On busy winter days, when Alpine’s parking lot fills to capacity, you may find a mustachioed guy in a white pickup truck driving skiers from their parking spot high up on his driveway to the base of the ski area lot. That’s Troy Caldwell, and he’s not just a friendly neighbor who turns his land into overflow parking. He’s the man who owns the entire mountainside between Alpine and Palisades.
Caldwell’s property stretches across the southeast-facing slope above Alpine Meadows Road, on the edge of the Granite Chief Wilderness, strewn with cliffs and steep faces. When the new Palisades Tahoe Base to Base Gondola connects the neighboring ski areas, it’ll be strung over Caldwell’s property. Linking the resorts has been a dream of his in the making for over three decades.