Sooooo pretty out on the mountain today! It doesn’t look or feel like April 30; cold temps, an east wind, and a bunch of new powder… it seemed like February out on the ridgeline.
Chris and I rode up Summit and contemplated a visit to Estelle Bowl, just checking out how much new snow was covering the terrain; enjoying the view. But this was kind of weird, though… we were on the lift with two ladies who were really fired up about their “jersey girl” status… does anyone know what that means? Anyway, back to the plan to go to Estelle. Chris ended up having to check in with the Summit top terminal, so I skied out there, saw Baker and Haystack along the way, and just took a mellow powder cruise down the north side of the bowl, then down through Bernie’s, then down the bottom half of the Buttress.
Definitely a great day out there and it should be a fun weekend.
This time of year, the cameras start snapping, the film rolling and athletes aching to go big. With exceptional snow this spring and an abundance of sunshine, Alpine Meadows is the place to ski, ride and film! MTV (Music Television) honored Alpine Meadows by filming a segment of their series, MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge. Some of you may think, James Bond when you hear parkour; and if you don’t know what we are talking about, make sure to check out MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge. These young athletes, Pip Anderson, Ben Jenkin and King David Gardner are amazing!
What about the Shreadows Terrain Park you ask? Well, we have filming there too! Standard Films, who has provided films such as: Totally Board, White Balance, and their 2009/2010 movie, Black Winter, is exploring the many terrain feature options only found in the Shreadows Terrain Park at Alpine Meadows for their next film. Only with Standard Films would a crew of top notch athletes follow: Kazuhiro Kokobu, Torstein Horgmo, and Winter X Games big air winner, Halldor Helgason. Make sure to keep an eye out for Standard Films 2010/2011 movie premier.
While skiing one day in March, I saw an amazing rescue dog having a ball “skiing” down the Dance Floor run. I watched him, time after time, joyfully running with his skiers, taking a flying jump into the snow and basically body surfing down the hill.
Submitted By: Anne
Comments: 8 CommentsPosted: April 19th, 2010 Posted by: iamalpine Category: I AM Alpine
Yesterday I skied with a rockstar. Everywhere we went on the mountain, from the snack bar to the chair lift to the magic carpet, people stopped what they were doing to cast a giant smile in our direction. High fives were thrown, fist pumps were bumped and cheers were raised. All for my rockstar, my newly three-year old little girl who chose to spend the day skiing in her new pink tutu. And when I say skiing, I mean it. After months of short trips to the magic carpet and commutes up and down Subway, my little rockstar was skiing. She was making pizzas (when she felt like slowing down-which was really not very often), she was turning, she was waddling up to the chairlift line, and she was doing it all in her big giant pink tutu.
This time last year Alpine announced a screaming deal on season passes. Always fans of the mountain, we had only ever managed spring passes so we decided to step up to the plate and commit to a season pass. All summer and fall we dreamed of teaching our little girl how to love to ski. We didnt expect much in the way of actually skiing, we just wanted her to get familiar with the sport and learn to love being on the mountain. We started slowly, spending more time in the kids zone and eating snow at the bottom of the magic carpet than actually hitting the slopes. Eventually we made our way to the chairlift so she could be like the big kids at the resort. The inner speed demon came alive and suddenly we had the best bargaining chip known to parentkind- be good or you can’t ride the chairlift. We still stopped often to eat snow and practice taking our skis on and off. She learned to fall on her hips and to scream wipe-out at the top of her lungs whenever her ski tips didnt quite follow the path originally intended. We learned to hit the lunch room and the kid zone early to keep the crankies and whinies at bay. We hoped along the way she was learning to ski and learning to love the mountain.
Sunday was an epic spring skiing day- the sky as blue as sapphires, the sun as warm as summer. Grace and I headed to the resort around nine, after a quick breakfast and a wardrobe discussion. She insisted on bringing her new pink tutu to the mountain. I knew this wasnt a fight worth fighting or that I could ever win. We snagged a great parking spot and proceeded to skip together through the lot and up to the lodge towards our locker. Making our way up the ramp, Grace accepted compliments on her attire like a pro golfer walking to the next tee box. We changed into our ski gear in the locker room, Grace insisting that her tutu go on over her ski suit and not under. We stopped at the snack bar to fuel up with a bagel and the ladies inside giggled at the sight of Grace. You always wonder how people get the way they are, said one of the women. Now I know- it happens now, it happens at this age. Grace thanked her for the bagel and we headed up to slopes.
Making our way to the subway chair, people all over the mountain started cheering for the little skiing princess. Chairlift riders hollered down, skiers stopped to take pictures with their phones, and chairlift operators slapped her high fives for having great style. She was a rockstar- an Alpine Meadows rockstar. And then she started down the slopes, just like she did so many other times this season, but today she skied with a focus we hadnt seen before. She turned to go around trees, she snow-plowed when things got a little too fast, and she skied fast and straight until her tutu flew in the air all around her.
On this great spring day, we realized that Alpine Meadows had given us an amazing gift. The mountain gave our little girl the love of skiing. The sun was shining bright on Sunday, but nothing shined brighter than Gracie-cakes skiing in her tutu.
The 2010 Ice Bar Beach Bash was like no other! The sun was shining, the corn snow was popping, and DJ Paul was spinning hits to crazy eclectic dancing and hula hooping hips. The beach bash was a must see it to believe it event. Fun was had by all! Alpine even broke out the horse shoes and volleyball court! Just a reminder; if you are going to spend that long on the snow, in the sun, make sure to use plenty of sun screen. Here are some photos of the Beach Bash at Alpine Meadows.
Our family went skiing at Alpine last weekend and took a lesson from David. My son, Gavin, and husband, Sal, and I had the new funny skis with new boots. I have been skiing for over 30 years. But for the first time, using the exercises that David gave us, it all finally clicked. Also 5 years of Pilates helped. I understood and skiied the whole day without being sore. My family couldn’t get enough skiing in. It was the best snow, fluffy powder. We skiied the whole mountain. I also went down the Tiegel Poma Terrain Park and did a jump in front of my 10 year old son.
Pretty good for a 50 year old, Wow…I felt like a kid.
