Calling It A Season At Palisades Tahoe

Yes, Palisades Tahoe will be spinning lifts for the next two days. That said, I am calling it a season today. Yes, it has been a weird and wacky ski season in many ways. Oddly it’s been awfully quiet the last few weeks, and because of that I have been skiing for the last 16 days straight at the place next door. That’s certainly a record for me, especially considering that Alpine Meadows closed 55 days ago.

Over those last two plus weeks, we have watched the snow melt at an alarming rate. The mountain ops teams moved mountains of snow to keep major runs covered, especially a large park on Gold Coast. Some runs just melted out, while others were stripped of snow to keep other runs, runouts and ramps covered with sufficient snow to make Memorial Day weekend happen. The plug was finally pulled on Siberia 10 days ago, leaving just Gold Coast and Shirley to keep us entertained this week.

Each of those lifts is relatively short, and skiing groomed slopes a couple of dozen times each day gets old. My focus has been on those adventure lines that were no longer groomed. We created our own wiggles, curving around rocks, sinkholes and stumps. We skied out Emigrant Gully until Ski Patrol put up red lollipops closing the run. From there we turned our attention to the other runs that were less than adequately covered. The bonus was that few other people were doing the same.

Over the last week, my focus has been on milking those last turns out of Gold Coast Face (aka Mini Sunspot) and Fourth Tree over at Shirley. Those runs were pretty much done by the time the lifts stopped turning around noon today due to lightning. Each of those runs had several spots that required gingerly stepping over mud and rocks to complete your run. I felt like we understood and mastered the assignment.

Yes, Palisades Tahoe will be open for two more days, thanks to the hustle of the mountain operations teams. But the pickings will be slim. At Gold Coast, it’s basically just down to the park, with the exception of a very narrow ribbon of what’s left of the main Gold Coast run. It’s also a narrow WROD past the funitel back to the lift. We saw at least one person miscalculate today and end up in the ravine.

Over at the Shirley lift, First Tree is still running strong and mostly well covered. Fifth Tree is thin and narrow, then really spicy as you get to the last breakover. Second and Fourth Tree are pretty much done. Third Tree has multiple obstacles, but doable for the adventurous. All runouts past the main pitches are getting thin and spicy.

Skiing over the last two weeks has been really fun. Most of the people on the mountain were regulars from Palisades and Alpine Meadows, as well as people I recognize from Mt Rose. It’s been the people that really love skiing and riding and do it everyday. They are pretty good about staying in their own lane. “Well behaved” would be a good description.

Closing weekend and the Memorial Day holiday is likely to draw a completely different crowd. That would include people that haven’t skied since Christmas vacation, people that think this is a good time to learn to ski, and those that just came to party a lot and get pictures for the Gram. It’s not a scene that I need to be a part of, hence calling it a season after fantastic couple of weeks of spring corn. Also, 130 days is a nice round number for stopping.

Weird Things Of Note After This Weird Season

Typically, somewhere around 98% of my ski season is spent at just Alpine Meadows, my favorite mountain. That was not the case this season. Out of my 130 day ski season, 15% of my days were spent at Palisades Tahoe and 14% of my days were spent at Mount Rose. Then there’s all of those days I did not ski at all during the month of April. This season has pushed me out of my comfort zone, and that’s probably a good thing. I’ve skied nearly 400 runs on the upper mountain at Palisades Tahoe since Alpine Meadows closed and I have learned a lot about the place. That said, I have barely scratched the surface.

I have also come to terms with the village located in Olympic Valley. I have experimented with parking locations and the various walks to the Funitel. I stopped letting it bother me as much as it has in the past. In this age of Grip Walk ski boots, the walk is easier, and it’s not big of a deal to replace the Grip Walk soles when they get worn. While I prefer Melanie’s chocolate chip cookies at Treats, Susan’s at Wildflour come in at a close second. Also someone mentioned in a comment how friendly every employee is at Palisades Tahoe and I have got to say, it’s true. The village seems like a happy place that some people really dig.

One of the incentives for renewing your Ikon Pass for next season is a $25 per month mountain credit, applied for the next 12 months. My wife and I have already dedicated ourselves to using all $300 of our credits, which will require monthly visits to the village until Alpine Meadows opens again to make sure that happens. (Monthly credits do not accumulate.) We’ll finding out a little bit more about what the village has to offer. That’s some good marketing by the folks at Alterra.

Thanks to every employee at Palisades Tahoe that has been making it happen to keep this weird season rolling along as long as possible. We really appreciate the effort. Thanks to the Palisades regulars that have tolerated, and even welcomed, the Alpine Meadows invasion this spring. It’s time to start repacking our camper van for an upcoming trip and to enjoy some mountain biking as trails begin to open up.

I’m still gathering information and comparing notes and data about what the upcoming El Niño conditions might mean for next ski season. I’m in no hurry to get that done, but it will appear in your inbox someday if you subscribe to our posts.

Ciao, and see you on a trail, at one of the numerous music events around the lake…or maybe even in the Palisades Tahoe village this summer.