Relative to the crazy Olympic Valley side of Palisades Tahoe, Alpine Meadows has reasonably low-key facilities and services, although the essentials for a day of skiing and snowboarding are covered.

Alpine Meadows Ski Rentals and Snowboard Rental

The Alpine Lodge at the base has the Alpine Rental Shops. The rental outlet has performance and standard gear as well as a large range of demo skis and snowboards. Unfortunately the prices have now increased in line with Palisades Tahoe type rates.

There are also oodles of Palisades Tahoe ski rentals, Truckee ski shops, and rental shops in Tahoe City, with the latter two providing more competitive pricing.

Alpine Meadows Ski Shop

Keep your Alpine Meadows shopping expectations very low as there’s only one ski shop, Estelle Sports, in Alpine Lodge. The shop stocks a variety of technical clothing, fashion items, ski and snowboard accessories, and a few sundries.

Most shopping opportunities are located in the towns of Tahoe City as well as Truckee, where there are some good ski gear shops near the intersection with the interstate (the I80). There are also Palisades Tahoe ski shops spread through the Palisades Tahoe village area, but it is a high end ski resort, and as such tends to have high end prices.

Ski School

As Alpine Meadows is slightly less crazy than Olympic Valley, it is a great place to utilize the ski school to learn, improve or challenge oneself. There is a massive range of programs for kids all ages from 3 years old and up (snowboard lessons from age 5) as well as adults.

Facilities for Children

Other than kids ski school, there are no facilities for children. There are no child minding facilities at Alpine Meadows, with the expectation that you’d use Tahoe babysitting services. There are no kids activities at Alpine. There used to be, but they’ve corralled all the kids’ activities to Olympic Valley.

Eating On Mountain

Alpine Lodge provides a great range of quality food. Several cafes and a bar provide food and drinks at very reasonable prices. In addition to plenty of indoor seating, there’s a huge deck to soak up the Californian sunshine.

Away from Alpine Lodge there is another cafe near the base of the Subway chair.

Only slightly further afield and on-mountain is The Chalet. This restaurant and bar is Bavarian style and serves up raclette and beer and has plenty of character.

If it’s open, try the Ice Bar at the Backside base of the Sherwood chair for scorched flesh and micro brew beers. It is as far from the base lodge as you can get, which is always a good thing.

Other than the day time eateries, there are generally no evening restaurant options at Alpine Meadows.

Otherwise in the evenings, head to one of the many Palisades Tahoe restaurants where it’s pot luck as to the quality of the food and service. Or a plethora of restaurant options exist in Tahoe City and Truckee.

Bars & Nightlife

The base lodge at Alpine Meadows has the only après on the hill – the Alpine Bar. It does the job at the end of the day but après ski doesn’t generally become too festive.

There’s no nightlife at Alpine Meadows (unless you can create your own). Head around to the Village at Palisades Tahoe, Truckee or Tahoe City.