It happens every year. There’s some key happenings that mean we all start thinking about skiing again. First comes the kids going back to school, then Burning Man and Labor Day weekend ski sales and various announcements that opening day is 100 days away somewhere. For me and several friends, we talk about having our first dream about skiing being a turning point. My first ski dream was in July, awfully early to be thinking about that, but COVID will do that to you.
I am going to remind you now, since I’m out of town on September 1st, that it is the meteorological start to fall, which includes the months of September, October and November. Hallmark and some insistent elementary school teacher will still tell you that fall does not begin until the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd. I am in the camp that says that particular day has not much to do with meteorology, the study of weather forecasting.
Snow In The Forecast…Maybe
Yes there is a small chance of seeing some rare August snow over the next couple of days. But you already know that, as the websites and blogs that demand as many clicks as possible jumped on that idea when it first appeared in the models a week ago. After taking a couple of months off, I’ve spent some time retraining myself in running various models several times a day over the last few days. Some individual runs on some outlier models have suggested a significant amount of snow in the next 48 hours. Sometimes the focus was as far south as Mammoth, while successive runs kept everything north of Shasta. I will give you that it was cooler today, and somewhat windier.
But the point forecast for Alpine Meadows as of this minute is below, and it does not offer a lot of hope for meaningful snowfall in Tahoe:
At best I would expect that Mount Rose would be the place to spot any snow, likely early Saturday morning. I’ve skied some pretty thin coverage around Tahoe Meadows in the month of September in the past. There’s some slopes around there that are composed of a lot of decomposed granite that can be skied in a heavy frost. But don’t get your hopes too high. By Sunday the temperatures climb right back into the 60’s and 70’s around Tahoe.
Update: Here’s the view at the top of Siberia at the northern annex at 10:20 am Saturday. The 360 cam at Alpine Meadows was offline. The storm was pretty dry at Mount Rose with no visible accumulation.
Does this early snowfall mean anything about the upcoming season? Probably not. Some forecasters are seeing a decent possibility of a La Niña year for California. The conventional wisdom used to be that lead to dry conditions. But 22-23 was a La Niña year and it was an amazing season for snowfall. Climate change is real and it is changing many things we thought we knew. We will look more deeply at this as we get into the fall.
All Aboard For AARF!
Our friends at the Alpine Avalanche Rescue Foundation are having a “Pints For Pups” fundraiser on September 5th at the Alibi Ale Works in Truckee. The event runs from 6 pm until 10 pm. Come out and do a meet ‘n greet with the dogs and the patrol team. There will be live music, $6 pints from Alibi Ale, and a silent auction. Sponsors and auction items are TBA. I will update here if I can. Also AARF merchandise will be available for sale, which is awesome, as several readers have asked me how to find it during the summer season. My wife says I already have too much AARF merchandise. I think not.
MAC Says No
I’ve been awfully quiet here about the plans for a waterpark and other village expansion projects over in Olympic Valley since it arose from the ashes and reared its ugly face again last year. Many people have questioned my silence on the subject, as I was a fairly big part of the last battle against the project in 2016. That ultimately lead to the temporary demise of Unofficial Alpine as the heat got turned up to extra high.
Last week, the Olympic Valley Municipal Advisory Committee (MAC) held a public hearing to receive public commentary. Truth be told, I wasn’t able to attend the meeting, and I was not worried about that. I was absolutely certain that there would be a steady stream of people letting the panel know that project should be rejected. Minimal adjustments were made to the plan since it was last proposed. While the developers are pretending that nothing has changed since the initial approval in 2016, everyone else understands the truth of the matter. Tahoe has been changed radically since that time. Here’s just three huge factors: the Ikon Pass; the explosion of short term rentals and an explosion of remote workers. The same company that is telling us that nothing has changed is the same company which told us last season that we must implement parking reservations.
Hundreds of people did turn out to that meeting, loudly voicing their clear opposition to the project. Kudos to our friends at Sierra Watch that has done an excellent job of educating the public about the pitfalls of mindless development in the Tahoe region. We appreciate their efforts. Read more about Sierra Watch here:
Unfortunately the MAC rejection of the project is only advisory to Placer County and will likely be ignored. The next public hearing will be with the Placer County Planning Commission at the North Tahoe Events Center in Kings Beach on September 5th at 9am. While you are saving the date for the AARF fundraiser, you can also save the date for this even more important opportunity to speak up.
My Summer Has Been Even Busier Than I Predicted
It’s been a total whirlwind of activity, mostly the good kind. I am really ready for skiing and not just because I love skiing and I miss my ski friends. I miss the simplicity of ski season, where I know that every day I just get up and go to the mountain. I never get invited to do anything else because people know I just go skiing every day. For Palisades Tahoe or Alpine Meadows, the likely opening date is 92 to 97 days away. I’m hoping that Mount Rose or Mammoth is closer to 80 days. I am currently booked out until mid-October anyways…
Thanks Mark for keeping me fired up for the 24- 25 season. Thanks to all the people who showed up for the Olympic Valley MAC hearing and all of those from Keep Tahoe Truckee True. Together we can stop this abomination.
The village needs an increase in traffic as local businesses and restaurants are struggling. Tom continues to spread outdated misinformation with selective and exaggerated claims, despite the project being significantly reduced and the “world’s tallest indoor water park” no longer part of the plan. The project simply reaffirms an existing general plan for the valley and does not guarantee 25 years of construction. Specific plans must still be submitted and approved for each building. Employee housing is a critical need, and if they follow through, it will be the first specific plan submitted. Our vibrant valley cannot afford stagnation—progress is crucial.
