It certainly has been a memorable year: historic snowfall events, pulling off the near-impossible Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup, skiing into July, completing new snowmaking lines, kicking off another winter season… the list goes on and on! As we look forward to creating more cherished memories together in 2024, let’s take a look back at the highlights of the unforgettable 2023.
JANUARY
We started 2023 off completely buried, with 32 inches of snow in 24 hours on the 1st of January. This first storm also set a record for our mountains as the most snow ever recorded in a 12-hour period, and at one point it snowed 7 inches per hour. By January 12th, we had already received 9 feet of snow. We were able to open the fabled Silverado area on January 21st, and by January 27th, 100% of our terrain at both mountains was open. Our January snowfall total came out to more than 14 feet. Plus, we also opened the brand-new, high-speed Red Dog six pack in January!
Photos taken by Blake Kessler, Kate Abraham, and Asa Moore.
FEBUARY
We had several serious storms throughout the month of February as our teams worked tirelessly to prepare the racecourse surface for the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup, which we hosted the last weekend in February. Athletes from all over the world came to compete on the famously challenging Red Dog Face. We had so much consistent snowfall that we actually had to actively clear the race course, with teams working overnight to maintain a firm racing surface. In fact, the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup fell during our largest snowstorm of the year with 146 inches. Clearing the course was an insurmountable task, but our crew did it. Truly heroic work. Plus, between all this, we crammed in some of the best powder days of our lives.
Photos taken by Ryan Salm, Blake Kessler, and Kate Abraham.
MARCH
We continued our routine of shovel, ski, repeat as March brought 191 inches of snow. This was the snowiest month of the season! Every department, on- and off-mountain, was impacted by the enormous snowfall. Parking lots, staircases, patrol shacks, and chairlifts were completely buried. Based on this, we officially announced that we would continue skiing and riding through the 4th of July.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler and Jeff Engerbretson
APRIL
When we hit 710 inches of snow on April 18, this officially marked our snowiest season-to-date — We’d never had THAT much snow in April as we did last season. As spring emerged, we welcomed the Tahoe blue skies, California sunshine, and sunny apres. This combined with beloved events like WinterWonderGrass at Palisades and Snow Golf at Alpine. Plus, we hosted our second annual Spring Tracks music series featuring artists like Bret Dennen and Logic.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler, Kate Abraham, and Nick McMahon
MAY
The original pond skim returned! Cushing Crossing at Palisades Tahoe was a thrilling and entertaining spectacle where participants attempted to ski or snowboard across a pond of freezing water without falling in. With creative costumes and impressive feats of balance, the event showcased the daring and adventurous spirit of the participants while providing a lively and entertaining experience for spectators. But that’s not all – we even had a few sleeper pow days in May! Our crews spent the month maintaining snow surfaces in spring conditions and preparing for summer skiing.
Bonus Blog: One of your favorite blogs we wrote this season was our deep dive into the SNOWsat Grooming technology used in our PistenBully snowcats, which we published in May. Read it again here.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler and Kate Abraham
JUNE & JULY
Thanks to our huge snowfall totals, we were able to keep the party going through the 4th of July! While it is always special to be skiing into summer, keeping Alpine open until July 4th for the first time since 2011 was a unique experience. Not only were we skiing and riding, but we brought down the house with live music for Freedom Fest the first four days of July. It was the perfect send-off to a winter that we will never forget! Plus, we hosted Reggae Fest for the first time in Olympic Valley.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler and Kate Abraham
AUGUST & SEPTEMBER
The quieter months gave us time to reflect on our past, present, and future. Days on the slopes gave way to days by the lake. The valleys were alive with rushing waterfalls, bright wildflowers, and a cool breeze over the ridge. In partnership with the Washoe Tribe, we once again hosted a cultural education series at High Camp every Friday this summer. Over 250 attendees had a chance to hear stories from Washoe Tribe members about their ancestral homeland and their work in the Tahoe basin today.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler
OCTOBER & NOVEMBER
Over the summer, our Operations Teams completed many major projects around the resort. These included a full replacement of the haul rope for the Funitel plus new snowmaking lines on Champs Elysees and Exhibition. Amidst this, our Mountain Manager at Palisades, Jimmy King celebrated 50 years of working at our resort. To make things even more exciting, new PistenBully snowcats started arriving, too! We opened for the 23/24 Winter Season on November 22.
Photos taken by Liz Worgan and Kate Abraham
DECEMBER
While Mother Nature hasn’t delivered much, our Operations teams have enabled us to open skiing and riding from top to bottom across both mountains. To celebrate our return to the mountain, REZZ and Diesel, aka Shaquille O’Neal, put on an electrifying performance as part of Tahoe Live, our kick off to winter. Now, we’re celebrating the holiday season slopeside and we hope that you are enjoying this time with the ones you love.
Photos taken by Blake Kessler, Nick McMahon, and Bandit Ferrante
