Day One at Alpine Meadows
Opening day at Alpine saw...............
The Unofficial Alpine Meadows Ski Report
Produced by Andy Wertheim
Tahoe/Truckee Realtor
email: andyw@sierra.net
Our real estate website: www.tahoeriverfrontrealty.com
Hello skiers,
Opening day at Alpine saw a handful of skiers and boarders hit the
slopes. Kangaroo opened in the morning with a groomed slope and a
few terrain features. I took a couple of runs around noon today and
found a granular surface (ground up ice) that was very skiable. A
short line of skiers and boarders waited to make the first turns of
the year.
Yesterday it rained dogs and cats all day below 7000 feet. In
fact, it rained most of the day up to 7500 feet or higher. The sky
cleared sometime during the night and temperatures dropped into the
20's. Thus, all the wet snow was instantly frozen solid. About 1 to
2 inches of snow ended up falling after the hard freeze. I am not
sure how much it snowed on the upper mountain yesterday, but it
looked pretty darn good this morning in the sunshine. The upper
mountain looks like it is in good early season condition.
At noon Alpine opened Roundhouse. I was lucky enough to be
there when everyone abandoned Kangaroo and loaded Roundhouse. The
snow guns were blasting away on Red Trail. I was really surprised to
find the top surface conditions very good with about 2 inches of
fresh powder covering the hardened surface underneath.
A lot of turns were made on Blue Trail (well covered 2/3 of the way
down), Red-Green, and upper Yellow Trail (lower yellow is blessed
with a covering of small tree tops and bushes). Red Trail should be
well covered when the guns are turned off. Skiers were making turns
on the side of the Face and between trees, logs, and other
obstacles. It was early season skiing today, and pretty good
considering the warm weather that passed through yesterday. The
slopes will not be great if a large crowd shows up on the weekend, as
it will end up being very crowded, especially on the lower slopes
that are filled with early season obstacles. Squaw is opening some
lifts on the upper mountain tomorrow. Skiing should be pretty good
up at that elevation.
The season begins. Enjoy your day. Andy
