It was that kind of day again at Alpine Meadows. If I were still a public school teacher, I would have assigned the day a grade of almost 100%. There just was not much to not like about it. Almost all of the mountain was open. Almost all of the lifts were open. We had no lift lines to speak of almost every run. Almost all of the snow we skied today was good. It was truly a classic mid-week Alpine Meadows day. That is rare for a Friday, as Friday has been the new Saturday for several years.
There were some minor delays with lifts opening this morning, as a herd of cats was still loose on the slopes, erasing the whales created by overnight snowmaking. Fortunately, with the new version of the UA Mobile page setup on my phone, I got the alerts that Hotter Wheels was the place to go, opening on time this morning, as I was headed to Sherwood. Then again we did get to stop near the Chalet for a few moments as maybe lift ops wondered which lifts were supposed to open.
I had several missions at Sherwood this morning, besides escaping the continuing snowmaking. The bakery zone was likely to still offer a few turns of fresh powder, I had a hankering for some Sherwood Face laps, and the new AARF shirts were reportedly on sale at the Sherwood patrol shack. I actually aced this part of the day, achieving all three things at Sherwood. I actually did 6 laps of Sherwood Face, mostly Right Face, because it was that good, still offering very nice soft wintery snow. Honestly I could probably have been happy there all day, especially in the days where the old Ice Bar offered cheap PBRs and cheaper PBJ sandwiches .
We played just a bit near Lakeview before catching an early lunch at Treats. I got the ping that High Traverse opened at 11:22, thanks to the granularity of the UA Mobile page, but High T was not on my to do list today. I’ve discovered that I can ski bumpy stuff now with an injured rib, but needing to push with my pole across flat terrain, or side stepping up a hill cannot be done yet. That motion moves muscles, flexing the ribcage, causing almost 100% of the pain. Randy did send this photo from what looks like the lower end of CB Chute. Wind scouring from the east wind did a lot of damage up higher.
Instead, I spent the early afternoon checking out some favorite areas on the front of the mountain. Sunspot, Yellow, Red Ridge and Rolls and Knolls all did not disappoint. I have a lot of good options to keep myself entertained when things get busy this weekend. I even got in a couple of laps on the mighty Roo this afternoon. Having all of this mountain to play on was so amazing.
According to the trail status page 100 of 109 trails at Alpine Meadows were open today, close to 100%. That led me to wonder what was closed. Gentian Gully, the Promised Land, Lower 40 and that whole zone was closed today after being opened yesterday. I’m not certain why that happened. UA intern Jason sent me this photo yesterday titled “Bigfoot Sighting At Alpine Meadows.” I was attempting to cross a very thin snow bridge over the creek in the standard Gentian Gully runout. It was at that very point that I realized how much it hurt to really use my poles.
Just about all of the lifts were running today as well. Only the Alpine Bowl Chair did not run today. I am wondering if we will see it on the schedule tomorrow to help support the expected crowds, bringing lift ops to a rare 100%.
This Year’s AARF Shirts Are Ready
My wife calls it my “uniform”, as I do own quite a collection of Alpine Avalanche Rescue Foundation shirts and hats. So when I heard the new one was now available, I needed to have it. They can generally be purchased most days at the top of he Sherwood lift. Sometimes they are at Estelle Sports too. Here’s a quick, definitely not a 100%, snap of this season’s offering on a red t-shirt:
AARF accepts payments in cash or via Venmo. Generally they have been around $25. I donated twice that much today because the avalanche dogs and their handlers deserve it. It’s probably not the last shirt I will buy this season, as my wife is well aware.
Juneuary Is Just Around the Corner
It looks like we have one more day of wintery conditions before things start to get quite warm. Tomorrow will still be calling for winter clothing, but as we roll into next week, temperatures will continue to climb. Mid-40’s will be the norm by mid to late week. Bryan Allegretto’s forecast specifically called for 13+ days of high pressure in his last forecast. I’m seeing the same in the models. Just put a smile on your face and go skiing, because that is way better than watching the evening news. Hopefully the models kick out new solutions soon.
Major Mobile Page Updates
We rolled out Version 4 of our Mobile Page last night. There’s been more like 20 incremental updates this week, with a big change yesterday. You can read details here. The lift status and trail status pages now live on a newer, faster server. They also allow for reliable notifications for just Alpine Meadows lifts and trails. It’s granular down to the point where you can select just a specific lift or trail for notifications.
Yesterday we used this feature to know that Gentian Guly had opened. Today it let me know that High Traverse was open, whether my ribs were ready or not. You must add the site to your device as a home screen icon, known as a PWA, for the notifications to work. Directions are on the page referenced above.
User tip: Clicking the UA logo at the top will bring you back to the home screen
The Map page will load a new page with Alpine Meadows specific maps that don’t require scrolling for three miles. The Weather link takes you to the NOAA Remote Data site where you can see exact conditions at the base, top of Roundhouse, top of Scott, or at Ward Peak. The Webcams link takes you to just the right spot on the Palisades Tahoe site.
Clicking the notifications tab allows you to opt in or out of which notifications you want. It’s easy and you might like it.
This is a “Progressive Web App”, so installation is not via the regular app stores. Our directions make it simple, and yes, you can do it. It’s almost 100%, but may require an update. Previous versions may still work somewhat but will be deleted soon.
We have no idea how long it will be before someone says “Don’t do that.” I have seen at least three other people offering similar solutions for the Palisades side to avoid the chaos that is the official Ikon Pass app.
Brilliant, gentlemen. The good AI.
Bigfoot picture….now that is funny.
ABC is on the schedule, making for 100% of lifts tomorrow if all goes right.
The weather and snow were indeed glorious today. I decided to take an early lunch at the lodge, but while they were cooking my cheeseburger, the big hand move past 1130 and I was two minutes late to get my discount. French fries are $12.50! The only good thing about that is that I passed them up.
Love the UA mobile page addition – thank you! Thanks for all you do to keep us informed!
This report looks good. Today (Jan 9) was my first day skiing for this year after recovery from several non-skiing injuries last summer. I was dropped at 10:45 and spouse wanted me out at 3 because she was worried I couldn’t ski. She even wanted a snow host to go with me on first run. He left to call for a shuttle as the shiny boxes closed for unknown time for repair. People were in a panic to get back to the Squaw side.
It only took 2 runs to find my Skiing was back to normal. Just a little weak so a short first day was good. Snowmaking was off on dance floor at that time. Snow was great midwinter conditions. I saw Sherwood & Summit were running but did not do them. A lot of runs on Lakeview. Lifts were all ski on except short line on Summit. Sign for seldom slides may be missing. I rode Scott at 2:00 and
Noticed the chute, Gentialian Gully,Promise Land were open. I took a pass on these. I used the Ikonapp to track days skied.