Alpine Meadows

Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows Employ New COVID Protocols for Post-Storm Operations, Delaying Openings

For the first time since COVID became a factor, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows have rolled out major weather-mitigation operations this morning. Due to the need for social distancing among staff, the two mountains anticipate that avalanche mitigation and lift de-icing will take longer than usual this year.

We’ve Slightly Adjusted Our Facilities Ratings Towards Practicality, Resulting In a Few Score Changes.

We’ve historically weighted some very small facilities with limited space and inconsistent openings as highly as more practical lodges. With today’s adjustment, we’re aiming to fix this discrepancy.

California Ends Stay-at-Home Order for Tahoe Counties

Effective January 12, California has lifted its stay-at-home order for the Greater Sacramento region. Tahoe ski areas are no longer affected by these restrictions.

State of 2020-21 Resort Operations

With COVID-19 cases continuing to persist across North America, we’re seeing some resorts tighten capacity restrictions or push back openings, either voluntarily or by state mandate. As you debate whether to book a trip this season, we’ve decided to aggregate all we know in one place.

Idiot's Delight: A Run Down a Truly Extreme Alpine Meadows Chute

A run down Idiot's Delight at Alpine Meadows, starting with a mandatory drop-in off a cornice, filtering into a perilously tight couloir with no room for error, and leading into the Wolverine Bowl. This line takes a 2-5 minute hike to reach from the Summit chair.

We’ve Refined the Way We Measure Skiable Acres. Some Resorts See Size Score Changes.

Some resorts measure their acreage by total footprint, which doesn’t always comprise entirely skiable terrain. Others measure their acreage by skiable terrain only, but don’t include parts of the resort that are technically in-bounds but not skiable. To remedy this issue, we employed an acreage calculator to determine the true skiable footprint within the bounds of each resort.

Palisades Tahoe

Two of Tahoe’s best ski areas have now been linked as one continuous lift-served destination, but the resort still functions as two separate mountains in many ways.