With the recent storms bringing in 4.5 feet of snow, and a massive storm rolling in this weekend, I thought today would be a good day for Alpine, hunting for pow and getting some pre-storm recon on what’s going to be good to send with this next storm.
This blog was written by Ryan Williams.
Summit Zone
The terrain accessed from this lift is some of the best in Tahoe. And once the Traverse to Beaver, Estelle, and Bernie’s opens, it’s go-time—mini spine lines right out of AK.
For today, I wanted to check out how the bowls were filling in, how some of our favorite lines and drops were looking, how the natural half pipes were forming in the gullies, and I wanted to sniff out some pow.
The wind started kicking up midday, moving snow around, and filling in the gullies and pockets.
On the first lap scoping out Wolverine Bowl and the D chutes, it was surprising how much snow had moved around from the wind and that had filled in D-6 and D-7. It was time to rip both. On the next lap, I hammered out the ridge to the drop-in zone above D-6. At the top, it did look surprisingly filled in from all the wind-blown snow. Dropping in, the chute ripped so well along the right wall, with a few cold smoke turns in 8” of pow.
It is so nice to get face shots a few days after a storm, in bounds, and without hiking.
With the wind filling in the D chutes so nicely, it was time to check the hourglass classic off D-5. Wow, it filled in and was good to go. Dropping in the snow was awesome, and the crux made it fun, popping out to the dope little apron. When this classic fills in, it’s a sign of many other lines and hits around the mountain that are good to go, especially with this next storm.
Lower Beaver Zone
Taking the traverse below Idiots, it was great to see how well it’s filling in. Upper Beaver Bowl is looking super nice too—I can’t wait for it and Estelle to open. Getting out to this zone is awesome. It was great to see a few pillow lines and stashes still untouched from the past storm. Couldn’t resist hitting a few of these on the way to The Sisters.
One of my favorite zones at Alpine is The Sisters. Today the zone’s spines, steep walls, and natural halfpipes were absolutely amazing. A few hacks on the spines and drops off the pillows into a flow gully for days; that’s ripping like a natural park right now—hits all over and so much fun.
Yellow Zone
After a bunch of laps on Summit, it was time to check out how the wind was filling in other parts of the mountain and Yellow was spot on. Rolling down from the ridge it was a huge surprise to see how filled it the terrain was, and untracked from the previous storm. Was the mini double good to go? I love this little line in the early season. And sure enough, it still had fresh landings and was good to go. Such a fun line. It’s kind of cool when the chair isn’t running the snow holds longer. The timing was great in this zone today.
Terrain Park
Rolling down from Yellow it was awesome to see the setup the park crew had put together. The rail lines flow with a variety of features, along with a sweet wall ride. Although my preference is the natural terrain park this mountain provides, like the amazing gullies, natural halfpipes, and log rides from the Summit Chair, it’s awesome to see that Alpine has its park rocking.
Today’s shred mission of terrain recon and pow hunting at Alpine Meadows provided even more than anticipated. And with the snow flying and storm rolling in as we got to the bottom at closing, the stoke was high from the day’s riding and knowing that tomorrow KT22 is opening. It’s go-time!
