Alpine Meadows Course Update January 27-29, 2008

Coming to ski in the Sierras during one of the biggest snowstorms of the year always has its surprises and challenges. The first surprise we came across was a power outage at Alpine Meadows due to high winds. We rode a slow triple chair to a long blue run that was still covered in fresh powder. After a couple of warm up runs, we made it onto the high-speed quad that had just started spinning. The wind gusts were so strong at mid-mountain that the chairs had difficulty making it onto the off-loading ramp. Shortly after we rode up the quad, Alpine Meadows closed the chair. After warming up over lunch inside the lodge, the groups braved the snow and wind again for more powder. We found some amazing lines in some protected trees, gullies and short chutes. With each day, the storm weakened and more and more of the mountain opened. This worked out really well for everyone’s progress. The groups we were able to focus on developing their technique and tactics for skiing off-piste and powder on more moderate terrain before moving to more challenging lines. We had some great happy hour/tech talks at the Cedar House Sport Hotel. Dinner on Tuesday night at Dragonfly in Truckee was again in the NASTC tradition full of laughs and stories. The final day of the course was amazing! We arrived to blue skies and 100% of the mountain open. The groups charged all day and skied like true powder hounds and with some inside knowledge of Alpine Meadows some groups were able to find fresh lines all day. Some might think that a snowstorm is a bad turn of events but “die-hard” skiers like those in the NASTC group at Alpine Meadows it was a gift from Mother Nature. We made it through the storm and had the good luck and fortune to ski on the best powder day of the season. Everyone came out of this course a little bit tougher and a much better skier! (Sorry no pictures are available as it was snowing so hard, we could only capture snowflakes on the lens and we were so consumed with skiing the pow on the last day that we didn’t stop for photo ops!)