Maybe you need a reality check. Have you seen the winter traffic??? Do you live here full time? Why hide your name? Most jobs are given to J1 and J2s whom have their living situation already set up before they come. Hardly anyone living here FT is hired these days. There’s lots of village events creating plenty of foot traffic, but thongs are expensive the village. Give yourself a check, our streets are not set up for the volume of as many people who come to the mountain, at least on weekends. I was a daily skier, now I buy a pass elsewhere for those days due to overselling passes and tickets. Get a clue, we have to be able to handle traffic during emergency situations.
Filling beds and getting shoppers into the village does not require building a water park or more beds. High quality activities with consistent planning and good pricing will bring people. All of those festivals you program in the winter? Do that in the summer. Add more hiking programs, mountain biking programs, rock climbing, adult summer camps. If you offer a quality experience, people will come. Read the reviews for the village stores, restaurants and current condo rentals. People are not stoked on what is offered. Fix that first.
This is the way.
“The village needs an increase in traffic as local businesses and restaurants are struggling. …Our vibrant valley cannot afford stagnation—progress is crucial.” Please define “Our vibrant valley” because it seems to conflict with “Struggling” and “Stagnation”.
Did those businesses and restaurants think there would be more vibrance or traffic during the summer at a snow ski area? If they are losing money, why don’t they close? I suspect the real concern is Squaw wants “Traffic” at any cost to the environment and quality of life, because Squaw wants to increase the rent of the struggling businesses. It smells more like greed than the implied altruistic hope to help the struggling businesses that would rather struggle than close.
Doug, you weaken your argument by intentionally using the old name. It is time to move on. The name has changed across the country, not just here
You obviously are not a true local because those of us who are and have skied Squaw our entire lives will never call it Palisades.
Everyone I know still calls it Squaw and as far as I know, everyone still calls it Squaw unless they work there and don’t want to get fired. At any rate, since this is more of a local issue than a national issue, I’m going to keep calling it Squaw. I considered calling it NAW, which I like, but more people know it as Squaw than NAW and nationally, probably more people still know it as Squaw than Palisades Tahoe.
I noticed you didn’t bother to type out Palisades Tahoe in your comment and I don’t blame you. It is a relatively cumbersome five syllable new name that replaced an nostalgic beloved one syllable name. The name was changed for a good reason but apparently the argument to change hasn’t worked among locals, at least. Even the local women I know still call it Squaw. For Palisades to sell their new name, I think they would have to campaign that the S word is almost as bad as the N word but maybe they don’t need to. Palisades did their part by changing the name. It isn’t their fault if most of their customers call it whatever they want to call it. Give it another fifty years. It took decades for people to call a copy a copy instead of a Xerox.
Doug,
Love the xerox comment. So many will not understand this one, haha. Pray for snow!
Im an oldtimer. Reminds me of Bernie Kingery’s opinion during the sewer battles in the 70s,” its simple. Too many people poopin` in the tube” . Might be some wisdom there for the current situation
Doug & Back At Ya,
You’re right, I’m not a resident of OV. However, I’ve lived in Truckee full-time for almost 40 years, raised three kids who went through the (amazing) local school system, and I have skied both mountains since childhood. So, I’m not completely out of touch with the changes in the Tahoe region. Yes, I still sometimes use Squaw in conversations with friends because it’s so ingrained in my psyche, but I do try to make an effort to adapt when I can. If the original inhabitants of the valley prefer a different name, who am I to cling to what I originally learned? They’ve been advocating for a name change for decades, long before Alterra or KSL took over, and long before I moved here. Do I like the new name? Of course not. It’s silly and I find it confusing that it’s being used for both the entire resort and the OV side at the same time. Do I like that they are trying to drop Meadows from Alpine? Of course not. But using the old resort name in a public forum like this blog, which reaches thousands (10’s of thousands?) of readers, seems juvenile and antagonistic to me. It’s one thing to use the old name among friends, but it’s different in this context.
Anyway, this space is about skiing, so let’s refocus on that. Regardless of what you call either mountain, they are exceptional in their own right, and skiing at either makes the new names fade into the background as you experience the mountains themselves. If you want to dive deeper into the issues surrounding name changes and indigenous history, or the merits or downsides of development, let’s chat over a couple of beers at Alibi. Or better yet, agree to disagree and let’s take some turns this winter and not discuss it at all. To me, skiing is the great equalizer that helps set aside all this other BS.
I agree with Doug that the 5 syllable name is cumbersome and will never be widely adopted for that reason. Instead, I’ve been calling it “PT” and encourage others to adopt that shortened name. To me, it just rolls off the tongue.
From Scott Gaffney on Insta:
…. and from the Siberia web cam Sunday morning at 9am: completely sunny & dry
(not sure if image will come through but 🤞)
https://tinyurl.com/29dr6pb9
FWIW I am also curious what businesses are struggling. we live in TC a half-mile from the lake and this summer has seemed like the normal zoo of people all summer long. only since back to school a week or two ago has midweek calmed down.
Yknow its kinda funny seeing ppl fighting over a name. LMAO
Any thoughts on today’s announcement that Sierra at Tahoe is joining IKON pass? Seems like it could reasonably attract some percentage of day trippers from Sacramento and the Bay Area… maybe good for weekend and holiday crowds at Alpine?
Just oosted