The good news was that I had a parking reservation today, so I did not have to deal with the free door-to-door shuttle service provided by Alpine Meadows Ski Area (Palisades Tahoe). I was unable to obtain a parking reservation for Saturday even though my finger hit the free parking button within seconds of the noon release on Tuesday, followed by a similar attempt at the seven o’clock release.
Yesterday, the app indicated it would be 45 minutes until the shuttle arrived at my front door. This is too long to wait if you are standing fully dressed in ski gear. The other idea is to order the shuttle an hour ahead of time based on the app information provided. A person could sit down, take a shower, and sit down for breakfast while waiting. However, the time can change, and all of a sudden you can get a notification that the shuttle will be at your home within five minutes. Okay, enough complaining. Yesterday was the biggest day of the year, so everything was slower than normal. I got to the ski area later than normal but still enjoyed the snow.
It felt like the crowd was smaller today. Of course, the lines and number of skiers on the mountain still looked long and overcrowded. People in line seemed to be calm and polite. I guess we were all resigned to the fact that it was a busy weekend, and there was nothing a person could do to change it. The fact that the sun was shining out of a clear blue sky might have helped the skiers emotional state. In addition, there were lots of places to wander off- piste that offered good snow conditions. Good snow conditions spread people out over the mountain, assisting with trail overcrowding.
Winter snow persisted on the upper half of Gentian Gully, but I found the lower portion to have more firm conditions with areas of shaved ice more prevalent than they have been the past couple of days. Pygmy Forest off Alpine Bowl Chair was filled with good winter snow, as were Deep Camp, Mid-Yellow Gully, and lower Our Father. D7 was a joy as it is filled with soft winter snow. North Peril and Peter’s Peril did not disappoint. The first gully in Wolverine Bowl below Idiot’s Delight was one of my favorite runs today, because the winter snow was smooth and lacking of moguls. The skier’s right of Waterfall was also joyful. I really did not find many trails that were not on the positive scale; however, I stayed on trails that are least affected by the sun. It was cold on the upper mountain, helping snow conditions to remain consistent.
This morning the High Traverse opened for the first time in days. I am always itching to head over to the Upper Saddle for a spin down South Face or CB Chute, but my ski partner today was not excited about the idea, so we left that off the menu. From a distance, it looked like everyone else on the mountain was hiking the High Traverse. It appeared to me that more people were hiking over to Upper Saddle today than I can remember having done so in the past. Later in the morning I checked with a few people that had skied to Sherwood Chair via the Upper Saddle. The remarks were fairly negative. Firm, icy, and not very pleasant were the comments I collected before lunch.
I did not ski any of the trails off Lakeview or Sherwood today, so I cannot report on these conditions. I was told that the line on Sherwood was horrendous, and I imagine it would have been similar on Lakeview.
Someone circulated the rumor that yesterday more people were scanned through the various turnstiles than ever before. I have no confirmation of this fact, but based on the number of cars in the parking lots and the number of people riding to Alpine Meadows on the gondola, it seems plausible.
Enjoy the Super Bowl.
Andy