a shovel and a probe. Others were irate when I suggested that some people might be fine just turning on tracking in the Palisades Tahoe app. The thing is, there are no easy answers here. Everybody’s situation is different so it is impossible to have set rules. Do remember all of the other risks: driving to the ski area, walking in an icy parking lot and those stairs in the breezeway…and those guys that think they want to beat Lindsey Vonn down the hill. They are probably more risky to your health. But let’s break this beacon question down into three different types of visitors:
| Skier or Rider Type | What Equipment Is Appropriate |
|---|---|
| Accesses High Traverse, Upper Bowls & Side Country areas such as Munchkins, Field of Dreams and Condo Run | Beacon, shovel & probe should be carried when avalanche risk is moderate or above. Should have AIARE Level 1 or greater and knowledge of current conditions |
| Frequents steeper ungroomed areas of the mountain off of Summit, TLC, ABC, Scott and Sherwood | Beacon recommended when avalanche risk is moderate or above. Should have AIARE level 1 or a reasonable level of experience with using an avalanche beacon. |
| Sticks to groomed terrain off of all lifts with occasional powder skiiing on low angle slopes | Risk level is very low for this group and tracking via the Palisades Tahoe app is probably adequate if you are skiing or riding with partners that will report you missing immediately |
Without a doubt, there will still be people telling me I have it all wrong. One thing that needs more discussion is learning more about avalanche safety. Terrain selection is huge when it comes to avalanche safety! Several people have asked where to take a class. The first two that come to mind are Alpenglow Expeditions and Tahoe Mountain School. The Sierra Avalanche Center has some good resources online, but this is not really a thing you can learn from watching a YouTube video. Baking bread? Yes. Using an avalanche beacon? No.
See you out there.
Nice job on the beacon chart. People will still complain.
Great chart! Clearly visualizes appropriate avalanche risk mitigation at Alpine Meadows.
Sure would!
I can’t wait until we can say that again.
Sure Would. 🥰
Mark,
Thank you for keeping us call up to date on our favorite mountain. It’s always a great read.
I might have missed it, but with all the avalanche talk recently, I am surprised that I have not seen any mention of programming the ski patrol phone number for either side into your phone.
If you are out on the traverses and there is a slide or someone gets hurt, moments matter.
Also helpful if you ski solo.
It’s also right in the Palisades Tahoe app. Also on that same page are your current Lat/Lon coordinates.
Otherwise for technophobes: 530-581-8222
Thanks for the daily reports. I like the chart but I’d add that a full avy kit (beacon, shovel, probe) and knowledge on the conditions and how to use those tools should be carried any time you are accessing out of bounds areas regardless of the avy danger rating. Seen way too many folks with no gear outside of the resort over the years.
Well said and agreed.
Any intel on when Gentian Gully might open? It’s a huge favorite amongst many of my ski buddies. It looked thin on the path by the ski patrol cabin, but fine once beyond. I’d suspect the snow would hold up nicely in that shaded region. Crossing fingers that it will be open soon.
I’m guessing it will be awhile as they can’t really open Gentian without also opening Promised Land. That still has a ways to go. I haven’t been down to Subway in a while but I imagine the exit to subway is thin and willowed.
Just finished 5 days with CMH Kootenay. Well really 4 days as Friday and Saturday broke the 1911 record for cold temps so sitting out Saturday was wise. Carrying the beacon without the probe and shovel seems like learning how to receive CPR but not how to give it.
Warm air. BA has snow levels at 8000 ft for most of the Tues night storm.Hope he is wrong.
That was BA yesterday morning. The models came in with lower snow levels later during the day yesterday. 1 to 4 inches overnight fell at AM.
Wind blew the new skiff off the Boiler Plate over the hill today,any better at AM?
Haha…yeah it was pretty bad at AM today…scruffy ice with blowing snow and breakable crust off piste. I was going to skip a report but Andy said he would do one…
Sierra Avalanche center had free Avy training at Sugar Bowl lodge yesterday with no lift ticket needed.
I almost went with my prehistoric beacon. Decided I couldn’t stomach the holiday crowds on I-80
I’ll try to find out if they are planning other training.
In my opinion the ski world has changed drastically with the Airbnb/VRBO explosion . Now most houses are a sleeps 16, sleeps 12 this has led to more accessibility for over night stays Especially for the young 25 crowd that packs them in like sardines and party hard all weekend on the slopes. . Some people think that is great but it puts way more cars into the Tahoe Basin and any other “desirable” area. How many normal homes have 16 people living in them with 8 plus cars.. Nada! No families have that many kids these days.
The 1200 foot condo I have had since 1964 has totally changed. I now have a “hotel room next to me” sleep 8 to 10. Where are all these people coming from the unregulated “hotel home” business that is out of control and drove up housing prices.
Limit these or better yet get rid of them and we would have our slopes back to a reasonable amount of people on the weekends.
Hallelujah! Trash talking short term rentals is always appreciated.
Should have upgraded Granite Chief to a detachable high speed chair instead of the shiny marketing tourist box (now that we are trash talking)