Today was a fantastic day to be snowboarding at Alpine with the sunny skies and warm temperatures. It’s worth coming up this week to the mountain to get those spring turns in and work on your goggle tan.
This report was written by Rene Jerez.
Today I was in the mood for something different and decided to do a day at Alpine, which I haven’t been to since earlier this year in February. The conditions today were very similar to yesterday but with a light, breezy wind that helped keep the temps down on the mountain, and it felt like less of a scorcher. With it being Monday, there was a considerable decrease in the number of guests compared to the weekend, and it totally made the Alpine Lodge feel more intimate, like an exclusive country club!
I started my day with a quick warm-up lap down from the Roundhouse lift via the side of the Sympathy Face. The pitch wasn’t bad at all, and like with Palisades yesterday, the snow was soft and phenomenal, and I can’t wait for the coming corn harvest in the next few weeks. Many trails around Roundhouse were closed for ski racing, so I rode up the Summit chair for some runs down Alpine & Wolverine Bowls. Alpine Bowl was heavily filled in with snow, and the pitch there also felt way different and softer than how I remembered it being back in winter.
I wanted to try something new for my Wolverine run, so instead of shooting down into the bowl like I usually do, I traversed over after exiting Wolverine saddle to skier’s left to traverse the bowl a little bit and then dived straight in. As with my two previous days at Palisades, I’ve gotten much more confident this season to hit up more advanced-level terrain. Trying my best to straight line down in a completely empty bowl was a blast. For my third run down through Wolverine Bowl, I went straight down through the bowl and exited out via Nick’s Run.
I wanted to go to the backside to get some shredding in, and since today was all about tackling new terrain and trails head, I rode Summit back and traversed across over to the Palisades trail, and rode that straight down to where the Alpine chair return is. This part of the resort was virtually empty of guests, and rather than take Weasel Run down, I attempted Hot Wheels Gully. The Gully was amazing! It wasn’t too moguled out, and the snow was sun protected by all the trees. I really dug how much of the trail was like a natural half-pipe. After exiting the Gully, I took a quick water break at the lodge.
After my break, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the backside at Sherwood. I found the snow there to be the absolute best today! For my first run down, I rode in from the trees down to Sherwood Face, but for my second run, I rode in under the Sherwood chair lift line to hit the lower part of South Face. This run was fast and steep with lots of turns, so for my third ride back up the lift, I did my first hike ever at Palisades and hoofed it over on the South Face Access trail, which was thankfully pretty flat. After getting to where the top of South Face starts, I rode right in! I was conservative with my turns and took them wide to minimize any chance of falling or wiping out. I also had the entire slopeside to myself, which was incredible. I love how the spring snow is forgiving and makes the whole resort feel like an open playground. After my South Face run, I rode laps down from the Sherwood trees again, following the Robin Hood Trail. After I got my fill of the back side, I returned to the front side via the return trail and did some laps down Scott to finish the day.
