Snowcat dining at Alpine Meadows — a Sierra first

IMAGINE CLIMBING INTO A HEATED snowcat and heading up the ski slopes to a chalet for a gourmet four-course dinner.

Once inside, you can visit with friends, enjoy a glowing fireplace and gaze out the win-
dows at the snow.

This winter, at Alpine Meadows, you can savor this experience—with “snowcat dining.” This kind of high-altitude, culinary adventure has been catching on. At Beaver Creek in Colorado, diners board a snowcat-
driven sleigh for a ride to Beano’s Cabin for on-mountain dining. Mammoth offers a romantic dining adventure at 9,600 feet with a snowcat ride to its Parallax restaurant.

Alpine Meadows is the first Lake Tahoe resort to offer snowcat dining.

Dinner is served at Alpine Meadows’ Mid Mountain Chalet. “It’s a cozy lodge tucked in a valley upslope of the day lodge, encircled by towering Sierra peaks and pine trees,” the chef says.

The gourmet meal begins with smoked salmon crepes with an asparagus coulis and a baby green salad with roasted heirloom beets, blue cheese, walnuts and a champagne vinaigrette.

Entrees include a grilled ribeye with a wild mushroom pinot noir sauce, pan-seared red trout with an herbed goat-cheese butter, as well as grilled portobello mushrooms, with sun-dried tomato pesto, feta cheese and basil. Dessert is cr´eme brulée with an apple and blueberry compote.

Alpine’s trips are scheduled for three Saturdays each in January, February and March. The cost is $150 per guest. Reservations are required at least a week in advance.

To plan a mountainside dining experience:
Alpine Meadows 530-581-8210
or email sales@skialpine.com