No, it was neither apocalyptic or a mad house today at Alpine Meadows, even being the first day of the Martin Luther King weekend. The longest lines of the day were at Treats in the morning and lunch rush hours. The upper lots at Alpine Meadows did not even fill up, which made this far less busy than last Saturday. I dealt with very little in the way of traffic on the road, arriving plenty early and leaving before the end of the day rush.
Some will say that it’s the Base pass being blacked out that lead to fewer people on the mountain. There was a day and a time where that used to be the case. In today’s case that probably has far more to do with the low snowpack and that no new snow has fallen in 10 days. Then there’s the struggling economy and a growing affordability crisis, which are very real.
What wasn’t typical about the day is that it was not your typical weekend crowd. Today’s crowd proportionately had a greater number of first time visitors, the kind that only go skiing once or twice a year. They were unsure of where to go, or how to get there. Once at the top of a lift, they followed the crowd down the well beaten path. Trails like Weasel, Sherwood Run, Alpine Bowl, Dance Floor and Werners were crowded, growing piles of sugary moguls as the day wore on. Most stared at paper maps or large map boards on the hill.
Those of us that ski Alpine Meadows frequently had the great advantage of knowing the lesser travelled paths down the mountain. That’s where I choose to spend most of my time today. Here’s three examples:
Doing some quick math over 18 runs, our average lift wait time was just 3.5 minutes today…on a holiday weekend. Love it.
The snow quality was variable. We did get a good overnight freeze, which improved conditions off piste, as long as you timed the defrost right. The forecast east wind did not materialize today, so it did get warm. Temperatures neared 50° right to the top of the mountain. South facing terrain got too soft pretty quickly. North facing terrain probably got a bit warm as well, which will lead to some icy conditions tomorrow morning.
It’s Tough To Get Good Information
We’ve been touting the new UA Mobile page here lately, as the rebellion against the “improved” Palisades Tahoe webpage and the new Ikon Pass app gains more steam. We’ve been noticing over the last ten days that wait times for lifts have not been available. That’s not just on our page, which just draws from the Palisades Tahoe page. It also has no lift wait times. Occasionally you do see a wait time listed in the Ikon Pass app, but they are very sporadic. We asked some AI robots about this and they told us that several of the Alterra resorts are not currently providing that information stream. It’s almost as if some chain smoking intern in a closet somewhere is randomly pushing buttons to display wait times that look good. Nobody I have talked to trusts those numbers.
The previous iteration of the Palisades Tahoe app reportedly derived the lift wait times by using geofencing to track people like myself that tracked our daily skiing. Offering challenges and tangible rewards encouraged people to utilize tracking, and that made those numbers somewhat more reality based. One wonders with people wholesale abandoning the Ikon Pass app if they just are not getting the data needed to reliably calculate meaningful wait times.
Honestly, there may be one positive outcome to this lack of information. Casual reports talking to people on chairlifts today were that it was much busier at the northern annex. Not being able to see the lift wait times at Alpine Meadows means that people did not jump on the shiny boxes in search of shorter lines at Alpine Meadows.
It’s not just the lift wait times that are missing, there’s been a lack of updates and accuracy over the last few days. As an example, Yellow and ABC were listed as closed all day, even when they were open all day. Many runs that were not listed as groomed were indeed groomed last night. I’m not sure where the breakdown is that is causing the lack of accuracy. It’s not very helpful for visitors that are trying to make the most of their day on the mountain.
The three screen shots above show the same issue in the UA Mobile page, the Palisades Tahoe site and on the Ikon Pass app. (I just got the notification at 4:02 that Yellow and ABC have changed from “Closed” to “Scheduled”.
Waiting For Snow
I keep watching and waiting for any sign of more snow….model riders unite! Over the last two days, there’s been a couple of brief cries of hooray, as the Euro model has kicked out a run or two that suggested the possibility of a Pacific jet extension undercutting the current Ridiculously Resilient Ridge. One model run showed 16 inches of precipitation by February 1. But sadly, the other models could not jump on board with that scenario. The GFS and Canadian models still show a weak inside slider of a system about one week out, with the potential for an inch or two of snow. Then it’s back to a very resilient ridge.
The latest PNA Index shows the story in brief:
A weakening of the ridge over the next week should lead to cooler temperatures, better corn development and hopefully slow the rate of snow disappearing from slopes.
Skiing is fun. See you out there.
Have you heard anything about snow making if we get temps? I’ve seen layoffs in that department earlier than reasonable. I just hope they aren’t pulling the plug because it’s after Christmas.
Some snow was made last night on Red Trail. There’s still a large herd of the old Ratnick guns staged by the Sugar Shack (aka YVH). I would love to see Ladies Slalom rehabbed before they lose it.
The UA Mobile thing is perfect. Just what we needed.
I can verify that Alpine North was packed today, with long lines all day at most lifts (though you could ski right on to Broken Arrow all day) . Thus I was shocked upon returning to the Land of Milk and Honey that the lots weren’t even full. I guess reputation goes a long way for those once-a-year vacationers.