As we close out an exciting week of terrain expansion by opening Alpine, adding Resort Chair, and getting top to bottom with Mountain Run, we’re turning our attention to maintaining our offering despite warm temperatures, and we continue to keep snowmaking a high priority. To start this week’s update, let’s take a look at how our snowpack is doing across all elevations at the resort.
SNOWPACK UPDATE
| PALISADES BASE | ALPINE BASE | 8,000 FEET |
| 18 inches | 18 inches | 19 inches |
Warm daytime temperatures upwards of 40 degrees Fahrenheit have been slowly chipping away at the significant snowfall we received a few weeks ago. Essentially, we have less than two feet of snow across the mountains now, so it is getting thin in some places. Don’t panic: The skiing is still extremely fun, and we have enough of a base to maintain right now. However, we cannot expand more terrain until we build up the base snowpack on our existing terrain.
WEATHER OUTLOOK
According to local meteorologist Bryan Allegretto of OpenSnow (who writes our near-daily weather blog), here is what we’re looking at over the coming week:
- Weekend: Sunny with temperatures in the 40s during the day. Breezy winds gusting up to 40mph possible.
- Monday: Potential for a small, cold storm system to move through. Upper mountain winds could be affected by gusts of 70+mph
- Tuesday + Wednesday: Colder temps will return, though the skies will be clear and sunny.
- Thursday onward: Another storm system is tracking for this timeframe, with a third possible system moving in on Saturday.
SNOWMAKING
The ability to make snow overnight has been inconsistent, so we have not been able to make snow on both sides every night this week. That said, we have made progress, and when we are able to turn the systems on, we are seeing great production results. With the upcoming passing system, we should have some cold nighttime temperatures as well. At Palisades, our teams will be especially focused on maintaining Mountain Run over the coming days. Additionally, we are turning attention to Red Dog trails in order to provide ski access between Resort Chair and The Village at Palisades Tahoe.
This photo and title photo by Evan Nielsen
MOUNTAIN UPDATES: PALISADES
- Our teams were able to get both Resort Chair and Mountain Run open on Tuesday.
- For Resort Chair, we are running shuttles from The Village at Palisades Tahoe to the base of that chair frequently. You cannot ski back from Resort Chair to The Village right now.
- The Aerial Tram is open for sightseeing only from 9am-4pm daily.
- Our grooming team put in a ton of effort trying to get the beginner area at the top of Aerial Tram open, but the snow is just too thin right now.
- All of Red Dog’s lift towers were flown in and installed on Monday. We still expect Red Dog to open in mid-December.
MOUNTAIN UPDATES: ALPINE
- Our teams are focused on maintaining Treeline Cirque, Roundhouse, Yellow, and the Big Carpet. We have no major expansion plans at this time.
- Load testing for the Base to Base Gondola will start at Alpine on the 28th. We expect this to take about a week.
- The new Alpine Plaza is essentially finished; we are just cleaning up remnants from the summer’s construction.
TERRAIN PARKS
Given the state of our current snowpack, we are assessing the best location to put some park features. We are considering Tiegel, Gold Coast, or SnoVentures (but leaning just a bit toward Tiegel). We expect to start a build on Monday.
EARLY SEASON CONDITIONS – STAY SAFE!
- Please keep in mind that we still have construction going on in our base areas, so be mindful and obey all signage.
- Please be careful going off-piste. It’s sharky out there! We have limited coverage in many areas.
HOW CAN I STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH OPERATIONS 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.
