Today was a true spring day in Tahoe. Last night the air was cold enough to freeze the surface. This morning the air warmed quickly creating a soft spring surface, especially on slopes accessed by the High Traverse. Sun Bowl, CB Chute, Big Bend bowl, and the lower portion of S.P. Bowl were smooth offering a spring corn topping. It was really wonderful making turns all the way down to the base of the Sherwood Chair. It was so good that we hustled back up to the top of Summit Chair and hiked back over a 2nd time. One of our group tried for a 3rd round, but patrol closed it before she could get back to the top of Summit.
While we were searching for perfect corn snow, or at least nice soft spring snow that was not sticky, a slalom race was being run down Werner’s Schuss and Boomerang Trails. This was the Western Region FIS Elite Spring Series competition. These young people, men and women, can really rip down the courses. We watched them for a short period as they banged slalom poles on their way to the finish line.
Although the temperature this afternoon has climbed to 60 degrees or higher, some of the mountain trails held frozen snow into the noon hour. After enjoying a smooth surface on Ridge Run and Bobby’s Trail off the Scott Chair, we bounced around on lower Standard before heading to test Gentian Gully. Gentian was not in prime condition. It was holding good size moguls, a number of them that were still frozen. I love Gentian, even when it is not perfect. Today it was challenging, but still worth visiting. I did note that the snow at the base of Subway was very dirty.
As we mentioned previously, Lakeview is closed for the season for a logging operation that needed to be started while snow still covered the ground. Dead trees are being cut down now, and the snow machines are dragging them to a storage area for removal during the summer.
We also made a couple of runs in the Sherwood area this morning. South Face was nice around 11 while Power Line was starting to get soft and sticky. I thought Chute Zero was a little to bumpy (not frozen, but more rubble from previous ski tracks than I hoped for).
The groomed areas off Summit were soft and smooth this morning. D8 did not disappoint, but was best later in the morning.
Today was a very good day. No complaints from me.
Just in case anyone is looking to purchase a home in Alpine Meadows close to $1 million, I have a smaller 4 bedroom A Frame home with a large two car garage available. Level access and overlooking Bear Creek. Here is a link for additional information.
One last unfortunate note. Last night, a dear friend and long time lover of Alpine Meadows, suddenly passed away. Thad Sigourney will be remembered by all of his Alpine Meadows friends as someone who enjoyed everything our mountain summers and winters had to offer. My heart goes out to his wife, and good friend Julie, and their entire family. We are all here for you whenever you need anything that we can provide for you. Plenty of shoulders to lean on.
Enjoy you day,
Andy
That first lap on High Traverse was the best of the season. The corn was perfect from upper saddle all of the way back to the Sherwood lift. I found Sherwood Right Face and Chute Zero to be very good, relative to conditions the last two weeks. The entry to the Face zone was a bit sticky, and eventually the runout got sticky, but everything in between was quite good. I would rate Chute Zero at 8.5, after literally being a zero last week.
Adding to Andy’s comments, Thad and Julie Sigourney are parents to Olympian Brita Sigourney. Brita and her siblings Bryce and Brendan all grew up skiing with the Alpine Meadows Freestyle Team from the late 90’s until about 2010. Back in the day, you could easily spot the quite tall Thad skiing around the mountain on his Kneissl Big Feet skis. More recently, with various aches and pains, Thad enjoyed the groomed runs of Weasel and Roundhouse, usually rocking a real onesie, not one of the newer ironic ones. I will miss Thad.