MAKE TAHOE DEEP AGAIN ~ 2016/17 OFISHUL SNOW/FOOD/WHINE & STOKE THREAD

[AKbruin]

Well, this is crazy. 431 is closed because of . . . flooding.



That photo is of Rose Meadows, which is about 8,500'.

[gnarbro365]

Mini land slide/flooding over the rode on the east side of Luther Pass above Hope Valley.

Good day for valley chores...

[Wobby]

Well, this is crazy. 431 is closed because of . . . flooding.



That photo is of Rose Meadows, which is about 8,500'.

Holy shit there goes all the snow

[Ottime]

^^^^I don't mind. My favorite hits have pretty much been buried. And little snow pack slack, and they come back in play.

Curious to see what this does to my friends buried home.

[TurxSki]

No worries.
Got to make some room.
More snow incoming.

[TurxSki]

Wow. Roof snow across way had been creeping slowly.
But now all of it fell into street at once. Crazy. Careful.

[2_1_3]

Looking good, and then...noooo! This is near Cisco Grove at about 6600 ft elevation.

[Ottime]

^^^ correct me if I'm wrong but that does not show any loss of snowpack, but rather no gain since two days ago. So just a loss/settlement of new snow.

[LightRanger]

It's snow water content. So it appears to me that the steep dropoff(s) are showing the snow reaching its saturation point and then the decreases in content are runoff.

Mere settlement would show little to no decrease in water content because it's the snowpack consolidating without runoff of water.

ETA: 213, that Huysink station has consistently been the highest of just about any single station in the American or Yuba drainages over the past month or so. It has to be situated in a particularly favorable location for orographic enhancement.

[gimpy]

lots of snow being lost at 7,500'. shit thats been buried for the last month has reappeared and smeared

[gone2alpine]

The base measurement at the bottom of Alpine has gone from 133 inches to 108 inches this week.

[meter-man]

Unofficial Alpine closing shop? Sad!

http://unofficialalpine.com/?p=12427

[mcski]

Really a drag it's ceasing. Was a great source of info and only got better.

[Truckee Joe]

The loss of unofficial alpine is huge for our local community. There will now be a serious void in keeping the community informed about alpine meadows and placer co community issues. The Sierra sun sure doesn't do a very good job with its platform.

[LightRanger]

Indeed. A loss. I suspect that's not the last we've seen of the site's proprietor though.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Unofficial Alpine closing shop? Sad!

http://unofficialalpine.com/?p=12427

Wow, that is a total downer. UA was the only legit source of news for that side of the lake. After reading Mark's final post it's apparent that this was no coincidence in light of recent events. For example.....

Mark-"It’s an odd time to be pulling the plug, as last month we had nearly 100,000 page views, our biggest ever."
Just randomly shuts down after the most hits ever in a month? UA's Face Book page has allready been deleted also.

Some of the questions that were asked by readers why he was shutting down were direct and to the point. No responce, and more importantly, no denial from him. Just silence. Here's a few of the questions asked...

"Something inside me wonders if this has to do with heat from whom this site takes to task?"
"Soooo…KSL threatened to pull your pass?".... "Hmmm. Thought provoking thought"
"Another disappointed fan here who is wondering if a Cease and Desist letter is ending a great forum"
"I do hope that it was your choice and not KSL pressure."
"I guess KSL got to you finally."
"When you didn’t update the last couple days I had a terrible premonition."
"I have to be candid–you know we’re all wondering the same thing: was this 100% your decision? Because the timing seems…uncanny"
"I am also a reader who is naturally wondering now if KSL has played a factor in your decision?"
"I suspect KSL politicking is in play… shutting down a blog (or at least threatening)"
"Please let us know that SVSH isn’t behind this. Just doesn’t make sense"

Maybe he just needed a break, wants to ski more work less, lost motivation etc.....But my gut feeling is no fucking way. Mark poured his heart and soul into his very well written and insighfull posts. More likely a cease and desist letter with threats of legal proceedings and the potential costs one could incur had something to do with it. Sucks. I hope more will be revealed.

[MrSmith]

All signs point to lawyers. Sickening.

[gnarbro365]

Here she comes...




Cross your fingers for those cold temps!

