Or: Finally, some SNOW!

At long last, we received our first winter storms this past week, which finally enabled Tahoe resorts to open. Squaw Valley reported [4] 2' of snow on the upper mountain [5], and announced opening day of Saturday, December 3rd.

After a grueling week at work, I was really looking forward to getting back on the slopes. Drove up late Friday night after work in Lee's fancy new Audi All-Road Quattro - what a luxury ride!

The next morning it was off to Special Tickets to pick up my (10th consecutive) season pass - which is always fun. Immediately I started seeing old friends, and making new ones while waiting to get our pass photos taken - the ritual that begins each season. Then on to the locker room, where the excitement continued to build: Remembering my combination, opening the locker and finding that YES, all the gear I expected to be here actually was - and continuing to run into more friends and acquaintances.

Not long after, it was actually time to get out there and make those first turns. I'll save the rambling about conditions, available terrain, and how I rode for the extended text, for those who care to click through and read it. I will leave this parting shot though - demonstrating that by the end of the first day, I was feeling daring enough to try my hand in the terrain park:

[6]

Okay, so it's pretty tame, as far as terrain park features go - but I was pretty happy to hit this pair of sliders on my very first day back on the slopes. Read on for more details . . .

There was enough snow on the upper mountain to open a pretty good amount of terrain. I was definitely expecting Shirley Lake, but was pleasantly surprised to find Siberia on the list of operating lifts. Equally impressive was the fact that they were running the Funitel - a HUGE improvement over riding the Cable Car, which I was expecting. Perhaps the biggest surprise (given the lack of snow at the lower elevations) was that Mountain Run was open each afternoon, which allowed me to ride from top (of Siberia) to bottom (of Mountain Run), over 2700 vertical feet.

The first day, we made a point of exploring all the available terrain (except for, say, Links or East Broadway), and sampling the snow conditions in a variety of locations. Amazingly, there were still freshies to be had in little stashes among the trees - though one had to be very careful about early-season conditions. After doing laps on Shirley and Siberia, we grabbed some lunch and then headed back out to finish up our first day. That's when I hit those "funboxes" (not really - but they're not rails, either, so . . . ?) in the Belmont terrain park. They had some more intimidating features there, but I was quite satisfied with myself - especially for my first day back on the board.

I also did a LOT of switch riding - and was happy to find that I was still fairly proficient. Okay, so it's not QUITE like riding "regular" - but it sure doesn't feel as awkward or foreign as it used to. I did a couple of intermediate runs switch from top to bottom, without so much as a single "regular" turn, or even side-slip. That was encouraging - unlike my miserable attempts to ollie (cuz what good is switch riding ability if I can't bust an ollie blind 180?!?). Hey, that just means that it's something I have to work on!

We ended up with over 12K vertical that first day - not huge, but not an insignificant first day, that's for sure. On the second day, conditions were similar, although perhaps not quite as good -- but then, maybe that's just because I started out tired and a little sore! ;-) Day two was pretty much a repeat, as far as making the rounds: high-speed GS turns down the face of Shirley, sneaking through the trees on both sides of 5th cut, and then over to Siberia. LOTS of skiers (and very few boarders) were making the Reverse Traverse, and skiing/riding down Headwall, Hog's Back, or even my personal favorite - North Bowl. Man that's STEEP!! Alas, I wasn't interested in doing the traverse - too much work, especially in that kind of traffic.

I did take a minute to soak up the scenery though - and noticed that despite the cloud layer in the central valley, it was possible to spot Mt. Diablo from the top of Siberia chair. You'll need to click the thumbnail below and view the larger image - but you can clearly see the peak of Mt. Diablo, just a few miles from my house: all the way from Tahoe. Sweet.

[7]

Still tired from the first day of riding, we ended up knocking off a bit early on day two, ended up with just 10K vertical (still respectable - especially given the available terrain). Definitely a NICE couple of days to start the season off - finally! Too bad it's already December - not quite the Halloween [8] start we had last season. Regardless of the late date, it was great to be back in the mountains, breathing the fresh air, and carving those turns down the mountain. What's more, Dingo absolutely LOVES it - he gets two nice long walks a day, complete with lots of play time. It's a mini-vacation for both of us, and a chance for us to unwind, and recharge our emotional batteries.

Alas, I won't be back at Squaw Valley for weeks - as I'm headed to Whistler [9] in a few days! WooHOO!!

Ride on, RIDE ON!