Operations Update: Clearer Weather Today, More Snow Tomorrow

After 5 days of stormy weather, our upper mountain snow total for December is 199 inches. That’s 16.5 feet of snow! With a break in the snowfall, we were able to open all of our planned lower mountain lifts today, plus a few surprises: Scott at Alpine and both Wa She Shu and Broken Arrow at Palisades. We are still very much in the process of digging out at both mountains, but we are planning to expand terrain tomorrow. Additionally, Wednesday will likely bring another 5 inches of snow, so there could be some lift delays or weather impacts.

Lift & Terrain Updates: Palisades

It is really fun skiing out there today! Patrol reported that the wind over the past few days has really wreaked havoc on the upper mountain snow quality. It is very firm in some places, and the lower mountain may be better skiing at the moment. We were able to get Wa She Shu and Broken Arrow open today, thanks to a tremendous amount of work from Patrol, Grooming, and Lift Maintenance. Wa She Shu had 4 mechanics working in the top terminal from 8:30am until opening, and 3 grooming machines prepped Broken Arrow.

• Resort Chair, Far East, Red Dog, Exhibition, Olympic Lady, KT-22, Wa She Shu, and Broken Arrow all ran today.
• Tomorrow we plan to open the Funitel, the Aerial Tram, Gold Coast, Big Blue, Shirley, Belmont, Bailey’s Beach, and Mountain Meadow.  The Funitel will be operating at a reduced load capacity (6-8 people per cabin) due to low snow clearance.
• This afternoon, we had 4 machines working on Shirley and mechanics will be raising the terminal by 3-4 feet due to how much snow we have! Grooming machines will also be finishing plow work around the Funitel during today’s swing shift.
• On Thursday (12/30), we will likely add Siberia and possibly Solitude. Patrol finished shooting the Gold Coast ridge this afternoon, and grooming will now begin work on adding the access road to the top of Siberia. The Siberia lift shack is BURIED (see photos below) and it will likely take at least half a day to dig out. Solitude, meanwhile, has grooming machines working on it (see photos below) but it still needs boundary markings. Boundary markings can be a huge undertaking: some ropes are up to a half mile long with bamboo every 20-30 yards.
• On Friday (12/31) or Saturday (1/1), we will aim to open Emigrant, Granite Chief, and Headwall. Emigrant is absolutely frozen solid still (see photos below). Grooming machines are still working on Granite Chief. Headwall will likely be delayed an additional day longer than Emigrant/Granite Chief. We have yet to get grooming machines in at the bottom, so Patrol has not been to the top yet. Once we can get Patrol to the top of Headwall, they will likely work to open Reverse Traverse before the Headwall lift.
• Silverado has cold snowpack that is looking good. Once all of the above listed lifts are prepped for opening, we will put a team of three grooming machines on Silverado to put the road in. This can take some time, especially when the snow base is wet from the rain we received early in this storm cycle.

Lift & Terrain Updates: Alpine

It was a great day at Alpine today! We were able to get Scott open, which was a nice surprise. Snow removal is very much ongoing, especially by the Alpine Lodge. There were 6-8 foot drifts in front of the breezeway and the stairs this morning! Plus, the Chalet is totally buried and will need some help from Grooming before it can reopen (see photo below).

• Tomorrow we plan to run Treeline Cirque, Roundhouse, Scott, Subway, Yellow, and Summit.
• We are currently spinning the Summit chair to make sure it is ready for tomorrow, but weather impacts are a possibility.
• We are hoping to add Sherwood for Thursday, 12/30. Lakeview has great snow, but we have a lot of work to do in that area still before it is ready to open.

A Look Ahead: Snow, Sun, and More Snow

Winter weather moves in again tonight and on Thursday night. Thursday night likely will not lead to any meaningful accumulation. The weekend is going to be sunny and beautiful, but early next week, it appears that a more sizeable storm is moving in. You can read more about all of these predictions on our weather blog, or check NOAA’s forecast.

Stay In The Know

Road Information

• To view highway webcams, closure, chain control, and incident information in California, use the Caltrans Quickmap Website & App
• To view highway webcams, closure, chain control, and incident information in Nevada, use the NV Roads 511 Website & App
• To check the status of California highway closures, use Caltrans Highway Status

Resort Information

• Visit our Lift & Trail Page to see what is scheduled, what is open, and lift line wait times.
• Follow @palisadesops on Twitter for live updates on lift status, parking, and more.
• Use the Palisades Tahoe app for real-time information. You can check lift, trail, and grooming status, as well as see the status of our shuttle and parking lots.