Big celebration today for the new Base to Base Gondola opening, connecting the terrain of Palisades and Alpine – it was amazing to rip KT and Summit in the same hour.
This report was written by Ryan Williams.
New Lift Day
Walking over to the mountain today, it was exciting to know we would enjoy a new lift connecting our two favorite mountains, opening new options for adventuring between the two resorts. The new lift doesn’t open new terrain; however, it does open new options for cruising around, and we were hyped to check out ripping KT22 and Summit in the same hour.
The views riding the Base to Base gondola are pretty cool. Checking out the Fingers, Arnies, and West Face from a new perspective is great for scoping out lines and soaking in the incredible terrain. The next pow day on KT22 is going to be interesting and fun to see the game change with first tracks.
The options for the new lift are pretty cool, and we had to check out all the ways: ride KT22, head over to Alpine and ride Summit, head back to Palisades and ride KT22 back home.
KT22
We hopped off Base to Base at the mid-station to check out the new drop-in zone. The snow around this zone was awesome today. The groomers along the ridge to the Saddle were soft and loaded with fun pockets on the side to blast hacks. The Rock Garden and Portal were still holding cold snow, however starting to get hammered and tracked/bumped out. Some pow stashes in a few spots still. The Saddle was a blast with fun side hits, and the classic cat-track jumps were so good. Enchanted Forest had a few pow stashes in its cool north-facing trees, and getting down to groomers, they were flying and fun.
Connecting to Alpine from Palisades
Taking the Base to Base Gondola to Alpine was the next adventure. We were curious if we could ride KT22 and Summit all in the same hour. The views from the top of KT22 to the base of Alpine are incredible. Cool to be able to zip on over to Alpine to rip a few laps, enjoy the terrain and vibe, and head back to Palisades for golden hour.
Summit Chair
It was amazing to step off the Base to Base lift right there. We laughed at how cool this is and got hyped about the quiet crowds and sweet-looking conditions up on Summit’s Wolverine Bowl.
At the top, the sun was out, and the snow was cold, soft, and ripping. Soaking in the incredible views of Lake Tahoe as we headed out to D-7 to see if there was any pow left to ride along the wall. To our delight, the snow was incredible, fast, and had a few pockets of pow. The wind had formed some cool little pow ridges along the walls that we had to hit – they were a blast full on winter. Taking the fall line down through the trees, the snow was incredible, with a few bumps and a few stashes. The gullies below Wolverine are riding so well right now. This amount of snowpack makes the side hits awesome.
Golden Hour KT22
Taking the Base to Base back to Palisades from Alpine, we timed it well, arriving at the top of KT22 right at 4:05pm. This option opens up a whole new way to ride the two mountains. We were laughing and high-fiving at how cool this is. The other groups at the top were all sharing a similar stoke.
The sun setting on KT22 was awesome with the run down to the festivities in the Village celebrating the new Base to Base. On the way down, we found some fun mini pillow lines in the trees still loaded with incredible north-facing cold pow – a fitting end to the day with the new lift in the background. We just rode KT22 and Summit in the same hour – so amazing! Stoked for more adventures between the two mountains with this new option.
Festivities
