Two avalanches, a missing car, numerous road closures and a lot of people digging out vehicles—that’s how the weekend is shaping up for residents of Alpine Meadows. A huge storm, one of a long series this La Nina winter, ushered in Spring with a muffled bang—or was that the sound of avalanche control bombs?
The numbers at the Alpine Meadows ski area are staggering this winter, even at the resort known for getting the most snow in the area due to its location on the Pacific Crest and orientation. According to a post on the Alpine Meadows web site twenty eight inches of snow has fallen in the last 24 hours, nine feet in the last 7 days, nearly 700 inches (58 feet) this season, as of March 20, 2011. Long time locals can’t remember such big numbers and this is generally regarded as a record breaking winter by any measure, even with the six week dry spell in January and February. Hurricane force winds and extreme avalanche danger kept the ski area closed on Sunday.
Though the ski area was closed, Alpine Meadows patrollers’ work is never done. Early this morning residents along Alpine Meadows road received phone calls at 7:00 am with instructions to stay indoors until avalanche control procedures were completed, standard procedure during storms. Hour after hour went by and the road remained closed. Two major avalanches were triggered, both in known slide zones. Once the snow was cleared the Alpine Meadows Road opened around noon.
One avalanche rumbled down the canyon near the Five Lakes trailhead, the other hit a house on Alpine Meadows Road, blowing the garage doors completely off and filling the garage with snow like so much white icing. A truck was lifted up and slammed against the house, while another vehicle is missing, perhaps buried under tons of snow in the steeply banked backyard. Five hours after the slide a plow had painstakingly removed all the snow from the driveway while the owner and two kind friends with shovels chipped away at the snow filling the two car garage, a painstaking task at best. This being the second time his house was hit in the last few years, he looked resigned to his fate.
Around the neighborhood were scenes of good natured people coping with storm. One man was blowing snow from his deck with a snow blower, shooting long arcs of snow in an effort to get above the steep banks. In his backyard was a veritable outdoor room with 10 foot walls of snow surrounding his hot tub—a perfect avalanche pit, he said jokingly. Further down the road two men shoveled snow from their roof, a seemingly futile task. Driveways were filled with people clearing snow off of cars. With the ski area closed one man took advantage of the thick blanket of snow on the street by snowboarding down Alpine Meadows Road.
Highway 80 was closed for the better part of the day on Sunday due to zero visibility and blowing snow. At around 4:00 pm the road opened and brave souls in 4-wheel drive vehicles gingerly made their way over Donner Summit, reluctantly leaving the fresh powder behind to meet their obligations in the flat lands of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.
According to the Tahoe Weather Geek this storm is projected to continue dumping snow through Monday, with a possible break in the action on Tuesday. Wednesday will bring another, weaker storm, followed by another strong storm packing a punch on Thursday-Friday. The action doesn’t stop there, with snow predicted right through next weekend. Who knows when it will end, but from what it looks like now it will be a very long ski season.
View the slideshow at left to see dramatic images from the storm. If the slideshow does not display properly you may view them at Inga's Adventures.
Getting There
To reach Alpine Meadows in North Lake Tahoe from San Francisco by car (approximately 4 hours, depending on traffic and weather, much longer in stormy weather)
- Take Interstate 80 East (stay on 80 through Sacramento) and drive approximately 200 miles
- Exit at Truckee onto Highway 89 South following signs to Lake Tahoe/Tahoe City and drive 10 miles
- Turn right on Alpine Meadows Road and drive 3 miles to the end of the road
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