Yesterday day was opening day for intermediate and advanced terrain at Alpine Meadows ski resort in Lake Tahoe, CA – it was a powder day with no one out. (They had had beginner chair Kangaroo open since November 18th, but this was the first day with intermediate and advanced terrain.)

Alpine opened the Summit and Roundhouse chairs yesterday for the first time this season.

It hadn’t snowed since Sunday night when they got 7″ of new snow, but cold temperatures, low sun angle, and short days kept the snow great.

Bevan Waite ripping a pow turn yesterday. photo: snowbrains

Up high the snow was wildly responsive, soft, fast.

Down lower the snow was sugary, slarvy, dreamy.

The skiing was terrific yesterday.

Keyhole area, I think. photo: snowbrains

It felt like we were skiing at a private ski resort. There was simply no one out. Maybe a hundred skiers and riders out yesterday? Maybe…

The entire Alpine Meadows staff did an AMAZING job and they opened up an enormous amount of terrain. They let us ski off Summit chair from the far edge of Idiots all the way over to Keyhole and everything in between.

Down low there was a nice groomer all the way back to the chair on the skiers right and it was a bit boney and funky in spots on the skiers left. A little bit of adventure skiing near the bottom that really reminded me of skiing in South America. I LOVE it when patrol trusts us and lets navigate our way through interesting terrain and a dirt patch or two.

Oh, and one note: in steeper terrain like the Keyhole area, there was ice under the snow. Once the snow was scrapped off, it was all ice. If you ski steeper terrain today or tomorrow at Alpine, make sure to fully assess the zone and avoid the steep icy zones where the snow has been skied off.

BIG Thank you to the Alpine Meadows ski patrol. So much terrain open!