March 27: Skiing Alpine before the Storm

Skiers in Alpine Bowl at Palisades Tahoe

We showed up early and hopped on a Subway chair today. These might be the last days for that lift as the snow was melting pretty fast in that zone lately. It was overcast, breezy, and a bit cooler than yesterday.

From Subway, we skied down to Roundhouse. We headed for The Dance Floor but it looked like it was quite firm. So we decided to check on Summit Chair.

Looking down into Wolverine Bowl

The storm was approaching. Clouds were over the Lake. After the Dance Floor, we suspected the mountain top might be icy. Surprisingly, Wolverine was perfect! It was freshly groomed, smoothed with good grip! 

D8 seems to be melting out a bit – so watch out for some patches of rock/dirt, but overall it looks like it’s still in good shape.

We stopped at the bottom of the Wolverine to watch people skiing the wiggle under the Idiot’s Delight. We skipped The Face and then cruised back to the Summit. The Werner’s Schuss was only our second run, but it was already perfect corn! 

Skiing in Alpine Bowl

We did a few laps from the Summit into the Alpine bowl. The bowl was very good on the groomed part with some firm bumps off-piste in the morning, which softened after 10 am.

From Alpine bowl we decided to check on Yellow trail, but it was closed for the race and we skied back to the Dance Floor. The run had already softened up, and it felt like excellent corn skiing, although it got busy, as Scott and Lakeview were closed at that time.

The nice thing – the ABC was spinning so we hopped on and went to the top of Alpine bowl. The approach to the lift was a bit rough, so be prepared.

From the chair, we saw another wiggle near the Sunspot and many were trying it out. 

Wiggle near Sunspot

As the sun was softening the bumps, some skiers were venturing off-piste from the two main trails, and they got less busy.

We didn’t make it to High Traverse nor Sherwood. We had heard that it’s the last day of the season for the backside because the snow coverage is getting spotty back there.

View of Sherwood Run from the chairlift on Saturday – large areas burned out.

The good news  – the storm is rolling in tonight. Hoping it will bring a few inches of fresh snow.

Be sure to check the app or website for the lift status update as some chairs might be on wind hold tomorrow.

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Claire Weiss

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