Alpine Meadows
Sunday 26 April 1998

Weather

Conditions

The Story of the Day

Looking North from Tahoe City in the early morning

Rosie's cafe - where it all happens

Spring skiing with Walter Stahlecker and Lutz Temme.

First run of the day. The area near the top of the lift was just beginning to soften up. The rest of the run was groomed but very hard.

Summit lift was on wind-hold .. quite hard to understand at resort level where there was no appreciable wind .. in the meantime Alpine Bowl lift was opened to provide access to higher elevations.

The top of Alpine Bowl and the strong wind	The view towards Lake Tahoe from Alpine Bowl
Alpine Bowl	At the top of Alpine Bowl lift, the wind hold was no longer a mystery. There was a strong Southerly wind blowing across the top of the bowl. The broad groomed Alpine Bowl run was in almost perfect condition early in the morning. At the top, the wind blew across the run from right to left, lower down there was a headwind which significantly reduced speeds.
The second run off Alpine Bowl was almost identical to the first. In only 15 minutes, the lower part of the run, especially the run to the lift was getting very soft.	Walter Stahlecker in Alpine Bowl

Next time, Walter Stahlecker and I traversed right across the bowl. Walter hiked up to keep altitude. I traversed across the ungroomed area and joined the run part way down. Even in the sun, Sun Spot was still in great condition. The steep gradient was ameliorated by a strong headwind.

For the final run from Alpine Bowl, all three of us traversed across the bowl. This time, I tried a few turns on the ungroomed section, which was still a little hard in places, and then crossed over to Sun Spot again. The run to the chair was getting very soft, so we went all the way to bottom to move over to the Sherwood area.

Lakeside	Sherwood Forest was for a while a completely separate resort, but was too small to be successful and merged into Alpine Meadows to add a large South and South-West facing bowl overlooking Lake Tahoe. The area was linked via an extension to the Weasel lift beyond its highest point, down into the bowl. Unfortunately, there is still an unloading point at the top of Weasel run. While Walter and I continued to the bowl, Lutz unloaded at the mid way point and had to ski down to the bottom and try again.
The Lake from the end of Weasel Chair
From the end of the lift, an easy cruise led down to the bottom of Sherwood Lift and the wide-open bowl.	Sherwood Lift and Bowl
Walter Stahlecker in action on South Face	Walter and I were separated on the lift and had the opportunity to get advice from others. As a result, instead of taking the obvious trail to the right of the lift, we headed left, uphill, towards the South Face. A short traverse through trees took us into the bowl area. For the first run, we were a little intimidated by the steepness, so we crossed to the slghtly less steep section in the centre. Even so, the ungroomed slope looked pretty steep when it came to head for the bottom.
The first turn proved that conditions were pretty well perfect, with snow soft enough to be skied but not too heavy. The skiing here was pretty physical, with some need to jump into turns and we needed several stops on the way down, but at the lift were ready for more.	Mike Lambert in action on South Face
The steepest section of South Face	For the second run, we were a little more adventurous and started towards the bottom a little earlier on a steeper section. This time we relaxed a little and were able to appreciate the beautiful view of the Lake.
The view of Lake Tahoe from South Face
The third run saw a brief excursion in the trees, and for the fourth run, Lutz joined back with us. By this time, the stops were getting just a little more frequent and legs got tired. We were ready for one more run in Sherwood, but didn't quite make it before the lift closed.	Walter Stahlecker in close-up
Mike Lambert standing still	There were three options for return to the main base lodge. We quickly ruled out Sherwood Cliffs. Not only was this run steep enough to be graded double-black, it was also in shade and still very firm. Expert Shortcut, merely a single black still looked frighteningly steep, but was in good condition and eased a little after the first couple of turns. The rest of the run to the bottom, and a well-earned mid-morning break, was easy groomed cruising.

After a break, we decided to head over towards Scott's lift, but as we were going up Roundhouse we noticed that the Summit lift was about to start operation. Blue Trail back to the bottom was already extremely heavy going; after the top section turning was hardly necessary to control speed.

