by Marc Peruzzi

photograph by Hank de VreThe long fermenting rumors of Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows combining are true. In a few months, skiers will be ripping turns on both mountains off the same season pass. The total acreage? An astounding 6,000 acres, which if you ignore the fact that you'll have to take a 10-minute shuttle ride between the two this season, makes it the biggest ski area in the U.S. and second only to Whistler Blackcomb in North America. Oh yeah, more than 800 inches of snow fell there last winter.

That "long fermenting rumor" line is not hyperbole. Squaw (1949) and Alpine (1961) have always sat only a few big mountain, sweeping turns and a shallow ridge away from each other. And skiers have long wanted to make the link, but historically, management could never make it happen—despite some strong hints. In 2004, Troy Caldwell, a private landowner with property in the prime connection zone, went so far as to erect chairlift towers up the backside of KT-22. He never progressed to stringing the cable and chairs, but he'd succeded in making an obvious point still more obvious: Why the hell not?

"I've been wanting this to happen since I started skiing Squaw as a kid," says North Lake local Jonny Moseley. "It's just always been a dream to be able to combine those mountains. I think this is the first step toward that. I skied Alpine a bunch a couple years ago for a film shoot and I was like, 'Damn, this place is really good.' Before the new ownership of Squaw took over last year no one stepped back from a skier's standpoint and said, you know, let's just do this because it's awesome."

In Europe, connecting resorts has been the norm for decades, but in North America, outside of some major players like Whistler Blackcomb, Big Sky-Moonlight Basin, and Alta-Snowbird, it's been the exception. Usually to the detriment of skiers: "The pairing up of Squaw and Alpine is a move towards a more European skiing experience," says Tahoe skier JT Holmes. "When you're in Europe you can ski two, or three, sometimes even four ski resorts in one day. We're gonna get a taste of that here in Squaw Valley."

Details were still getting finalized when we were closing this issue, but Squaw and Alpine had confirmed that all passes purchased before the merger would be valid at both resorts. A Tahoe Mountain Adventure Pass was also in the works featuring unlimited access to both resorts for $799. (A less expensive pass with restricted dates was also being put together.) As for when the resorts would be connected by lifts instead of shuttles, Squaw's President and CEO Andy Wirth would only say that the resort "considers Troy Caldwell a great friend, and that the feasibility of connecting the two areas by skis hasn't been lost on management."