[TahoeJ]

I seriously doubt it was related to legal action (although KSL may just be that petty / dumb, so you never know - last season Wirth made the SVSH owned properties stop playing MSP movies, for example). More so, much of the reporting about Alpine Meadows and the soul being sucked out of that place in recent years has been depressing. It can't be fun to have to write about it constantly. Much in the same way that working in the ski business kills the love of the sport for many. On the other hand, they could threaten to pull a pass and be legally covered. Anyway, thanks for all of your hard work over the years, Mark.

[old goat]

RIP Unofficial Alpine. Long live Unofficial KSL (anyone?).

[lepistoir]

At least we didn't lose power to all the ski areas except Diamond Peak for a week+
Seems to be what's happening in Jackson

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

On the other hand, they could threaten to pull a pass and be legally covered.

I'm not 100% on this (might look at it tonight), but I don't think that's right. Other CA lawyers should chime in, but there are a couple things that KSL should be worried about, if indeed they are threatening UA with a cease and desist.

First, your ski pass does say that management can pull it for whatever reason they choose. But it could not say that management can pull the pass if you write something critical or disparaging about them in a public forum. See here for a writeup. By any logical reasoning, if you can't have that contract provision, you can't enforce a more general contract provision on those grounds. It's been a while since contracts, but my guess is that's an unconscionable provision.

Second, in more general terms, threatening litigation for an act of free speech is a really bad idea in light of anti-SLAPP laws that would allow a defendant in such an action to have the suit dismissed more or less at the very beginning. Plus, if you win, you get your attorney's fees back.

Threatening litigation that you know is ill-founded itself is a risky endeavor. If it's really this cut-and-dry, KSL's lawyers are shooting themselves in the foot.

And now back to products liability work.

[hercule33]

I'm not 100% on this (might look at it tonight), but I don't think that's right. Other CA lawyers should chime in, but there are a couple things that KSL should be worried about, if indeed they are threatening UA with a cease and desist.

First, your ski pass does say that management can pull it for whatever reason they choose. But it could not say that management can pull the pass if you write something critical or disparaging about them in a public forum. See here for a writeup. By any logical reasoning, if you can't have that contract provision, you can't enforce a more general contract provision on those grounds. It's been a while since contracts, but my guess is that's an unconscionable provision.

Second, in more general terms, threatening litigation for an act of free speech is a really bad idea in light of anti-SLAPP laws that would allow a defendant in such an action to have the suit dismissed more or less at the very beginning. Plus, if you win, you get your attorney's fees back.

Threatening litigation that you know is ill-founded itself is a risky endeavor. If it's really this cut-and-dry, KSL's lawyers are shooting themselves in the foot.

And now back to products liability work.

UA was one of my favorite sites. Thank you Mark for all the hard work. Your love of skiing and Alpine really came through.

I am not a lawyer but I was wondering what legal action KSL could take against UA and win in court. Nothing posted there was slander in my opinion so wouldn't any legal action violate free speech like FormerKnuckleDragget said? On the other hand being threatened with legal action by a huge company is the kind of tactic I could see KSL using.

[mcski]

Combo of carrot and stick most likely. Threatening with pass pulling, lawsuits, etc. or take the easier road and accept an offer to buy the domain and a check in exchange for an nda.

There are more than a few offers to take it over for him so if KSL didn't have a hand in it is seems like a hand off would have been the logical step rather than just walk away and deletion of his FB page.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

UA was one of my favorite sites. Thank you Mark for all the hard work. Your love of skiing and Alpine really came through.

I am not a lawyer but I was wondering what legal action KSL could take against UA and win in court. Nothing posted there was slander in my opinion so wouldn't any legal action violate free speech like FormerKnuckleDragget said? On the other hand being threatened with legal action by a huge company is the kind of tactic I could see KSL using.

Legally, KSL would be on thin ice. UA is probably an acceptable use of KSL's trademark and copyright intellectual property, and I agree that I haven't seen anything libelous (although I don't read UA that often). There's some question as to whether KSL would argue tortious interference with contract/prospective economic opportunity, but the UA guy doesn't have the kind of inside information that is usually required to prevail on such a theory.

As a practical matter, KSL probably threatened to pull his pass, which is a risk that the UA author didn't want to take, given that I think he lives in Alpine Meadows. That's KSL's greatest leverage, and I'm guessing the author puts skiing over online commentary in his list of priorities, and didn't want to fight it any further. Even though he'd probably win, eventually, on the non-disparagement and anti-SLAPP theories.

That said, it's bullshit. I know a couple lawyers who would be great candidates to represent UA in resisting any C&D/litigation, if that's really the case here.