Alpine Meadows
Saturday 5 June 1993

Weather

For June, incredible. There was heavy snow overnight and there were intermittent snow showers throughout the day at the top of the mountain. No sun. Temperatures rather cool, especially during the snow flurries.

Conditions

Snow conditions at the top of the mountain were pretty good. There was 9 - 12 inches of fresh, rather heavy, ungroomed snow, which soon roughed up into "crud". Nearer the bottom, the snow was slushy but coverage was complete with very few bare patches.

The Story of the Day

Skiing in June! Everyone thought I was mad.

But, Alpine Meadows was very much open with good snow cover almost everywhere. In fact, the amount of skiing available was governed by economic rather than snow conditions. Four lifts were open, Summit, Roudhouse, Weasel and Tiegel Poma, giving top to bottom skiing with over 1500 feet vertical. Other lifts could have been open, but there were not enough skiers to justify it.

Even the trip up to Tahoe City was an adventure. It was snowing and chain controls were in place (chains were not needed on the tyres but had to be carried).

Expecting warm and sunny conditions, I was equipped with pretty light clothing, including a shell suit rather than full ski gear. It was actually pretty cold, and full winter gear would not have been too warm.

The skiing was incredible!

I started on the runs from Roundhouse and quickly moved up to the Summit. Both sides of the summit had deep fresh show. Alpine Bowl got slightly cut up and cruddy; Wolverine Bowl was more structured into bumps and apart from a few rocks was pretty comfortable.

Even the face was skiable (on my previous trip I had sideslipped down and across) with well formed, but forgiving bumps.

I intended to ski the following day, but when I arrived it was snowing hard and I wasn't really equipped.

Vertical (feet)

11400

Easy Runs

Meadow - Very slushy

Advanced Runs

D-8 - Mixture of ungroomed fresk snow and rocks
The Face - Ungroomed fresh snow

Intermediate Runs

Red Trail
Red-Green Trail
Blue Trail
Alpine Bowl - Deep fresh snow turned to crud
Rock Garden - Groomed initially, but cut up quickly
Upper Weasel - Not good condition, slushy, some bare patches
Weasel - Reasonable condition, good coverage but rather slush

 

 

Last updated: 22/01/2001