Squaw Valley/Alpine Meadow

[C1erArt]

Got back from skiing in Tahoe at Alpine Meadow and Squaw Valley with the extended family.

 

Had up to 11 skiers of varying abilities (from beginners to ‘I don’t want to know what they are skiing’), and alpine meadow is great for being able to ski different terrain but more or less keeping together as a group since all the lifts on the front side loaded from one area. At Squaw there was a dizzying amount of lifts going in all directions.

 

Squaw had a lot more dramatic scenery, and some great black bowls, but a lot of the green and blue terrain was not that interesting.

 

 

Alpine had a lot of sections of bowls groomed, and I stuck with mainly the groomed sections or shorter less steep ungroomed sections.

 

 

The younger folks did some of the off piste backside runs.

 

There was a tremendous amount of snow, pretty much every line was open. They have some really sturdy houses at the resort.

 

 

The weather was great, bluebird skies spring skiing. Was able to get in 11 straight days. Demoed some Head Kore 105’s but still prefer my Experience 88’s for the groomers and occasional ungroomed sections.

 

 

Looking out the back of the house, towards the peak serviced by Scott’s lift

 

 

Needless to say, they didn’t take the easiest way down, but I did.

 

 

 

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[toast21602]

11 days in a row out there?! damn what a trip! 

[C1erArt]

11 days in a row out there?! damn what a trip! 

Plus my wife spent four days driving out, and then I drove back with her.The weather was fantastic, a snowstorm just before we got there and one just after we left.


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[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 hours ago, C1erArt said:

Plus my wife spent four days driving out, and then I drove back with her.The weather was fantastic, a snowstorm just before we got there and one just after we left.


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Is your wife afraid of flying?   Way to get after it. 

[C1erArt]

Is your wife afraid of flying?   Way to get after it. 

No, she was carrying all the gear and supplies, plus bringing the doggies.

[Barb]

I read 11 skiers but missed 11 consecutive days. Wow, you are a beast. Looks like a great trip. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by Barb

[C1erArt]

10 hours ago, Barb said:

I read 11 skiers but missed 11 consecutive days. Wow, you are a beast. Looks like a great trip. 

I'm feeling it now - more than a little creaky.  A couple of days I was only out for 2 or 3 hours, but I did make opening to almost closing a couple of days - Snow got pretty soft in the late afternoon. I stayed away from any climbing, which helped.  A ungroomed run would wear me out more than a morning of skiing groomers.

Edited March 25, 2019 by C1erArt

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Do you have an Ikon pass??

[C1erArt]

Do you have an Ikon pass??

That’s what made it all possible. Using it worked out well.


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[C1erArt]

21 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

Do you have an Ikon pass??

The Ikon pass isn't too popular with locals and regulars, and probably contributes to parking problems since holders will come for half a day or a few hours.  Otherwise if I have a $167 day pass I would feel I have to limit the days I ski and ski open to close the days I do go to the mountain.

[eaf]

2 hours ago, C1erArt said:

The Ikon pass isn't too popular with locals and regulars, and probably contributes to parking problems since holders will come for half a day or a few hours.  Otherwise if I have a $167 day pass I would feel I have to limit the days I ski and ski open to close the days I do go to the mountain.

I'm amazed by what locals think about passes like Ikon. Cost of window tickets is so absurdly high in the US that passes is the only way to ski w/o going bankrupt. So it's illogical to first make window prices sky high and then complain about pass holders.

A question for you... Would you consider Squaw interesting enough to ski for a week, or would splitting between Squaw and Mammoth make more sense?

[RidgeRacer]

Would you consider Squaw interesting enough to ski for a week, or would splitting between Squaw and Mammoth make more sense?

100% could spend a week at Squaw. Incredibly interesting...and huge. I only skied there 2 days and barely scratched the surface. Mammoth is 4 hours or so away.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

5 hours ago, C1erArt said:

The Ikon pass isn't too popular with locals and regulars, and probably contributes to parking problems since holders will come for half a day or a few hours.  Otherwise if I have a $167 day pass I would feel I have to limit the days I ski and ski open to close the days I do go to the mountain.

The Ikon pass allows people to ski more days and more places for less money.  It’s a good thing.  Locals need tourist dollars. 

[C1erArt]

16 hours ago, eaf said:

A question for you... Would you consider Squaw interesting enough to ski for a week, or would splitting between Squaw and Mammoth make more sense?

I only ski up to groomed blacks (or ungroomed blacks with an 'escape hatch' I can traverse out) and I think for Squaw alone a full day or two would be enough for me.  But Alpine Meadows is on the same ticket and that is another couple of days.  If you ski ungroomed blacks (without even getting into really hairy stuff) you could easily do a full week between the two mountains and barely hit all the major runs.  This year might be exceptional since everything was open, no matter how steep or remote.  My son who skied other areas around Tahoe on the Epic ski pass was really impressed with both Squaw and Alpine and picked up a Icon pass for next year.

They put up a bunch of propane avalanche stations, so the first day we were there after a major dump the previous day we were woken up at 6 by those things going off for a couple of hours.