Tahoe

I suspect it is because I grew up in a climate in which a snowball wouldn't have a... well, a snowball's chance in hell; but something about seeing that fluffy, white, frozen susbtance covering everything turns me into a little kid.

We spent the 22/02 - 25/02 in the chalet pictured at Lake Tahoe. I think the picture captures M-A's trepidation at navigating the driveway, and rightfully so. Doug parked the car when we first arrived, and after unloading the gear into the house, we returned to find it had slid off the driveway! Naturally we wedged the wheels from then on. We headed out on the saturday morning to Northstar ski resort.

Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that in order to be truly proficient in alpine sports, you need to travel to the snow more than once every 3-5 years. Perhaps the black-diamond run wasn't the best choice of warm-up? Apparently the snow-plow technique's effectiveness diminishes as the angle of descent increases (the quad-burn, however, certainly increases). Doug and Geli had no such problems. Doug on his snowboard managed to comfortably outpace M-A and I, while travelling backwards and filming us. And Geli was just a purple-colored blur on skis! Check out the attached video for a sample of our style, as filmed by Doug. OK, so we may not make the next Warren Miller film, but it was steeper than it looks, I promise ;) That's Geli in the purple that goes speeding past us.

I also have to make it official that I am never staying in a chalet without an outdoor jacuzi again. Sitting in a steaming bath, with your beer being kept cold by a cup-holder dug into the snow, after a long day on the slopes is about as good as it gets.

Saturday night it continued to snow. There was some disupte as to how much was actually dumped, but you can take a look at the cars below and judge for yourselves.

This certainly made for some interesting skiing on the Sunday. Powder is fantastic up to a point, past that it actually becomes a hindrance. Taking a fall into a metre of snow certainly makes for a soft landing, but getting back to your feet is a challenge. And 3 feet of visibility was a stretch of my limited abilities. The Irish coffees Doug and I shared at the end of the day went along way towards thawing me out though. Doug graciously offered to pick up the bill - an act I think he may have regretted slightly once he saw the price. I think they came in at about $US9 a pop. Although in typical American style, they did come in containers that would be more accurately described as buckets than cups. Also, the canteen was at the very top of the mountain, so then we had to navigate down. Despite, or perhaps because of the whiskey boosting my courage and impairing my motor-skills, I made it down.

By Monday morning the storm has passed, and as far as snow-days go, it was about as good as it gets. Blue skies and plenty of snow. The pciture on the right is the view down our street! Geli took M-A and I to Alpine Meadows ski resort, and we all had a brilliant day (despite me initially releasing that Doug's snowboard I had borrowed was configured for a goofy-footer. Now I know why they call it goofy; because that's how I felt when trying to ride that way).

All up, three sensational days. Not much else to say...