Mountain Sports Club

Alpine Meadows Ski Resort

2600 Alpine Meadows Rd
Olympic Valley, CA 96145
530. 583.4232
Fax: 530.583.0963

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Keywords: Alpine Meadows skiing, Alpine Meadows snowboarding, Olympic Valley skiing, Olympic Valley snowboarding, California skiing, California snowboarding, Lake Tahoe skiing, Lake Tahoe snowboarding, Skiing, Snowboarding

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Alpine Meadows Ski Resort – "Alpine Meadows and Lake Tahoe"
We recently took a quick trip to Tahoe to ski several areas. The morning after we arrived, we shuttled back to the airport, rented a car, and took a glorious drive over the mountains to Alpine Meadows. We went over Donner Pass and past huge mounds of snow everywhere. Off the highways, there were places set aside for cars to safely park, and hundreds of people climbed over the mounds of snow to cross- country ski, snowshoe, snowmobile, and sleigh ride. The West has truly been blessed this year. Alpine Meadows is a magnificent resort, not far from Squaw Valley. It is very steep, and can be prone to avalanches (as are many of the areas). The steepness and increasing wind made me very nervous, but everything was terrific when we were there. Thanks to media rep Rachel Woods and ski manager Mike Allred for helping with lifts and equipment. I used Volkl R1 skis and Tecnica boots. They were good and worked well on the fast, groomed trails, but heavier than the usual equipment I use in the East. Charles thought his equipment was also good, but the heavy Tecnica boots gave him a bruise on his shin. Still, I highly recommend renting equipment on trips involving planes, and I will report on the skis and boots from now on. It is much less hassle to rent than to carry. And, now more airlines are imposing one piece limits on luggage, so bringing your own equipment could cost much more than rental fees. At Alpine, we took several fast, fairly steep blue trails with magnificent vistas of the high Sierras and Lake Tahoe in the distance. The weather was in the high fifties, and the snow in the upper mountain was listed as 157 inches, with 103 inches in the lower mountain. There are numerous trails and bowls, and the highest point, Ward Peak, is 8,637 feet. In addition to the incredible beauty and conditions, Alpine has one of the finest and oldest adaptive ski schools in the country. In fact, director Haakon Lang-Ree says it was one of the founding chapters of Disabled Sports USA. When we were there, there was a large group of adaptive teen skiers who were bused up from the San Francisco Bay area. We watched as they went through their instructions and boarding or skiing. These teens showed so much pride in their accomplishments, as they conquered new maneuvers or went over obstacles in the terrain parks. Not only children enjoyed the mountain. There were several hundred guests from the Rotary Clubs there, skiing, meeting, and sharing friendship. Many appeared to be in the older skiing range. I enjoyed one man�s shirt which read, �Seniors rule.� You can tell a resort is a family area when there are dogs around. I saw about 20 dogs cavorting in the snow at different times (but not in the trails where they could endanger to skiers). There were also numerous, sleek, friendly Golden Retrievers, who wore jackets identifying them as avalanche rescue dogs. Fortunately, their skills were not called upon at this time.