Hello Skiers and Riders,
Snow conditions remain about the same. Packed powder with chaotic moguls off the groom and super wonderful conditions on the groomed slopes (Alpine and Wolverine Bowls, and D8). The morning temperature was around 30 degrees on top of the mountain. This was warmer than yesterday. No wind to speak of and cloudless skies.
While riding the chair this morning we discussed the history of Alpine Meadows. There were a lot of unanswered questions that would be fun to have answered. We considered trying to collect information from my readers and other sources. If you have any information that might be of interest, I would love to hear from you. What is the story behind some of the named runs? D8, Weasel, Gentian, Scott Peak, Ward Peak, Peter’s Peril etc.. How did Estelle Lake get its name? What about Beaver Bowl? The book, history of Squaw and Alpine may have some answers. The Saga of Lake Tahoe has some information of the old hotel in Alpine Meadows, but there seem to be holes in the story.
Enjoy your day.
Andy Wertheim
I was told that D8 was named after a guy lost control of a D8 Cat at the top and rode it down to the bottom. Bernie’s Bowl is of course named after Bernie Kingery, the mountain manager who died in the 1982 avalanche. The runs off Roundhouse used to be Red Trail, Green Trail, and I think Blue Trail. I believe there was also a red-green. There still is a yellow trail. The hot wheels chair used to be the Weasel chair. There was a second loading ramp near the Chalet and two unloading ramps–one at the current location and one on the other side of Sherwood ridge–the last part of the chair went downhill. Anyone interested in the story of the 1982 Avalanche should read A Wall of White by Woodlief, available at The Bookstore at Hooligan Rocks in Truckee. (Please don’t buy it off Amazon.).
In recent history, I remember the ramshackle houses that used to exist across the river from the River Ranch. This was in the 70’s before they built the condos that are now there. Randy Sharp and Bob Stokes had a blacksmith and lamp manuracturing business in one of the buildings and they kept horses in that location also. I think they even had a sleigh. There was a small pond and tennis courts and the location was one of the local hangouts; it was known as “Rat Ridge”. That’s where I first met Dick Tash – who was a singer in a pickup band that used to play impromptu concerts on the porch of one of the houses.. I am not sure of the year when the houses and the shops were torn down for the condos – maybe 1979 or so.
Weasel was named after the military halftrack/halfski vehicle used to take early skiers/investors up the hill. It is buried under the lawn in front of the breezeway. The runs of the rainbow mentioned above were named after the color of the surveyors tape used to mark the trails for cutting. Current owners could learn a lot from the history of Alpine and how it WAS run, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. Open early, Close late!
There is a great book by Eddy Ancinas “SV & AM Tales From 2 Valleys” which covers the earliest history of both ski areas. It also gives the first glimpses of AM and it’s development. John Reily was the visionary for AM and said it would be ” a family area, owned and operated by real skiers.” An interesting point even back then was the idea of joining both ski areas. Hmm… haven’t we heard that rumor lately…
You used to be able to the old cleared areas where the trails were; what was its name and what happened to it?
Deer Park, just as the parking area is named today. At one point they installed a shiny new Poma chairlift in an attempt to expand their operation, but ran out of money and closed within a couple years.
Thought it was called Powder Bowl, at the bottom of the road?
http://mountainminds.net/powder-bowl/
This clarifies the story. It originally opened as Powder Bowl and later became Deer Park according to this source.
In woods below ‘high’ yellow destroyed w explosives during big winter ,93 after bunch o peeps ventured during old summit closure after 100 inch dump in 48 hrs, good ol days
Before the “smoke hole” there was a few tree houses just below over the creek. Smoke hole was mentioned in a ski magazine then went away. People did go in unsafe areas to get safe? There are still a few rotting boards in the area as of last month. No comment on how or when it was built, but yeah it was cool, we had 13 people in at one time.