The Wyssen Towers Above Wolverine Bowl, and the Howitzer They Haven't Replaced Yet

"That's moving us towards getting rid of our reliance upon military weapon systems," Alpine Meadows mountain manager Jeff Goldstone told SnowBrains in May, describing the first explosive-based remote avalanche towers the mountain hoped to install. In the same interview he put a number on the job those towers are walking into. On a typical storm day, Alpine Meadows Ski Patrol uses 360 hand charges and fires 30 rounds through its howitzer.

Five of those towers are now standing on the Alpine side. They are the first step in a plan built to unfold over several winters. This season they start learning what Sierra storms do to them, and the howitzer, the hand-charge routes and the morning holds on Alpine Meadows Road all stay part of the routine.

Five towers, and two of them are easy to spot

Palisades Tahoe announced the towers on September 8 as part of what it called one of its largest investments in avalanche mitigation technology. The package covers five Wyssen avalanche towers at Alpine, six new Gazex and Gazflex exploders on the Palisades side, and a new CATEX cable system in The Funnel. Moonshine Ink carried the resort's press release, which put the remote-control investment at $3.2 million.

Crews installed the towers this summer. Their exact locations haven't been published. A mountain-bike survey posted October 5 on UnofficialAlpine.com includes a photo of two towers above the Idiots zone over Wolverine Bowl. The writer took another photo from the parking lot that seems to show one at the top of Lower Saddle, though he wasn't sure, and he guessed South Beaver Bowl and Estelle Bowl as likely spots for the rest. The resort has confirmed none of those sites beyond the count of five, so the blog's guesses are still guesses.

The towers work differently from the propane-fired Gazex exploders that Alpine has used for about eight years. A Gazex unit fires a gas charge. A Wyssen tower lowers a solid explosive charge on a coded command, and the charge goes off while hanging roughly two to three meters above the snow. Wyssen says its platform runs from a computer, tablet or smartphone wherever the operator happens to be. SnowBrains cited a Montana State University study finding that Wyssen towers produce larger blasts than Gazex tubes, which means a single shot can affect more trigger points in a start zone.

What the existing remote systems have already gone through

Alpine Meadows tried remote avalanche control years ago, and the Gazex record shows why the new towers count as a trial. SnowBrains reported more than a dozen Gazex tubes on the mountain, and they have replaced only a few artillery shots and hand-charge routes. Goldstone described storm cycles that buried the tubes completely, snowpack creep that loosened gas-line fittings, and hurricane-force winds that tore off antenna masts. UnofficialAlpine counts eight Gazex units around the ski area and along Alpine Meadows Road.

Here is the full storm-day toolkit as the sources describe it:

Artillery isn't new to Alpine either. A 2004 Sierra Sun story described the howitzer being used during storm cycles when high winds or danger made it hard to get onto the mountain. More than two decades later, it handles the same conditions.

Why the howitzer stays on the schedule

Weather is the main reason. Goldstone told SnowBrains that artillery can keep putting explosives into start zones however hard the wind blows or however fast snow piles up. Without that steady work, he said, "the hazard is going to build up to a point where it's going to get out of control." Even the newest equipment struggles with the exposed ridge lines. "With our extreme winds and rime that will fully encompass one of these devices, we're still unsure about what the right tool is to be able to accomplish these ridge-line shots," he told SnowBrains.

The May plan he described was gradual on purpose. The first towers would go in more sheltered parts of the mountain so patrol could compare them with Gazex. Each season of use would then help decide where the next tower goes, and SnowBrains noted that the first installations might not replace artillery shots any time soon.

Approval was still pending then too. In May, SnowBrains reported that California allowed only gas-based remote systems and that Alpine Meadows, along with Mammoth Mountain and other ski areas, was working with the state on approval for explosive-based ones. By September, Palisades was announcing the towers. No public record of the approval has turned up.

Reloading is also an open question. The UnofficialAlpine writer thought the installed towers look like the smaller six-cartridge model, which a patroller climbs to reload, and pointed out that ridge winds often run 50 to 100 mph during big storms. Wyssen's current product page lists 12- and 24-charge boxes that are flown in by helicopter for reloading. Nobody has published which model Alpine installed.

Palisades' own description is careful. The resort says the systems can run during heavy snowfall, strong wind and low visibility, and that "the technology doesn't replace the expertise and decision-making of Patrol." The announcement promises no earlier opening for any particular chair or run.

Alpine Meadows Road follows the same storm-day schedule

For anyone living up the canyon, the mountain's avalanche work and the road home are tied together. Alpine Meadows Road is a Placer County road. A March 12, 2024 staff report to the Board of Supervisors explains that Palisades Tahoe, and Alpine Meadows ski area before it, has long handled avalanche control on a section of the road to keep it open, alongside its safety work on the ski runs. The agreement in that report pays the resort up to $64,500 a year for enhanced snow removal from January 2024 through June 2029. It also requires the resort to take reasonable steps to tell road users and nearby occupants when control work is planned, and to call the County within an hour if it can't carry out control.

Last winter showed how that plays out in practice. On February 19, 2026, UnofficialAlpine reported traffic backed up at the entrance because the road was closed for a while. Crews were finishing the parking lot, and snow removal can't run during avalanche control, which was going on above the main lot that morning. The timing changes from storm to storm. Palisades' February 16 update said the road might need snow-safety work that morning, and a later update scheduled road control for the afternoon.

The September announcement doesn't change any of this. It says nothing new about road closure authority, coordination with CHP and the County, or how residents get notified. The resort's road conditions page lists these sources for storm days:

• Caltrans QuickMap for chain controls, closures and incidents on SR 89 and I-80. Caltrans says its chain-control layer refreshes about every minute.
• CHP Truckee's Facebook page for local updates.
• The Palisades app, Mountain Ops social feed, mountain report and daily blog for lift holds, terrain status and resort operations.

What else changed at the base over the long summer

Alpine closed early last spring, and the thin snowpack gave summer crews more time on the hill. The October 5 survey found other changes besides the towers. The trail crew did a lot of work in the Lakeview area, clearing dead trees in a way that may make those glades easier to ski. A small kiosk is going up on the concrete part of The Chalet deck, and the writer's best guess is a permanent home for the outdoor bar that used to run out of a weekend tent. After rumors that the lodge's Alpine Meadows logo chairs were being replaced, the post was updated to confirm they stay for this season.

Here's the calendar for the first season of the towers:

1. November 25, 2026: Opening Day at Palisades Tahoe, weather and conditions permitting.
2. December 5, 2026: Weekend and select-holiday parking reservations start and run through April 11, 2027. Most spaces are free, advance paid parking costs $30 per vehicle, and drivers with four or more people get a $20 resort-credit voucher. Park & Ride incentives are no longer offered.
3. December 5, 2026: The Mountaineer winter season begins and runs through April 18, 2027. Alpine-area local rides run Thursday through Monday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., with extra Tuesday and Wednesday service December 22–23, December 29–30 and February 16–17.
4. December 11–13, 2026: Tahoe Live returns to the Palisades base.

The parking page contradicts itself about when booking opens, so check it directly before you plan around a release date.

Questions about how storm days, road holds and seasonal access affect a home in Alpine Meadows come up all the time with Becky Arnold. Call Becky for west-shore expertise from someone who has lived through a lot of Sierra winters here.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.