Chalky, Fast and Fun in the Sun: Credit: Alyson McCormick

This report is from January 9, 2021, at Alpine Meadows, California.

Brought to you by Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadow

The California sun was shining bright and the skiing was firm, fast, and fun at Alpine Meadows, CA today. Although it was easily the busiest day I have witnessed at Alpine so far this season, almost the entire front side of the mountain is now open. There was a slight breeze at the summit today but otherwise, the weather was ideal for January in Tahoe (if it’s not snowing). According to one of the lifties, it was “almost warm enough to go to the beach!”

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On the way to the beach. Photo: Alyson McCormick.

It was our mission of the day to get at least one run on every chairlift. We rode all of the major lifts (including Kangaroo for the first time this season!) except, regrettably, for the Alpine Bowl Chair. The skiing off of Summit Six was chalky, fast, and super fun. We skied until late in the afternoon, taking in views of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra all blanketed in white.

Taking in the view. Photo: Galen Carrico

We found soft snow all over the mountain, along with some snow one could call “variable.” Anything North-facing was great but the sun and high winds did a number on the snow in spots.

There were lots of people enjoying the sun at the Chalet and the parking lot in the afternoon. We took our last run on Scott Chair and were pleasantly surprised to see that one of our favorite zones down to the car was open. The snow in the trees at the top was chalky and chopped up powder for a few turns. However, again we ran into some funky snow about halfway down since there was some rain at the lower parts of the resort earlier in the week.

Alyson making the “variable” snow look good. Photo: GC

A skier shredding down Scott Chute. Photo: GC

It was great to have most of the front side of the mountain open today and there are plenty of sunny days forecasted in the future. Now is the time to get out there and enjoy the Sierra sun. Alpine has really set things up nicely for serving skiers and riders while we all call our vehicles home base this season. Mogrog was parked near Subway and smelled delicious. I noticed they have an option where you can call in your order and have dinner ready between 230 p.m. and 4 p.m… I might have to try that out on another day this season.