The storms keep coming! In the past 7 days, we received 4.5 feet of snow at our 8,000 foot elevations. Looking at our base areas, Alpine received about 3 feet of snow while the Palisades base saw just shy of 2 feet. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday made for some all-time skiing with free refills or fresh lines to be had by all. True to our word, our crews turned up the dial and expanded terrain throughout the past few days:
- Treeline Cirque opened to the top at noon on Monday.
- Summit opened at noon on Tuesday.
- Solitude opened just after 9am on Wednesday.
- The ability to ski back to The Village from Resort Chair via Red Dog Face opened on Monday.
- Meadow chairlift has a new motor and is up and running again.
- Reverse Traverse opened today.
LOOKING AHEAD
Weather Outlook
OpenSnow’s outlook for the next few days calls for some intense snowstorms. We are likely to see several more FEET of snow by Monday. We’ll keep you updated here as we make progress in maintaining the mountains. Here are the predicted totals for the weekend:
- Thursday: Up to 14 inches during the day, with the storm starting to reach Palisades around 3pm. Winds will be gusting up to 85 mph.
- Friday: We’ll see some scattered showers with up to 5 inches of accumulation. Winds should top out around 75 mph.
- Saturday: Saturday is going to be no joke, calling for 24 inches during the day and an additional 24 inches at night. Winds could reach 100 mph.
- Sunday: Up to 11 inches throughout the day with winds up to 75 mph. We’ll see scattered showers through Monday morning.
This is a lot of snow. What should you expect?
Saturday and Sunday are the days most likely to see weather impacts to lifts. Our upper mountains at both Palisades and Alpine could be affected, but we will aim to maintain lower mountain lift access throughout as conditions allow. These are HUGE storm totals, so expect to see us digging out and playing catchup over the next week.
Current Conditions
It has also been COLD this week. The temperatures have been good for snowmaking, but many of our lifts are frozen over with rime ice. See below for some photos of Headwall chairlift this morning. If you’re curious about our daily ski conditions, our Conditions Blogs is back as of this week, which give a transparent look at how everything is skiing. These blogs are posted 4-5 times a week and are also included in the Palisades Tahoe Ski & Ride Report email (Sign up at the bottom of this blog if you haven’t yet!)
Lift + Terrain Updates: Alpine
- We will most likely have the same operations as today on Friday and Saturday: Roundhouse, Treeline Cirque, Summit, Subway, Meadow, and the Big Carpet.
- We will be maintaining Summit throughout the storm, but with these snow totals, it is possible that we could lose safe access. If we lose the upper mountain at Alpine, we’ll aim to flip the switch on Yellow and Kangaroo.
- Next on our expansion agenda will be Scott and then Sherwood. These will not open until after this full storm cycle has passed, and we will keep you updated on our progress. Our grooming crew will be working on building the access road for Scott tonight.
Lift + Terrain Updates: Palisades
- Tomorrow, Reverse Traverse will be open with hiking access all the way over to West Face. The Base To Base Gondola is undergoing evacuation tests, as required by state regulations, so there may be some closures. Please obey all signage.
- Two nights ago, our grooming team got the access road in for KT-22. They also were able to move enough snow to build ramps at both terminals (Thank you, grooming!). Today, Patrol started hill setup and we also finished up the Patrol shack at the top terminal to be ready for use. Tomorrow, Patrol will be focused on setting up the east side. KT-22 is likely to have a delayed opening on Friday. We want to get skiers out on KT-22 before the storm cycle! Please note that all of this is weather-dependent, but we will absolutely be trying our best.
- On Saturday and possibly Sunday as well, it is likely that we will lose the upper mountain. In this event, we’ll aim to have Resort Chair, First Ventures, Olympic Lady, Exhibition, and KT-22 open as conditions allow.
- Far East is still impacted by Red Dog construction and cannot open yet.
- Big Blue still needs snow at the bottom ramp; we will assess it throughout the storm cycle.
- Headwall, Granite Chief, and Emigrant are next on the agenda for Palisades. We have been working on Headwall — Crews put in ramps today and will continue that work tonight. They also got the access road in last night. Emigrant still needs snow at the top terminal. We have not had any crews back in Granite Chief yet to assess.
WANT THIS BLOG TO COME TO YOUR EMAIL INBOX?
You can now sign up for our Mountain Operations email list, and we’ll send this blog directly to you every time we have an update. We’ll aim to share daily updates throughout this storm cycle. Sign up here.
HOW ELSE CAN I STAY UP-TO-DATE THIS SEASON?
We’ll arm you with all the information you need to plan the perfect ski day any day this winter. Bookmark these pages:
Not wanting to check the website constantly? Try these other methods:
- Follow our Mountain Operations Twitter account
- Sign up for the Palisades Tahoe Ski & Ride Report (Weather Blogs, Conditions Blogs, + Operations Blogs are included here)
- Download the Palisades Tahoe App
Do you have any requests for this season’s Operations Blogs? Topics you’d like to see covered or information you think is missing? Send us an email at chatter@palisadestahoe.com with your feedback.
