And The Days Are Getting Shorter

Greetings from the summer solstice in Tahoe. Once again we can have that discussion of whether or not this is the first day of summer. Meteorologically speaking, that happened on June 1st, not that all of those days over the last three weeks have felt like summer. The solstice simplistically indicates the point where we have reached a point of maximum daylight versus nighttime. Taking Tahoe as a reference point, sunrise was at 5:34 am and the sun will set today at 8:30 pm. Based on that, our “day” is nearly 15 hours today. From this point forward, the days will get shorter*, leading one step closer to winter and the return of snow and skiing.

That’s not to say that all skiing is done for the season. The “turns all year” crowd, which I used to be a part of, is still at it. Several people of sent me shots from various locations around Alpine Meadows and other local zones this week. But, in the interest of not sending too many people to those zones, I am not giving specifics. I will say that the amount of time hiking required versus the amount of time spent sliding on snow is very skewed. Having done much of this in the past, it’s generally an hour or two of hiking for a few minutes of ski time. Kudos to all of my friends that are still on a streak. My buddy Stev hits 249 consecutive months in July!

While I am no longer in that game, the itch to go skiing is coming out of hibernation in my brain. The date calculator says it’s about 142 days until we can expect that Mammoth, Mount Rose or Boreal could pull off an early opening.

An Interesting Summer Read

If you read the Unofficial Alpine blog through last season, you know it was not a banner year for skiers and riders. We spent days on manmade snow skiing just the Weasel run before we had significant natural snowfall. The holiday season was much slower than target goals for the accountants, which likely had everything to do with an early season closure at Alpine Meadows. But looking at the data from the National Ski Area Association, the overall numbers for the season were not as poor as you might think, as much of the US suffered from a lack of snow, except for Utah. So people did still go skiing and riding, despite the lack of snow.

Stuart Winchester wrote a great piece this week in The Storm Skiing Journal that makes some guesses on why that happened. I’m going to do a very brief synopsis of that article here, only because he touches on a lot of things I have talked about as our favorite ski area became a part of Alterra. The quick summary:

• I bought my pass and “I have to get my money’s worth out of it.”
• Counting skiers and riders has gotten more accurate due to RFID and app tracking
• The rise of snowmaking means people know there will always be some snow
• Skiing and riding is easier with the advent of better equipment
• Social media, including blogs such as UA, means that skiers and riders have constant feed of ski conditions, developing FOMO
• COVID allowed the masses to discover the outdoors

It’s a very well thought out piece and Stuart is an entertaining writer. I’m not sure exactly when the full article becomes available for free to all readers, but it should be soon. Truth be told, I am not a fan of paying subscriptions for reading these sorts of things. That’s why I plan on never monetizing UA in that way. But…the Storm Skiing Journal is one of the two I will pay for, the other being the Mountain Gazette.

It’s Not Just Pass Sales

We have railed on the overselling of Ikon passes quite a bit over the last 6 years. But more and more, I continue to realize that there is a lot more to the story. While Alterra can share some of the blame for powder days turning into one decent powder run or traffic on Highway 89, they have very little impact on summer crowds in Tahoe. It’s been nearly impossible to get a reservation at popular national parks forever. But more and more, it’s getting difficult to do many things around Tahoe.

• It’s very difficult to even reserve a camp site anywhere within a couple of hours of Tahoe during the summer season. Sure, you can find a single spot here and there for one night midweek. But trying to find something for several days or on a weekend? Good luck!.

• The Nevada State Parks announced recently that parking reservations are coming to Sand Harbor this summer, similar to the way reservations were implemented at Palisades and Alpine Meadows last season. In other areas of the lake, expensive paid parking is being used as a tool to reduce crowds at beaches. Mark my words, reserved parking will be coming soon to popular mountain biking and hiking trailheads.

• Last night was the first night of the summer Music In The Park series in Truckee. Last night’s performance by the Dead Winter Carpenters had to set a record for attendance. We biked to the event as usual, but we did not stay. Every square inch of space was in use for people parking, car parking or bike parking. I must have counted at least 100 of the popular family wagon style e-bikes chained to fences, trees and other immovable objects, along with the requisite Super 73’s and assorted other e-bikes. I do like DWC, but not enough to stick around for that crowd. The first Truckee Thursdays event is tonight and I am certain it will be about the same story.

• We did a bike ride this morning from Olympic Valley to just about Homewood. In the early morning hours, it was lovely. Heading home around lunch, it was a different story. It’s possible that there were more bikes on the trail than cars on the road or rafts on the river. Perhaps someone will suggest reservations for the bike paths as well. We stopped at Andy’s office to see if he was in, and poked our head in toward The Crest Cafe to see if he was there. He was not. Where art though Andy?

We did our second camping trip of the summer last week, spanning from San Francisco to Morro Bay. Sure it was busy in some of those places. But nothing seems to compare to the popularity of Tahoe as a summer or winter destination. I have this passion for skiing and a love of spending my winter days at Alpine Meadows, so I will continue to endure the summer crush as best as I can. Typically that means heading out of town or hunkering down at home. Until next time…

*There are variations to be considered where the sun still sets later, or sunrise is a few minutes earlier. That happens due to variations in latitude, elevation and other factors. But, generally speaking the days do get shorter from now on.