The Good
The Not So Good
- Far too much of this…
Added later: Hmmmm, I figured that there would be more commentary on this subject based on all of the talk heard in lift lines, on the slopes and in The Last Chair today. Apparently people do enjoy sharing the mountain with all of those teams from over the hill. 😉 For what it’s worth, I am not “anti Squaw” nor anti-team – far from it. Both mountains are great, but for different reasons. Trying to make them operate as one big mountain does not work for everyone. SVSH should make sure there are adequate training facilities at each mountain for each team. That is no different than making enough terrain available for anticipated general public at Squaw and at Alpine. It’s a recurring theme – we always want SVSH to know they own 2 mountains not one, and we hope they continue to run two mountains.
Thank you for pointing out what was apparent to all who skied this last weekend. Love the ski team. I do not love that Squaw feels their ski team, and it’s attitude, can take over the few open runs on the mountain. There is a reason I ski Alpine- to avoid the masses at Squaw. The Squaw team is disrespectful on the runs and pushy in the lift line. Not at all how how the kids on the Apline team act. So sad to see things evolve this way….
Well said. I know we are not the only people concerned…hope others speak up too.
It is an attitude… you know I’m old, and so I can speak to 35+ years ago when Squaw was not the place one wanted to ski if one wasn’t into money and fashion but family fun and skiing… and Alpine offered so much more for everyone to have a good day with lots of choices and levels… a lot of laughter and fun… please don’t let Alpine suddenly evolve into Squaw…
Mark, what goes around comes around… How’d you like us saying there are too many red jackets on our mountain?
I would say you’re probably right. 🙂
Respect get respect. Play nice and share
Alpine ski team members are routinely subjected to the fact that Squaw teams have carte blanche access to both hills. Common sense would be that with a Masters Race @ Alpine for two days and limited terrain, Squaw would keep their significantly larger teams AT SQUAW. Nope. Squaw teams are first priority PERIOD. There is nothing we can say or do about it and there is no attempt to reciprocate team services or amend tensions. “Just deal with it” is basically what we get. We saw our team prices increase SIGNIFICANTLY and with no added value whatsoever. They say “two hills one mountain” but last time we checked race start lists we saw “Alpine” and “Squaw” and two very different teams. When we complain they’ve even told us — “We’d be happy to refund your pass”. Face it – the powers that be and ski team managers (TK) at Squaw see Alpine as their dumping ground – no apologies….ever. This attitude clearly trickles down to entitled team coaches and rude skiers. Sorry people- outside of lift line rioting (can u imagine?!) or flat out boycotting of all Alpine food services etc.,(might be onto something) it has been made crystal clear by management — there is little we can say or do.
Thanks for speaking up. It was feeling lonely here.
Have a look at the Key Performance Indicator Terms in the staff contracts. It basically says be nice or you’ll never work in alpine anywhere ever again. So as attitude filters down from the top: the top, take pics and youtude vids so their people get ‘famous’. They’ll become nicer after they see that sort of vid hitting their bottom line faster than anything else. .
I grew up as an Alpine team member, and recently joined Squaw. I am thankful that we are still able to ski Alpine, since we all know that the snow and terrain is currently much better there. As a Squaw team member, I am disappointed that people view us as disrespectful and believe that we see Alpine as our “dumping ground.” My Squaw teammates and I act no differently than how my old Alpine teammates and I acted. We really enjoy skiing Alpine since there is more opportunity for training, plus its fun! We have been building a great relationship between the Alpine and Squaw big mountain teams. We ski together at both Alpine and Squaw when the other team is “visiting.” Squaw kids have no problem “sharing” the mountain at Squaw and we had a super awesome time last time the Alpine team was skiing there. While I do not agree with all that has happened with the merge, and Alpine Meadows is definitely still my favorite mountain, I feel that you all are very closed minded and already have your opinions set in place about the teams from Squaw. But if you paid you would come to realize we appreciate skiing Alpine, welcome the Alpine teams to Squaw and actually have a lot of fun with the Alpine. And we absolutely do respect the mountain and those skiing on it.
Weird, I didn’t see a single Squaw race team kid on high yellow, palisades, or deer camp all day. If doing laps on Kangaroo is your thing, I guess I understand. It seems the problem is pretty well contained in my opinion.
I have two kids on the Alpine Race Team, and despite the crowds, I think there’s some benefit to training with the Squaw kids…just sayin’.
The whole Squaw hatin’ thing is getting pretty stale. We’re all out there skiing, right??
Happy Holidays to all, including the Squaw Race Team. Keep training hard even if it’s on our beloved Kangaroo…we’ve got you in our cross-hairs!!!
Cheers!
You must not have been out to high yellow much! It wasn’t the race teams…the free ride teams were there in full force on every one of the 6 laps we did yesterday.
I hate kids too. But what do we do? We can’t cull them or sell them on ebay anymore.
So just buy your own mountain. Tom Cruise rented Mt High for $5m a day. You can rent Homewood for the day. Or share. It’s not the O.K Corral.
I totally understand the feeling of Alpine skiers being invaded by the SVST, and the truth is that the snow and skiable terrain is way better at Alpine right now. Personally, I’m bringing my team over there because we need to train on something challenging, and I want to keep it exciting for the kids. That said, every time I ride the bus over I am sure to give my athletes a rundown on acceptable behavior at alpine, reminding them that this is NOT our mountain and we guests there. The Big Mtn Team DOES limit the amount of groups that go to Alpine each day as not to overcrowd.
On December 23rd about 40 alpine freeride skiers came to Squaw and teamed up with our coaches to have an awesome jump session off of Siberia. It was an awesome experience and I don’t think anyone had a negative feeling towards the other team the entire time. The athletes were feeding off of each other, the coaches were bonding and hanging out, working together to create a safe and productive morning of jumping with the kids. This is the relationship I would like to have with Alpine skiers/coaches/parents ect. Too many times I have skied at Alpine and been chewed out for absolutely no reason (just because I was wearing a blue jacket), one time an Alpine skier told a group of 11 – 12yr olds to “get the fuck out of here”. This aggression has no place on the hill or around young skiers and really upsets me. Is this the kind of behavior and example we want to set for our children? Do we really want to create a environment of hating one another? Absolutely not.
Well said.
Pity an exec wasn’t on the hill with the balls to give the AM skier a warning -and to watch the teams, shove bags out of the way of other guests, and keep them playing nice too.