Your How-To Guide for this atypical winter season.
Dress Warm & Bring Layers
You know the drill: long underwear and another base layer for the extra-cold days. Since indoor space will be limited this season, you’ll want to make sure that your outerwear is 100% waterproof and consider bringing a back-up jacket, a secondary pull-over, or an extra pair of gloves in case you get wet or aren’t as warm as you’d like to be. This is definitely the season to stock up on hand & toe warmers as well!
Make Your Car Your Home Base
At both Squaw and Alpine, we’re lucky to have parking lots that are right next to the base area. This will be especially helpful this year as you’re going to want to have easy access to your vehicle if it’s storming. Keep your extra layers, dry clothes, snacks, etc in your car. This is probably where you’ll want to have lunch if you plan on skiing a full day. We know it’s not typical, but it’s the best way to be in your own space and be comfortable. Remember, if it’s a storm day with lots of snow and you want to turn your vehicle on for some extra heat, clear out the area around your tailpipe before doing so.
Forget something? Goggles, gloves & extra layers are available at our retail locations.
The Village at Squaw Valley is home to several retail locations that offer top-of-the-line ski & snowboard gear. From name brands like Patagonia, The North Face, and Oakley, to specialized gear shops like Parallel Mountain Sports and The Ledge, you’ll be able to find whatever you need, whether its as simple as a hat and gloves or something bigger, like snowpants. At Alpine Meadows, stop into Estelle Sports to pick up all these essentials.
Bring multiple masks.
Masks are required when you are at the resort, but in cold weather, they can definitely freeze easily. It’s a great idea to bring two or three masks with you so that you can switch to a dry, warm one if needed. Masks are available for purchase on-site at Alice’s Mountain Market and Parallel Mountain Sports at Squaw Valley and Estelle Sports at Alpine Meadows.
Grab hot to-go food from our restaurants. Mobile ordering makes it even easier now!
What better way to warm up than with a delicious plate of hot food or a warm beverage? For hot drinks like coffee or hot chocolate, visit Starbucks, Coffeebar, or Wildflour at Squaw Valley and Treats Café at Alpine Meadows. Need a hot breakfast? Mogrog Cafe at the base of the Subway chair at Alpine serves grab-and-go specialties all day. At Squaw Valley, starting at 8am, you can get a breakfast burrito from Tremigo Mexican Kitchen for just $10 on the weekends. To make things even easier, you can now order online ahead of time from many of our restaurants for a touchless pay option. Please remember that there is no eating or drinking on the Funitel this year.
Check our app for impacted lift operations and real-time lift status.
In a typical season, there are a lot of moving parts to our storm day and post-storm mountain operations processes, and this winter Covid-19 protocols add an additional challenge to how our teams must proceed as safely as possible to open the mountains. Heavily impacted mountain operations departments include ski patrol, lift maintenance, on-mountain transport, and snow removal. Examples of impacts include splitting teams up in ways that require more troop carrier missions than ever before, fewer people in equipment assembly rooms, staggered use of locker rooms, fewer people in lift terminals to carry out de-icing and reduced capacity of transport equipment. All of these impacts will increase the amount of time necessary to carry out the required work. We cannot guarantee what time any specific lift/terrain will be able to be opened. Scheduled lift opening times should be taken as rough estimates subject to change at any time.
With the possibility of delayed and limited mountain operations on storm days, and no indoor capacity to shelter from the weather, we urge you to frequently check our app or website for updates before coming to visit us. Please download the Squaw Alpine app and enable notifications for ongoing updates. You can also check our Lift & Grooming status webpage or Mountain Ops Twitter account for real-time status.
