Palisades Tahoe plans to open tomorrow, Monday, March 4th. It is our goal to have a few lifts going at both mountains by 9am, but this is not a guarantee. We have to see what happens overnight, and delays are always possible. When we put out predictions for the next day, they are our best guess, not a promise. Mother Nature often has her own plans, but here is what we are hoping for tomorrow:
- At Alpine, we plan to open Roundhouse, Treeline Cirque, Meadow, Subway, and the Big Carpet. If conditions allow, we may add more chairs throughout the day.
- At Palisades, we plan to start the day with Resort Chair, First Venture, Far East, Red Dog, and KT-22. As usual, we will plan to get the rest of the mountain open in waves:
- If the clearance on Tower 4 of the Funitel is not an issue, we will then aim to add the Funitel for Mountain Run.
- Following the Funitel, the next wave of chairlifts would be Big Blue, Shirley Lake, Bailey’s Beach, Mountain Meadow, Belmont, and the Aerial Tram.
- The final wave would be Siberia and Gold Coast. We do not expect to have Headwall, Emigrant, or Granite Chief tomorrow.
- Our base area snow removal teams have been putting in very long hours to try to get all of our parking lots clear. This has been very difficult with the constant snowfall. Please be patient and kind while finding a parking spot tomorrow.
Though there were some doubts on Thursday whether or not we were going to get the storm of the season, the weather forecast proved to be accurate. Bryan Allegretto of OpenSnow called for 5-8 feet of snow on the upper mountains by Monday, and as of 5am, our 7-day storm total was resting at 6 feet. It has kept snowing since that last report.
While we’re no strangers to big snowfall totals, especially after last season, what has been difficult for us throughout this cycle is the extremely high winds. Winds have been gusting above the 100mph range since Thursday on the upper mountain, and visibility has been VERY limited at all elevations. Take a look at our behind-the-scenes gallery to see what our crews have been battling:
Video: Chelsea Swain, Base to Base Gondola Assistant Manager
BEHIND THE SCENES
Ski Patrol, Life Maintenance, and Lift Operators all came in at 6 o’clock this morning to get to work on the mountain. (Grooming teams have been working around the clock since the start of the storm). The forecast called for winds to subside a bit today, but that did not happen. This video is from Homerun, which is mid-mountain at Palisades. Captured by Jaime Tibbo, Palisades Ski Patrol.
Wind drifts and high snowfall totals are burying signage on the mountain.
Photo: Hunter Lamer, Palisades Grooming
Photo: Evan Nielsen, Palisades Snowmaking Manager
How deep is it??
It’s deep. Very deep. Especially in areas that have been buffed up by wind. If you plan to ski or ride tomorrow, you should be well-acquainted with our deep snow safety tips. Take a few minutes to review them and remember: never ski alone on a powder day.
The Patrol Shack at the top of Gold Coast. Photo: Craig Patterson, Palisades Grooming Manager.
Snowcat operator Dave Martini in front of his machine this morning.
Photo: Blake Kessler
Photo: Blake Kessler
The Terrain Parks office door at Palisades, buried by a wind drift. Photo: Alex Schaffrick.
Cornices on base area buildings. Photo: Jacob Collins, Lift Operations Supervisor.
HOW TO GET UPDATES
- THE PALISADES TAHOE APP: Download the Palisades Tahoe App and enable push notifications. On storm days or days when we’re slower to open, we send a push notification every time we have a terrain update. Plus, the app allows you to check lift & trail status in real-time.
- MOUNTAIN OPS TWITTER: Follow our Mountain Operations X (formerly Twitter) account, @palisadesops. We post updates that come directly from our mountain dispatch every day.
- OPERATIONS BLOG: We publish this blog anytime we have an important update, complete with behind-the-scenes photos and insider information Sign up to get our Operations Updates sent directly to your inbox with intel from Grooming, Lift Maintenance, Patrol, Snowmaking, and more. Sign up here. You can also bookmark our Operations Blog webpage, and easily check if a new one has been published at any time.
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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.
