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  5 of 5, "Something a little special.." 29/01/2007 @ 15:40 |
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| 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: |
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| Revision #1 (Last edited: 29/01/2007 @ 17:53) |
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| Price Paid |
| £1300 (inc. passes) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| Ski Safari |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
The name conjures up images of powder bowls and pristine white expanses. Alpine Meadows lives up to this, if in a slightly more picturesque and tree lined setting. A scenic 50 minute drive from South Lake Tahoe (oh the fun of the all-American road trip, radio playing the Red Hot Chilis and all), driving over ridges and scaring the crap out of yourself when you realise you've hit ice with a 200 ft drop inches to your right) Sorry, I digress, but getting to Alpine is an experience in itself. Snowboarding is as much about the travel, the new places and experiences as it is about the activity itself, and Tahoe is an area where you can immerse yourself in its beauty and appreciate entirely.
Alpine Meadows is a big mountain in a small package. To be honest, I think we totally fell in love with the place - it was a proper getaway from the more commercial settings of Heavenly and Squaw. Two rental shops, ticket office, cafe and lodge, you have everything you need, without the annoying extras. The general consensus seems to be that Alpine comes up as favourite and we made it our #1 choice. Never busy when we visited, save for one afternoon when a pack of people appeared from nowhere then disappeared again, you can have any one run pretty much to yourself. Again, the no-snow conditions limited the open terrain, and there were the sudden ice issues, but for its size, Alpine does a fantastic job of keeping in top condition. The front side is relatively sheltered, so there's no wind to take off surface snow and it gets enough sun to soften but remains cold enough so as not to melt. Despite having a small vertical and fairly low altitude, its almost too perfect in situation. Jump on the Summit Six - turn right to experience the vast Wolverine Bowl or left to shred Alpine Bowl, cut across to the Blue or Red or Yellow Trail, take your pick of the cliffs or the piste. The longest run was something in the region of 5.5km, plenty long enough to keep you going but you'll still be gagging to get back on the lift and do it again!
However the back bowl had only one lift operating (damn high pressure systems), meaning it would have been hard to explore without being more time consuming than fun, so we didn't venture over that way more than once. There are lots of blues and a fair few trees for the huggers out there. We took the Scott Chair at one point (do NOT look down) hoping to have an nice cruise along the ridge, but it looked like it had been hit the worst by the lack of snow (and every skier) than the rest of the mountain, getting scarily scratchy at one point with nothing to get an edge into. After a dump though, this place would be nirvana for any self respecting snowboarder!
There is a park off to the right of the base lodge served by the Kangaroo lift. This looked to be the busiest part of the mountain, lots of local riders showing off, and provides a bit of entertainment while you catch your breath on the deck. Corona here was the cheapest we'd found - $4 - so that obviously really helped it in the rankings! Food is the cheapest and best we'd devoured as well - it tasted healthier and they have a salad bar, which is a rare sight. They also sell Clif bars (one of their sponsors), which got me all excited. I discovered these awesome, organic energy bars in Canada last year - seriously, stock up on these and keep them in your backpack - they're v v tasty (Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch / Cookies and Cream / Apple and Cranberry) and will keep you going all day. Yet another tick in the best resort box.
Whilst there isn't the expanse of terrain offered by some other resorts, Alpine Meadows makes up for this in its quality. Its almost as if this place has been beautifully landscaped, but its all 99% natural. Perfectly placed hits here and there, wide open bowls and trees in all the right places, its an awesome little resort. You could probably ride the whole mountain in two days, but you'll keep coming back for more and find something new on that run you've ridden 20 times! Absolutely loved it here, just keep it a secret... |
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| Strengths |
- Perfection - every kind of feature imaginable, so much fun!
- Stunning scenery and setting
- Excellent conditions despite 2 week Dumpy strike - so get to work on your goggle tan
- Scary, kick ass blacks if you really want them |
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| Hot Spots |
- Get a picture of Lake Tahoe through the valley from the top of the Roundhouse chair
- The bar serves cheap Corona
- Scott Peak is a winner for getting vertigo on the lift |
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| Weaknesses |
- Some places were unrideable unfortunately
- You can't ride here 24 hours a day, dammit |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
Northstar-at Tahoe
Whistler Blackcomb |
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 4 of 5, "Alpine meadows - small but good..." 24/01/2007 @ 15:40 |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| DIY'd |
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| Times Visited |
| Just Once |
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| Review Detail |
| Alpine meadows is not a massive area, rather compact infact but it is very good nonetheless. Unfortunately they've had a poor snowfall this season so we couldn't do alot of exploring off the piste'd runs. It's not a resort, more the kind of place you'd visit for a day and facilities are basic but I felt this adds to it's charm. There's plenty of varied terrain to challenge all and I would of dearly liked to of been there on a powder day. All of us agreed to it being in the top 2 of our Tahoe venues visited. |
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| Strengths |
| Varied and intersting terrain, keeps it's snow well in poor conditions |
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| Hot Spots |
| It's all pretty good ! |
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| Weaknesses |
| just a place to ride |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| in US - Kirkwood, heavenly, Squaw, breck, vail, killington |
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| 5 of 5 10/04/2005 @ 19:39 |
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| Price Paid |
| £1275 (2 weeks in Tahoe with flights/cars/accom etc) |
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| Booked Trip Through |
| GB05 tour thru Iglu |
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| Times Visited |
| 2-5 Times |
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| Review Detail |
I think Alpine was my personal favourite of the Tahoe resorts, only just beating Northstar. Once you’d arrived in the car park, the surrounding hills did a great job of encasing you in your own winter wonderland. The only time you really see outside of Alpine is at the breathtaking lakeview vista point. This was one of my favourite sites in Tahoe and definitely not to be missed.
There is no accommodation that I can recall at Alpine so it’s a dedicated resort offering hills to ride, usual mountain restaurants and bars and not much else. This said - I love it – maybe because the people there are there only to ride the mountain. Every run I made at Alpine was a pleasure and I struggle to pick out ones that I found better than the others. Hotwheels gulley is great especially if you fancy giving a half pipe a go as there are some great banked turns the entire way down. A group favourite was the Weasel run which is just made to ride hard and fast. But take a moment to appreciate the scenery!
There’s still a lot I would like to ride at Alpine which will ensure I return one day.
The main park was all but missed by most of us with some pretty huge drops on the other sides of kickers and even boxes. We did however have a lot of fun on the three rollers in the Tiegel park.
A few of the guys really liked the Ice Bar, it was in a great location and worth a visit – just don’t try the hotdogs!
Your lift pass is a small bar-coded bit of card which you’ll need to hang off of a zipper or belt loop. I found these a bit antiquated though for the amount of people in resort, the system works satisfactorily.
Alpine Meadows was about a 55minute drive from Heavenly, and about 20minutes from Northstar (these being on clear road days).
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| Strengths |
Scenery amazing,
Tree runs,
vast open runs,
Ice Bar, |
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| Hot Spots |
Weasel Run,
Take the highest chair on a powder day and you have a huuuuuge hotspot! |
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| Weaknesses |
| Zilch - could spend weeks at this place |
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| Similar Resorts Visited |
| Heavenly, Mammoth, Northstar, Kirkwood, Sierra, Sugarbowl, Squaw Valley |
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