A Bittersweet Christmas At Alpine

On the surface, it was just another sweet powder day at Alpine Meadows. But underneath the surface, employees were reeling from the death of patroller Bill Foster, following yesterday’s avalanche incident at Sherwood. Foster had been a 28 year veteran patroller at Alpine Meadows and a leader of the resort’s popular and effective avalanche dog program. It was easy to notice the Alpine employees and other friends of Bill, in hushed conversations, often with tear filled eyes. But slopes were groomed as normal, chairs spun on schedule, lessons were taught, and avalanche bombing continued. For the casual day visitor, life went on as a completely normal ski day.

But today, as we enjoyed some deep powder turns at Sherwood, I took a moment to look up at South Face and remember Bill’s efforts at making our mountain safe. There’s a bit of solace in knowing he would want us to keep enjoying the mountain. Mother nature and gravity will always provide challenges for patrollers and those of us that choose to enjoy winter activities in the mountains. It’s a testament to Ski Patrol’s fine work that they can just keep going on doing the job, even after such a heart wrenching incident  Thanks for all of your efforts, ladies and gentlemen of the Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol.

For those that chose to spend Christmas day skiing, there was a nice reward. New snow started falling and it kept up all day. Lines that got skied at 10 were refilled by 11. The crowds were small and the whole mountain was open (although I don’t believe the upper hikes were open). Lift lines were short to non-existent. All in all it was quite the opposite of yesterday. Anyone that was willing to deal with bitter cold, winds and snow had a great day of skiing and riding.

Sherwood Chair did indeed open for the first time this season, except for the traverse to South Face. Coverage was  excellent and the snow was awesome. The exposed terrain offered a smooth wind-buffed cream cheese surface while the trees offered great powder. We did a number of runs through The Bakery, Don’s Run and Powerline. Sherwood also offered increased access for High Yellow Gully, Counterweight, Sherwood Cliffs and Arts Knob. All were reported as fantastic. Expert Shortcut was still filled with avi debris from control work, but Shuttle Cornice (skier’s right) offered a good alternative.

The snow has continued to dump all evening in Truckee. The remote sensor at Alpine Meadows is showing that another 8 inches has fallen since closing time and snow is expected to continue into tomorrow. It would be fair to expect that there may be some delayed openings tomorrow and short closures on Alpine Meadows Road while Ski Patrol does snow safety work. I hear the skiing and riding will be great at Squaw Valley tomorrow 😉

Editors Note: We would love to include a photo of Bill Foster. If someone has one to share, please email Mark