“Because we know you’ll be chasing powder all season…” The Mountain Collective, a deal put together by Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Alta and Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadows, seems…not worth it? Maybe I’m … Read More

Finally, Spring is here!

Boats are getting back into the water, bikes are dusted off, and oh that’s right…snow! Today, rain checks were issued to most everyone wanting some outdoor activities. Stuck indoors today? Surfing the web instead of the wake? The time is perfect to sneak in a snow teaser.

Here’s a video edit from Alpine Meadows the weekend before closing. Slushy snow, slow park runs, and dirty groomers. A couple Alpine locals let me follow them around, get in the way, and collect some footage. Not sure who the backflip crasher is at the end. Post his name for credits if you recognize him. Thanks for your contribution random crashing skier guy!

Looks like the weather is getting better for the later part of the weekend. …a peek at Tahoe City’s weather!

Enjoy this in the meantime!

-RT…

Back in January and February when we weren’t sure that Squaw would stay open until March, Josh Anderson and I decided to have some fun. The snow was non-existant and hardly pow, so we came up with creative ways to pass the days on the hill. Everybody loves SaucerBoy so why not go play the part for a day or two and see what happened? The response was amazing. People were yelling from the chairlifts, taking pictures, and super stoked on the whole thing.   Josh has dressed up as SaucerBoy for various events, and plays the character really well so it was funny.

Saucer Boy

If you haven’t dressed up as SaucerBoy I would suggest that you try it out. Feel out your inner Shane and the SaucerBoy in all of us. The looks, responses, and gawking was certainly worth it and I think Shane would have been proud. Thanks Shane for making these kinds of things funny and fun to do. 

Today at Alpine was not too bad. Got out at about 8:30am, and it was worth it. Thought it was a bit early and the snow wouldn’t soften up until later, but it was good timing. It got down to 31 last night, but the temperature inversion that goes on around these parts kept the mountain from freezing.  All the Southern aspects were great in the morning. The Sisters, Beaver Bowl, Palisades, and the “adventure run” to the lookers right of Summit Chair were sick. Cruise down the Sisters towards the gully to skiers left of Summit and you’ll find a hip and 2 QP booters that you can get some air off if you keep your speed up. Below the Palisades there is still remnants of the Standard Films shoot that went down last weekend. A rail off Crash and Burn cliffs. Pretty sick.

Rail off of Crash and Burn, thanks Standard Films

The parking lot was empty and the lift lines were the same. Perfect, more for us. The park, meh. It was super hard in the morning and the speed was questionable. The bottom jump is pretty kicky, and a lot bigger then last week. I’m not sure anybody hit it.  It seems it took most of the day to get the lip shaped up, and the inruns early were sketch. Reminded me of an early morning at Mt. Hood where you question how many beers they had before grooming.

Snow is definitely fading

The snow is fading quickly though. It should be a fun weekend but it seems Summer is almost here. Nothing like shreddin in the AM and then headin to the beach for the afternoon. Life sucks around here I guess!

Beach after shredding is money

The video above is from some Tahoe kids that moved East to Jackson this winter. Pretty impressive skiing and a sick edit, so check it out!

I’m not sure who had the most G.N.A.R. points at Squaw this winter, but Aaron Fox had to be close. If you want to know what it feels like to ski a lot of the Squallywood lines at Squaw, the POV of it is right here. It is 6 minutes long, but there are a lot of the lines in Squallywood in this edit. Skip to the :53 second mark to get to the actual skiing. Hatchett Line at 1:10, Smooth air at 1:16 looks perfect, Straightlining Box chute the way its supposed to be skied at 1:19, The Gate at 1:25 My air at 1:33, Colemans alternate slides at 1:44, Ring Finger at 2:11, Jt’s Air at 2:36,  Center Line in the Chimney at 2:41, Rock Maze at 4:55, Smooth air POV at 5:03, Voltage Rock at 5:17, The triple at 5:10,  Center Line in the Chimney again at 5:21, Diving board at 5:28, and POV of the Gate at 5:41.

This edit was also dedicated to Benny Brackett. RIP BUDDY.

…and it was pretty damn fun.  As we all know, KSL closed Squaw Valley the earliest it’s been closed in recent memory this year (April 29th).  But, KSL allowed Squaw Valley’s Alpine Meadows to open this past weekend.  Thus, the Squaw crew had no choice but to ski Alpine.  You could tell who was from where by clothing color patterns and affiliate gang symbols worn (aka squaw or alpine stickers).

Do Squaw skiers have attitude, or something?

The weather was gorgeous, the wind was crisp, and the snow freaks were happy to be out skiing again.  The wind was a bit of an issue on Cinco de Mayo.  It was gusting 40mph up top and it kept the snow hard most of the day.  That wind provided a healthy rodgering at the top of the Summit Chair.

The crowds were non-existant on Friday, noticeable on Saturday, then mellow on Sunday (Cinco de Drinko hangovers to thank here).

Alpine Meadows as seen from the Summit Chair

WHAT WAS OPEN:

- Summit Six

- Round House

- All hikes to the North were open.

Everything but the Southern terrain was open

ALPINE SNOW CONDITIONS THIS WEEKEND:

- May 4th – Hot, Sunny, Slushy, & Windy (open 8am-1pm)

- May 5th – Cool, Sunny, Harder, & Really Windy (open 8am- 2pm)

- May 6th – Cool then Hot, Sunny, Slushy in spots, Hardish in sports, Windy (open 8am-1pm)

- Groomers were fast and fun

- Off-piste was smoothish and very fun with a few poppy windlips (when it was soft)

slight frosting Thursday night left trees like this up top

TERRAIN PARK:

- The terrain park was built at too low of an elevation so it was slushy, beat up, and just not good

- They did build one big feature up top for Standard Films that we weren’t allowed to use

Traverse to Beaver Bowl

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend of skiing at Alpine.  A lot of old friends and happy people were observed at every corner.  

Squaw Valley’s Alpine Meadows will be open again this weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday …and that’ll be all she wrote.

You comin’ up for closing weekend?

Standard Films big boy jump at alpine

It’s Cinco de Mayo, so grab your favorite Mexican beverage or a Mint Julep because the Kentucky Derby is also today. Nothing like a Tequila and Bourbon buzz. Kind of funny these two “holidays” lay on the same day. If you were in Kentucky right now you most likely wouldn’t find any Cinco de Mayo parades. It’s also the biggest full moon in 500 years so it sounds like a party. Anyway, the skiing at Alpine today wasn’t bad at all. Once 1030 hit the snow softened up quite a bit, and fun corn turns were to be had all over the mountain.

Jason Dobbs sprayin some corn in full gaper getup

Hot Wheels gully skied pretty well and was pretty fun until the snow softened too much at about noon 30. Dog Leg on idiots also went today, and the snow was just what you expect in spring corn.

Idiots Dogleg went

The park was also fun today. The jumps aren’t quite amazing or even medium sized really, but they’re still fun. It would be nice to have some larger jumps right now, but the snow is melting fast. There were a lot of kids in the park today though so the takeoff’s got a bit rutted out by afternoon.

Kaya Lampe gettin that Octo grab

Only Roundhouse and Summit were operating so there were a few lines at Summit. They disappeared at about noon though. Lots of gapers, lots of pirates, and a few sombreros out today. Go celebrate the “holidays”in the sunshine ’till you can’t remember, just make sure you make it up tomorrow because it should be another party.

Kaya Lampe getting rad in the park

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