Alpine Meadows: A Primer For A New COO

Greetings New COO,

We wanted to take a few minutes to introduce you to Alpine Meadows. You know, it’s that mountain that is on the other end of those shiny boxes that rise up over KT-22 on your side of the mountain. Alpine Meadows is a different mountain, in its own right. Many of us started skiing and riding here because it offered terrain very similar to the place next door, but without the glitter, glam and complexities of the place now known as Palisades Tahoe.

We’ve Been Building This Community Since 2008

We started Unofficial Alpine in 2008, dedicated toward building a community of skiers and riders at Alpine Meadows. It’s a community of people that ski or ride every day, people that show up every weekend and holiday and put their kids on ski teams and people who come to ski there just one or two times a year. We also have a number of readers that don’t come to the mountain at all anymore, but enjoy our posts because they want to stay in touch with the mountain they love. Yes, there’s plenty of employees that enjoy UA as well.

Typically we are the the kind of people that come to the mountain to ski or ride. We did not come to the mountain to spend as much money as we can. We don’t want our wallets captured. We remember the days where you could order a grilled cheese sandwich in the Meadows Cafe for three bucks or a PBJ at the Ice Bar for $2.50. While we might occasionally drop an Andrew Jackson on a poke bowl these days, it’s not something we are going to do frequently.

We Don’t Like The New Name Or Logo

It’s still Alpine Meadows to us, not the “Alpine Lodge” at Palisades Tahoe. While we understand the need to change the name of the place next door, there is nothing offensive about the name Alpine Meadows. We don’t care to be a part of the “third largest resort in North America” when all that means is drawing thousands of Ikon pass holders to Tahoe, resulting in overcrowding every weekend and holiday period.

The Alpine Meadows logo is iconic. The way the A and the M work together to form mountains does everything a logo is supposed to do, which is to convey a message. At Alpine Meadows, we are here for the mountain. That imagery has remained constant in all versions of the logo over the years. It’s not just me saying that. Ask anyone with some graphic design or advertising experience and they will say the same.

The name Alpine Meadows is also important. It represents the location of the mountain, the community that it sits in. Nevermind that the US Postal service insists on saying it’s in Olympic Valley. Many people have spent their entire lives recreating or working at Alpine Meadows. They are very protective of the place that they call their home or their work. Alpine Meadows is a spiritual place where humans come together with their environment. It is a church to many of us.

Then there’s the avalanche of March 1982. Seven people lost their lives in that avalanche, the greatest number for any ski area in US history. None of those people are here anymore, but their families are still around. More importantly there’s a large number of employees, first responders and other emergency personnel, as well as just helpful locals that spent days digging through the wreckage to find survivors and recover bodies. Then there’s the huge number of people that were involved in rebuilding the ski area and designing programs to reduce the possibility of a repeat. They did it because they love the place. Changing the name to the Alpine lodge at Palisades Tahoe is an affront to just about all of those people.

The Palisades over at the other place are absolutely iconic and the name makes sense over there. At Alpine Meadows, the Palisades is just one run of many. Nobody ever went to Alpine Meadows saying “I can’t wait to ski that Palisades run”, with the exception of kids skiing a big mountain competition there. Then there’s the thing that every ski area in Tahoe has a zone called Palisades. We are Alpine Meadows, thank you.

Don’t get us started on the new logo. In the three years since the new logo appeared, we have not sported it anywhere. It’s not on my car, water bottle or any piece of clothing. Yes it’s an eagle. Yes, the eagle has some meaning to some people at the mountain next door. But it really does not say “skiing” or “snow sports” to me, nor most people. We look at the logo and immediately think of the Philadelphia Eagles or the Seattle Seahawks. It’s a football logo. Orange and blue? No thank you, as those are the colors of the Denver Broncos. Yes, we are aware Alterra is also in Denver, and they like those colors. Alpine Meadows has always been green and always should be green.

But It’s Not Just About The Logo

Alpine Meadows used to be a place where locals could just go skiing and riding without thinking too much about it. You stood in line with the same people most days and met a few friendly faces on the weekends. Now we are just another stop on the Ikon Pass tour so someone can post a count of ski areas visited to Instagram and slap a Palisades Tahoe sticker on their Rocket Box. We diligently make reservations each Tuesday so we can ski the next weekend, dreading the day when paid reservations become the norm. We mourn the loss of sleeper powder days because powder days became the “powder hour” which have now become “the powder run.” We rarely see all lifts in action anymore because offering the best ski and ride experience is less important that pleasing investors. Unfortunately, we don’t own the mountain so we must live with it. It was better when the owners of the mountain loved skiing more than they loved money.

At Alpine Meadows, we don’t need Diplo and Lil Wayne to kick off the ski season. Not once in my life have I been skiing through the trees between Scott Chute and Murphys Mistake thinking “I wish there were some jamming EDM beats blasting from a DJ posted up at The Chalet.” BOMP BOMP BOMP BOMP on endless repeat! We don’t need a Freedom Fest with 18 bands, a video wall and mud wrestling to close out our season. We’re happy to ski all day and end the afternoon with a local band on the Sun Deck and a cheap burger and beer. Let’s keep it simple.

We just want to go skiing and riding. We like our season to start as early as possible and run until Memorial Day if the snow cooperates. We like it when all lifts are spinning, conditions permitting. When the base area is super busy, it’s nice to escape to the Alpine Bowl Chair to avoid the madness, or to Lakeview to avoid the masses pouring off the shiny boxes. We want the mountain managed by the people that love and know this mountain and its patrons. We’re happy to share with people from the other side too, in reasonable numbers. It gets a little out of hand on those days where the upper mountain is closed next door but Summit is open at Alpine Meadows. Even worse are those early or late season times when only one of two mountains is open. The competition between mountains was better for everyone.

At each destination, Alterra Mountain Company leaders are empowered to be decisive, creative, and bold in order to retain each mountain’s authentic character. Recognizing the innate value of the unique culture found at each of the mountain communities, Alterra Mountain Company’s goal is to preserve, sustain and support its two most important resources: the mountains and the people who live and play in them.

This statement shows up in every press release from Alterra when they acquire a new property. But this is not the experience we have seen at Alpine Meadows. Maybe you’re the person that is willing and able to bring back the identity and culture back to Alpine Meadows, before it is totally erased. Thank you for listening and let’s go skiing together some day.

Sincerely,

Mark Fisher, Unofficial Alpine 

Andy Wertheim, Unofficial Alpine

To all of the people on the ground making things happen at our favorite ski area every day, you rock! We appreciate you. Also, there’s nothing wrong with the other mountain, it’s also a great place if that is the experience you want. It’s raining today and I am noting that I’m writing one post a week. It must be getting closer to ski season.