We Need More Of This: Perfect Progression

Palisades Tahoe, also known as Alpine Meadows, has announced the Perfect Progression program for the ’25-’26 season. In a nutshell, it offers an easy pathway for new skiers and riders to get into the sport of sliding on the snow for fun and enjoyment. For $799, people who are new to the sport get a package of three lessons, rentals, lift tickets, along with a number of perks. After completing the program, participants will get a Palisades Tahoe season pass for the remainder of the season, as well as additional discounts. Honestly, this is a fantastic deal.

The Perfect Progression program is a great example of what ski areas should be doing. Besides putting new skiers and riders into the sport, it also builds brand loyalty that will bring those families back to Alpine Meadows and Palisades for years. Over the last few years, the focus seems to instead have been on things that don’t really do much to grow the sport or build a brand. I would give the upcoming Tahoe Live event and the recently announced Apex Club as examples of things that might give a short term boost to earnings, but don’t really grow the sport.

This isn’t something brand new in the industry. Locally, Boreal Mountain has had their “Take Three, Ride Free” program since 2022. It’s been a hit, as Boreal Mountain offers easy access for people just getting into the sport, being right off of Highway 80. It offers some great learning terrain, including easy terrain park features to excite new beginners.

Here’s more details about the Perfect Progression program:

• The program is offered for both new skiers or new snowboarders
• Half day lessons are offered only at Alpine Meadows
• Each lesson includes rentals, a beginner lift ticket and a lunch voucher
• Participants will also receive a pair of googles and neck gaiter, presumably branded Palisades Tahoe
• A one-time 30% discount at Estelle Sports is offered, for a suggested helmet purchase or maybe gloves

Upon completing the three lessons, participants receive:

• A season pass for Palisades Tahoe for the remainder of the ’25-’26 season
• 50% discount on additional lessons and rentals this season
• 30% discount on the Alpine Unlimited Lessons program

This is really quite a value for $799. Yes, you can get some great pricing on the few days that are included on “Learn To Ski” weekends. But in normal pricing terms, three lessons with rentals and lifts would cost about the same as the Perfect Progression – but without the bonus of a season pass for the remainder of the season.

There are some limitations for the program. It’s not available to anyone that has previously had a pass, or a four pack of tickets. It’s also not available for anyone who is switching sports, as in a skier who wants to learn how to ride a snowboard. It makes sense, as I certainly would participate in three snowboard lessons to get a free season pass for the rest of the year. You cannot transfer your lessons or season pass to another person. In short, they have figured out how people might try to game the system.

Limiting the beginner lessons to Alpine Meadows is an odd choice if you think about it. Alpine Meadows is not a great place to teach people how to ski or ride. Most people would consider Subway and Meadow to be the most beginner friendly lifts at Alpine Meadows. Subway has the problem of being extremely flat for much of the run, resulting in the Subway Slog to get back to the lift. I guess it does help beginners with how to get through flat terrain. Also, Subway is a fixed grip lift, requiring good timing to get on and a sloped exit that terrifies beginners.

The Meadow lift is not much better. Unless it’s a really big snow year, the Meadow terrain has a dual fall line. The run slopes downhill, but also to the left, pushing skiers and riders toward the creek. That also makes left turns and right turns feel very different. In big snow years, there’s a downhill ramp into the RFID gate that is difficult for beginners, and that steep exit ramp at the top. Again it’s far from ideal.

The magic carpets offer better terrain for teaching, but the run is awfully short. It also doesn’t give new skiers and riders experience with chairlifts. The old Tiegel platter lift was probably the best option at Alpine Meadows, but it’s long gone. Myself, when I am helping friends and family learn to ski, I take them to Hotter Wheels. By carefully selecting your path you can do a pretty mellow run. It works until you have to do the Tiegel Flats trundle to get back to the chair.

Palisades Tahoe is also weird when it comes to beginner terrain. You’ve got the First Venture lift, which does feature good beginner terrain. But the separation from the village, rental shop and everything else at Palisades Tahoe just makes it awkward and downright inconvenient for families. The High Camp area also offers good teaching terrain, but it’s quite the process to get there for new skiers and riders figuring out how to move from point A to point B with all of their rental equipment.

Looking At The Future

There is a plan to improve things for new skiers and riders at Alpine Meadows. There’s been talk for at least a decade of replacing both the Subway and Meadow lifts at Alpine Meadows with a detachable quad lift that would extend a bit farther toward the Scott lift. That plan also would include regrading the terrain to eliminate the double fall line. You almost have to assume that this would also include an upgrade to the base facilities at Subway that currently houses Achieve Tahoe and Mogrog. That upgrade would have made far more sense than the B2B shiny boxes. Hopefully the Perfect Progression program will be successful enough that the bean counters at Alterra would consider committing to the upgrade.

Kudos to the teams at Palisades Tahoe and Alpine Meadows that put together the Perfect Progression program together for this season. Here’s the link to follow for more information.

We Need More Of This: Snow & Cold Temperatures

The wait continues for winter conditions to reappear so we can get this ski season going. Overall the weather pundits have pinned down significant change to happen around the 13th or 14th. That’s stayed fairly consistent over the last few days. It’s also now within the 5 day window where the models are a bit more accurate. Daniel Swain at WeatherWest.com pointed out this week that the longer range models have had more trouble getting a handle on the current factors affecting our weather. The higher resolution short term models should give us a better picture of what to expect soon.

Hopefully posting this “one model run of one model, not a forecast” will not jinx anything. Here’s the latest GFS for total snowfall over then next 10 days. That would likely be the sustainable base that Mount Rose needs to open their Lakeview lift, and the base needed at other ski areas that would encourage additional snow making.

Keeping things simple, here’s the 6-10 day outlooks. Remember these are not quantitative, dark green does not mean more precipitation. It simply means a much better chance of better than average precipitation. The odds are starting to fall in our favor.

We are getting into the anti-jinxes around here. My wife is currently washing all of our windows. I might just plan a backyard BBQ for later in the week. I never took the snow tires off of my car, so I can’t jinx things by putting them on. I have not put out driveway markers yet, nor have I warmed up the snowblower. Feel free to share your anti-jinxes so I can follow suit.

New Unofficial Alpine stickers should be arriving any day…