Alpine Meadows, CA 4/6-8/01

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Beach Party ? Spring corn ? Sunny blue-sky bikini skiing ? <BR> <BR>FORGET IT !! <BR> <BR>How about a blizzard ? <BR> <BR>It started snowing within an hour of our reaching the mountain and I don't think it has stopped yet. Alpine Meadows received over 3 feet in three days turning our sun soaked, spring skiing bonanza into a cold, windy winter storm that never quit. <BR> <BR>Day one: Worst conditions I have skied this season (I didn't ski in VT in February). VERY firm re-frozen asphalt. No serious Killington ice, but there were certainly more than enough slick areas. We found refuge and some cool mellow glades around the Scott chair. By 3:30pm the snow had begun to stick and the flatter sections softened right up into carvable packed powder. We were able to comfortably ski some of the mellower glades with the odd rock to trip over. At 4pm the snow was really coming down hard, and covering all but the windiest areas of the hill. We left in vivid anticipation of what the mountain would look like in the morning. <BR> <BR>Day two: 2 feet of the lightest powder I've skied all season. Today I grabbed a pair of demos from the shop, the Atomic 9.22 BetaRide (yellow). Our first few runs where pure bliss. <BR> <BR>Q: Face shots? <BR>A: Every turn. <BR> <BR>Q: Buried rocks and stumps? <BR>A: Oh yeah, more than you can imagine. Thank god for demos. <BR> <BR>We skied hard all day and found what proved to be some of our most favorite parts of the mountain. We started with a few runs on the Scott chair skiing variations of the Scott Chute. I found myself in the pukerbrush at one point adn I heard someone from the chair say, "Careful the plaaahhhnts, duuuuuuude." Welcome to California. Then we mellowed for a few in Scott Meadows and Weasel stuff, never finding the same line and always finding fresh snow, complete with hidden ground features, thank god for demos. We headed back over to the Summit Six which is awfully cozy with only two people. From there we skied the D chutes named D6, D7, D8 . . . and a nose on the end with the best snow on the mountain. We finished the day off with a run in the Promised Land, find it if you can. One local described the area saying that there were many different trails in the area, my response was, "Any notaski trails?" Oh yeah, plenty of them, just stay on this side of the ridge. Perfect. <BR> <BR>Day 3: Tough start. I 'think' we were up late in the casino, but don't quote me on that. All I know for sure is that my buddy Tyler had managed to win enough to pay for two days of skiing for both of us, and that was fine with me. The morning was filled with complication after needless complication. We finally slugged our 4 brain cells combined up to the hill. Once on the snow we were skiing just as hard as we were the day before, at least that's what it felt like. Skiing at Alpine Meadows, I found that it's a very good idea to have a look at what lies behind an innocent looking crest before heading in unchecked. I found myself screaming to a halt just before plunging into some of the narrowest, steepest, hairiest, unmarked chutes I have seen. On one such funnel I left myself only one entrance which demanded a 10 foot traverse then a quick kick turn and then down into the chute, well the traverse broke a one foot slab that slid quite a ways, luckily not picking up anything along the way. Just a little indication of how steep things are. This day we tried to ski just about everything we had the day before, but I don't think we ever repeated a line, finding a little variation avery run. There is certainly plenty of room to play in and out of the trees. 4pm came long before we wanted it to so back to work. <BR> <BR> <BR>Me and friend Tyler headed to Tahoe with the intention of maybe hitting three different areas, but we quickly decided that there was no way we were going anywhere else this weekend. Alpine Meadows was an easy sell for me, I has the nice friendly feel, like you'd get at MRG. The patrol are very reasonable and even gave a me a little pat on the back for enjoying all areas of the mountain, but encouraged me to stay off of the machinery trail that I managed to spill out onto from the woods. I've heard people say that Alpine Meadows is a tough place for snowboarders but Tyler had no problem getting around, save a few dumb miscalculations into flat powder fields. I would highly recommend Alpine Meadows to the Tahoe visitor. I also enjoy SugarBowl, but not this time.
 
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