Closing In On The Final Week At Alpine Meadows

There’s just seven days left of the Alpine Meadows ’23-’24 ski season and I intend to enjoy every single one of them. If I had to take a guess, today was the warmest day of the season yet. Overnight lows dipped only to the lower 40’s and the high temperature reached 66° at mid-mountain around 10:30am. You would think that the skiing must have been terrible at those temperatures. You would be wrong. That said, we ended our day at 1:45 because even the best corn will melt down and get sticky at those temperatures. Also of note, in Truckee, we mowed the lawn for the first time of the season and I will be charging up our sprinkler system as soon as I am done with this report.

I wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out today. The temperatures were warm, and Sherwood has been down for two days due to the foul play of a bevy of mice getting into the electrical works. The thinking was that High Traverse would be a no go this morning and that proved to be incorrect. Even with the warmer overnight temperatures, there was a good freeze at ground level. Thanks to the efforts of everyone on the lift maintenance team, Sherwood was up and running again like a champ. Also the hike up the ridge toward the antennas was open today, allowing me to avoid a long side stepping session amongst the throngs. The ridge was icy enough to require kicking in your toes on the last steep section. That was unexpected.

As I have done all spring, I took just one leisurely tour down Sun Bowl, then crossing over into Big Bend Bowl. I know CB was getting pretty burnt out at the bottom two days ago and the snow is melting fast. Conditions were very good given the temperatures. As I mentioned, High Traverse does have a growing number of sun cups, so it’s not quite as smooth as it was earlier in the week. But it was good. We stayed at Sherwood quite awhile and played in Chute Zero and Sherwood Right Face. Most agreed that hot lapping these areas offered skiing on par with High Traverse, maybe better as a good number of skiers and riders were erasing the sun cups.

I guess we left Sherwood just in time, as it went on to have further electrical problems just before noon today. There were some significant delays in getting people off and there are now more “stuck on a lift” vouchers out there. Typically you have to worry about being cold when stuck on a lift. Today you would have to worry about getting cooked. I talked to Mountain Manager Jeff Goldstone this afternoon and he had no prognosis yet for Sherwood for tomorrow.

We rallied a couple of laps on the Scott groomers just before lunch today, because this was the last day of the season for Scott. Although Scott is closing for some tree work this week, I noted brush sticking up through the snow on both Bobby’s and Ridge. Juniper Face was about burnt out, and the Scott Chute entrance was getting dicey. But we ran some laps through Gentian Gully, the Ice Cliffs and the Promised Land. It was delightful and a great way to end the Scott season.

On schedule at Alpine Meadows for tomorrow: Summit, Roundhouse, TLC, Meadows, Subway and Sherwood (if fixed). Looking at the point forecast for tomorrow, temperatures should be slightly cooler tomorrow, with highs forecast at 57° mid-mountain. That cooling trend continues through the week, still culminating in the potential for some snow showers Friday. The models are not in agreement on that. Below are 4 different models, with the snow forecast ranging from 0 inches to maybe two inches of new snow. You know me, at this time of the year, I am rooting for no snow. But the cooler temperatures are welcome, as that should make our ski days longer.

See you out there.