The run down from the Summit was a real experience! There was a tremendous amount of snow at Summit level. To cross into Wolverine Bowl meant some poling against the wind and then a traverse with strong cross-winds. The run down the centre of the bowl was groomed and with strong head-winds, particularly near the top. From the bottom of the bowl, there are three ways to go. Straight ahead are serious moguls, to the right a traverse to the main run to the base and to the left a traverse towards an ungroomed slope. This time Walter and I started on moguls and then quickly cut over to the left,

There was time for one more run if we were to make our hotel to check-out on time. We turned left at the top of Summit and dropped into the bowl via the extremely steep, groomed, run D6. A final trip down the moguls of The Face was probably not a good idea.

We finished tired by satisfied with an excellent day's skiing.

Summit lift was on wind-hold .. quite hard to understand at resort level where there was no appreciable wind .. in the meantime Alpine Bowl lift was opened to provide access to higher elevations.

At the top of Alpine Bowl lift, the wind hold was no longer a mystery. There was a strong Southerly wind blowing across the top of the bowl. The broad groomed Alpine Bowl run was in almost perfect condition early in the morning. At the top, the wind blew across the run from right to left, lower down there was a headwind which significantly reduced speeds.

The second run off Alpine Bowl was almost identical to the first. In only 15 minutes, the lower part of the run, especially the run to the lift was getting very soft.

This time, Walter Stahlecker and I traversed right across the bowl. Walter hiked up to keep altitude. I traversed across the ungroomed area and joined the run part way down. Even in the sun, Sun Spot was still in great condition. The steep gradient was ameliorated by a strong headwind.

For the final run from Alpine Bowl, all three of us traversed across the bowl. This time, I tried a few turns on the ungroomed section, which was still a little hard in places, and then crossed over to Sun Spot again. The run to the chair was getting very soft, so we went all the way to bottom to move over to the Sherwood area.

Sherwood Forest was for a while a completely separate resort, but was too small to be successful and merged into Alpine Meadows to add a large South and South-West facing bowl overlooking Lake Tahoe. The area was linked via an extension to the Weasel lift beyond its highest point, down into the bowl. Unfortunately, there is still an unloading point at the top of Weasel run. While Walter and I continued to the bowl, Lutz unloaded at the mid way point and had to ski down to the bottom and try again.

Walter and I were separated on the lift and had the opportunity to get advice from others. As a result, instead of taking the obvious trail to the right of the lift, we headed left, uphill, towards the South Face. A short traverse through trees took us into the bowl area. For the first run, we were a little intimidated by the steepness, so we crossed to the slghtly less steep section in the centre. Even so, the ungroomed slope looked pretty steep when it came to head for the bottom.

For the second run, we were a little more adventurous and started towards the bottom a little earlier on a steeper section. This time we relaxed a little and were able to appreciate the beautiful view of the Lake.

The third run saw a brief excursion in the trees, and for the fourth run, Lutz joined back with us. By this time, the stops were getting just a little more frequent and legs got tired. We were ready for one more run in Sherwood, but didn't quite make it before the lift closed.

There were three options for return to the main base lodge. We quickly ruled out Sherwood Cliffs. Not only was this run steep enough to be graded double-black, it was also in shade and still very firm. Expert Shortcut, merely a single black still looked frighteningly steep, but was in good condition and eased a little after the first couple of turns. The rest of the run to the bottom, and a well-earned mid-morning break, was easy groomed cruising.

After a break, we decided to head over towards Scott's lift, but as we were going up Roundhouse we noticed that the Summit lift was about to start operation. Blue Trail back to the bottom was already extremely heavy going; after the top section turning was hardly necessary to control speed.

The run down from the Summit was a real experience! There was a tremendous amount of snow at Summit level. To cross into Wolverine Bowl meant some poling against the wind and then a traverse with strong cross-winds. The run down the centre of the bowl was groomed and with strong head-winds, particularly near the top. From the bottom of the bowl, there are three ways to go. Straight ahead are serious moguls, to the right a traverse to the main run to the base and to the left a traverse towards an ungroomed slope. This time Walter and I started on moguls and then quickly cut over to the left,

For the second run from the Summit, rather than take the groomed run from the top, I took the open Three Sisters face. This was "wind-groomed" at the top and softening nicely nearer the base of the bowl. Walter and I traversed well over to the left to avoid the moguls. The face was skiable, but not with any style with legs too tired to jump into the turns.

There was time for one more run if we were to make our hotel to check-out on time. We turned left at the top of Summit and dropped into the bowl via the extremely steep, groomed, run D6. A final trip down the moguls of The Face was probably not a good idea.

Runs

Last updated: 22/01/2001