Vignette > Low Cost Skiing

Alpine Meadows

Fifty years ago, bay area ski clubs were popular. Annual membership fees were modest. A one-day ski trip cost $10. For Marin kids, the Mogul Ski Club bus would leave Corte Madera at 5 a.m. for Alpine Meadows, a ski resort established in 1961 next to Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Olympics. A breakfast stop was at the Ground Round on I-80 west of Auburn. Upon arriving at Alpine Meadows at 9 a.m., the chaperon would distribute the lift tickets, and announce that there would be skiing lessons in the morning, free skiing in the afternoon and departure at 4 p.m.  The bus would stop for supper at the Food Circus in Sacramento where there were many food choices: Mexican, Chinese, Italian, BBQ chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc.  All bay area ski club busses stopped there at about the same time making things somewhat chaotic. The Marin bus normally would arrive in Corte Madera at 9 p.m.  But bad weather could cause a delay.  A radio station provided arrival information for all bay area club busses. The news could be that the Marin bus had left the Food Circus at 10 p.m. and would arrive at midnight.

Food Circus 1965-1988