Gondola for skiers soon to break ground
the trip to 16 minutes and be able to carry 1,400 skiers per hour, Alterra said.
Leaders at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows had been pitching the gondola idea in the years since the resorts merged in 2012. The development proposal was approved unanimously by the Placer County Board of Supervisors in 2019. The U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land on which the resorts operate, signed off on the plan last year.
The gondola won’t open up new slopes to skiers. The land between the two resorts is steep, avalancheprone terrain owned by retired skiracer Troy Caldwell. While he is allowing one of the gondola’s two transfer stations to be built on his property, Caldwell has his own separate development in mind: a private, twolift ski community he calls White Wolf. That project is creeping through the county planning process.
Linking Tahoe’s ski resorts to create a more European brand of longdistance ski touring has long been a dream of the region’s skiers. Bridging Squaw and Alpine has always seemed natural, given their proximity.
“This is an idea that’s been around since the ’40s,” before the formal resorts were established, said Tahoe skiing historian Eddy Ancinas, who lived at Alpine Meadows for years and now resides in Olympic Valley.
Still, the proposal has its share of opposition.
The gondola will abut the Granite Chief Wilderness — its stanchions towering over the treetops and its cables and cabins running above the popular Five Lakes Trail. Critics say it will ruin the natural outdoor atmosphere.
“The gondola and its noise are going to cut right through that experience,” said Tom Mooers, executive director of Sierra Watch, a conservation nonprofit in Nevada City that has been fighting development proposals in the Tahoe basin, including the gondola.
SquawAlpine has adjusted its plan to assuage some environmental concerns. Last year, the Granite Chief Wilderness Protection League agreed to drop a lawsuit over the gondola in exchange for concessions for the Sierra Nevada yellowlegged frog.
But Mooers points out that SquawAlpine has several other proposals in the works to build itself into a megaresort, complete with highrise condos and a waterslide park. The scope of the plans should concern people who love North Tahoe the way it is, Mooers said.
“The gondola itself is not the end of the world,” Mooers said. “But it’s part of Alterra’s reckless plans to remake the region, which could make it a real train wreck for Tahoe.”
Construction is set to begin sometime after May 1, Hepburn said — and there’s no set opening date. Locals and visitors to the resorts this summer can expect to see some tree clearing and helicopters dropping off building materials, Hepburn said.
“We’re uniting the two resorts, so it’s an incredibly complex project,” she said. “It will change the dynamic of the entire place.”