On Sunday, July 3, my wife and I rode bikes to RSN-TV in South Lake Tahoe to pickup free kayak or stand-up paddle board rental I won by being the first one to get through during Watch and Win. I asked the guy in the office about their story of Squaw buying Alpine and he made reference to the supposed letter of intent that unofficial squaw has been promoting on their website since May. See
http://unofficialnetworks.com/2011/05/2 ... e-meadows/ and that I asked Andy Wirth about and he did not confirm. More mainstream media says there is nothing there. See
http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/ne ... id=6658134
My guess is that Squaw has at least double the number of skier days (and could be three or four times) compared to Alpine and sells more than four times the number of season passes (and could be as many as ten times). Following is a compare and contrast between the two areas based on jamesdeluxe’s question about Alpine being comparable to Alta and Squaw being comparable to Snowbird. I’ve had passes at Squaw three years (two in the 70s, when I lived nearby, and 2010-11, when Squaw claimed over 800 inches). I skied Alpine many fewer times, mostly on free tickets. My friends’ uncle was general manager there for many years and they knew and showed me the mountain very well.
Similarities that don’t support Alpine as Alta and Squaw as Snowbird
1. Both areas have steep chairs that are not high-speed that almost never run: Alpine Bowl at Alpine and Cornice II at Squaw. Alpine Bowl terrain is accessible from high-speed 6-pack Summit while Cornice II is overlapped by high-speed 6-pack Headwall.
2. Both areas steepest chairs are not high-speed: Scott Chair (triple) at Alpine and Olympic Lady (double at Squaw overlapped by KT). Scott runs more often than Olympic Lady, which had big lines the only time I saw running this year.
3. Variety of exposures allowing you to ski where the sun is softening the snow, which can be important during drought like January 2011. Alpine has more expert west facing slopes and their south facing Sherwood holds snow longer than Squaw’s Broken Arrow.
4. Often closed due to weather on Sierra crest. Squaw sometimes does better as their access road does not cross avalanche terrain and they can run lower lifts in winds.
5. Some of the best terrain at both areas requires hiking. Alpine with open boundary and long ridgelines without lifts is better.
6. Both give you surprisingly good Lake Tahoe views from some places. Alpine, being closer, has better lake views.
7. Both regularly allow access to no-fall zones
Differences that support Alpine as Alta and Squaw as Snowbird
1. Squaw has a tram while Alpine does not. Squaw also has Funitel that somewhat compares to Peruvian in capacity, vertical and function as it can operate when winds are too strong for tram. Squaw even has a tunnel from Siberia to top of Squaw peak, but it’s for FAA to access equipment.
2. Squaw has more high-speed lifts. KT and Headwall are both steep hi-speed lifts with more vertical than Summit. You could also add Granite Chief and Silverado plus Red Dog for more lift-served variety than Alpine.
3. Squaw’s base is lower and vertical is greater. Squaw has 2,850 vertical including hike-to Granite Chief (which a lot of people do). Squaw 2,500 lift served vs. 1,800 at Alpine. This is not as big a deal as it sounds as most of Alpine’s vertical is available through Summit chair and Alpine’s higher base means less rain. Top of Alpine is 8,600+ while top of lift-served at Squaw is not much higher.
4. Long term average snow is higher at Alpine than Squaw although Squaw claimed more this year.
5. Before being sold to KSL late in 2010, Squaw was controlled by the Cushing similarly to how Snowbird was controlled by Dick Bass. Now Alpine, Alta and Squaw all have some similarities in ownership.
Differences that don’t support Alpine as Alta and Squaw as Snowbird
1. Alpine has a lift on the south-facing backside; Alta and Squaw (unless you count Broken Arrow) do not. Snowbird has two.
2. Alpine does not have lodging besides private homes. All the others do.
3. Alpine is only 60% as large as Squaw. 2,400 vs. 4,000 acres while Alta is almost 90% as large as Snowbird (2,200 vs. 2.500 according to
http://www.onthesnow.com/utah/profile.html)
4. While both pairs of ski areas are located close to each other, Alpine and Squaw are in separate valleys, not adjacent and do not provide or even allow skiing between areas. Squaw’s valley is almost flat, glacier-carved U-shaped while Alpine’s canyon rises about 700 feet from Truckee river and is V-shaped.
That’s all I have for now besides adding the there are many similarities between Alpine and Kirkwood as both are at end of dead-end or box canyons and have similar lift layouts. I did not make it skiing over the 4th, but did not let it pass without some sliding on snow with my beagle. I may make it to Donner Ski Ranch for last public lift-served in CA this weekend.
