Alpine Meadows
Sunday 17 December 2000

Weather

Glorious. Started cold, with clear skies, but warmed up in the sun.

Conditions

The best early season conditions for more than a decade.

The Story of the Day

When I got up, I was tempted just to drive back to San Francisco and not bother with the skiing. I couldn't get enthusiastic about the idea of skiing on my own. In the end, I decided that the best way to get fit for skiing is to ski, so I set out for Alpine Meadows. It was a good decision. I got to Alpine around 8:00 am (half an hour before the lifts open) and got the closes parking spot to the slopes that I had ever had at Alpine (and without having to spend $14 for the privilege!). The weather was beautiful. The sun was shining, the temperature was just rising above freezing.
	After a couple of warm up runs from Roundhouse, I headed for the summit. This shot of The Face shows how much snow there was. (Compare with a similar picture taken in December 1999). The groomed run down the middle of *Alpine Bowl* was a little steep at the top but otherwise in great condition,
For the next run, I took Alpine Bowl lift. There was not enough snow to fill the chutes at the top of the bowl, but the ungroomed slopes under the lift, leading to Terry's return were in good condition. As I carefully negotiated my way down the slope, I was passed by a group of kids in crash helmets making it look very easy. For the next run, I took Summit lift and *Alpine Bowl* and then *Yellow Trail. The moguls were softening up beautifully, so the slope was a lot easier than it sometimes is. From Yellow* lift, I cut across to *Gunners Knob* and skied through the trees back to the base area and a run from Roundhouse down the moguls of *Green Trail* before stopping for coffee.
	After coffee, I took three runs from the Summit lift. For the first, I skied down the centre of *Wolverine Bowl. This was a mixture of moguls and soft ungroomed areas. To get back to the lift, I turned left at the bottom of the bowl and negotiated a route through the trees to the North of Waterfall. For the second run, I took Hot Spot. When conditions are good, the run is groomed and hence is marked blue. Today it was ungroomed and rather more difficult than its rating would suggest. For the third run, I traversed across to the steeper section of Wolverine Bowl*, which was actually easier because there were no moguls, just soft ungroomed snow and then cut across to Yellow.
I finished the morning with 5 delightful runs around Yellow lift, with a mixture of the rapidly softening moguls on *Yellow* Trail and the well spaced trees between *Yellow Trail* and Ladies Slalom. The slope is relatively short, so even with tired legs, I was able to ski comfortably and enjoy the runs.

Runs

Lift	Vertical	Intermediate Runs	Advanced Runs	Expert Runs
Roundhouse	980	Red Trail, Red Ridge, Rock Garden
Roundhouse	980	Rock Garden, Red-Green
Summit	1555	Rock Garden, Alpine Bowl
Alpine Bowl	960	Terry's Return, Alpine Bowl
Summit	1555	Alpine Bowl, Rock Garden, Yellow Trail
Yellow	585	Red Ridge	Gunners Knob
Roundhouse	980	Green Trail
Coffee Break
Summit	1555		Wolverine Bowl	Waterfall
Summit	1555	Sun Spot, Rock Garden, Red Trail
Summit	1555	Yellow Trail	Wolverine Bowl
Yellow	585	Yellow Trail
Yellow	585	Yellow Trail
Yellow	585	Yellow Trail
Yellow	585	Yellow Trail
Yellow	585	Red Ridge	Gunners Knob
Total vertical	15185

Last updated: 22/01/2001