Crazy Train

Yes, we knew it was going to be crazy today. But we went skiing at Alpine Meadows anyways, on the busiest weekend of the season yet. Every time I felt “this is just a little bit crazy”, Ozzy Osbourne popped into my head with that opening line of Crazy Train: “Alllll Aboarrrdddd!!” followed by a maniacal laugh. Eventually, that entire song played in my head at least a dozen times today. The first rendition was turning on to Highway 89 this morning, an hour earlier than my usual time.

Still I arrived with plenty of time to pick up a Treats breakfast and get my head in the game, allowing “Crazy Train” to play in my head a few more times. Ultimately the gameplay for survival today was to completely avoid any and all of the busy groomed runs, instead opting for some of the longer lesser known areas of the mountain that offered more interesting skiing and fewer opportunities for unpleasant crowds on the main slopes.

Here’s something that got Ozzy singing “Crazy Train” again. We’ve got these nice corrals set up to help skiers and riders get organized before loading the chairlift. But then we hold them outside of the gate so we can have a running of the bullies when the gates are finally opened and the strongest and boldest rush for pole position. This is so unnecessary. Just let us organize ourselves like the humans we can be and allow people to line up in the order they arrived at the lift. A similar but smaller running of the bullies happened at Roundhouse in the morning. Alllll Aboarrrdddd! Ha ha ha ha ha!

While I broke no records for vertical feet skied today, we skied some very nice runs, often completely unaware of the chaos happening on the rest of the mountain. We did this without hiking or leaving the resort boundaries.

In general, the conditions started off as cutup powder only 2-5 inches deep over a frozen base layer, even icy in spots lower on the mountain. Heavily travelled zones got somewhat scraped off today right back to ice. This may have been shocking to those that only had their local weather personality tell them it snowed many feet in Tahoe. Maybe Ozzy was singing to them also. The groomed slopes improved incrementally overnight as the mountain ops team had another night to tame the very wet snow fall that then froze up solid. I can’t tell much about how the groomed slopes skied as that was not a part of my survival plan today.

The 50th Anniversary Party For The Alpine Meadows Chalet

The under advertised and practically unannounced celebration for the 50th year of operations for The Chalet happened this afternoon. We were there for it, as it gave us a chance to not stand in another “10-20 minute” lift line. The festivities began at the mid-station of Hotter Wheels, where Captain Dan, our friendly F&B Senior Manager was handing out cowbells with a Chalet sticker on them. There was some polka music playing and a lot of cowbells ringing, which drew attention from a lot more people. It also temporarily silenced Ozzy.

Around 1pm, Travis Ganong arrived to lead a cowbell enhanced ski parade to the Chalet. This was probably a complete mystery to those not in the know. Suddenly Ozzy Osbourne must have been playing in their heads. Once the parade ended at the Chalet, there were some German Alpenhorn players ready to serenade attendees. There were free pretzel bites to be served and cheap beers available. We skipped out on that part, as I was hearing “All Aboarrrrddd!” in my head again due to the large crowd. We figured that getting into a 10-20 minute line at the Scott chair was better than a 10-20 minute line for pretzels, free or not.

The Chalet at Alpine Meadows has undergone a number of changes over the years. Sometimes I lament the loss of the oldest version with more indoor seating and a more homey feel. But I have to say, the current version of The Chalet is very successful. People love it. It’s nearly always crowded. There’s often a line out the door for food and beverages. The addition of the outdoor Chalet Kitchen is a nice bonus. It has a lot of menu items I might want to try some day. Right now I have a growing addiction for the funnel cake fries served with chocolate sauce. They are hardly healthy but they do fit my retired public school teacher’s budget.

I absolutely will be back for more tomorrow, not having missed a day of the season yet. I expect that things will be quite a bit more scratchy tomorrow. Typically a super busy Saturday is often followed by a considerably less busy Sunday. You know that some people will be hearing Crazy Train in their heads and consider skipping skiing or riding so they can get home in time for the Super Bowl thingy. I am still blissfully unaware of whom is playing. I have managed to completely ignore every pool that encourages me to pay attention to the game.

Here’s to hoping there is less “Crazy Train” tomorrow.

Weather Stuff

There’s been lots of talk about the accuracy of weather forecasts over this weird season. We’re somewhat in a place where nothing was entirely accurate. There was a time where 8 feet of snow from the system was plausible. The reality is that both Palisades and Alpine Meadows added around 55 inches of snow on the upper mountain stakes. While not 8 feet, it is a major reset of the upper mountains. Because there was also quite a bit of water injected into that base during time of higher snow levels, it’s currently in a bomber state. The lower mountain did not fare as well. About 10 inches of precipitation only brought about 4-6 more inches of snow base at the bottom of Alpine Meadows.

The weather remains quiet through Tuesday and more snow is expected late Wednesday into Friday or Saturday. While the models have been consistent in bringing snow back, there is a lot of variability run to run about how much snow. The GIF below shows the last 14 model runs of the GEFS for total snowfall by Saturday morning. They vary from a low of 12 inches to as much as 40 inches. We are just getting to the closer 5 day range where the models should start to refine themselves. We are not done with winter yet.