Big ski weekend in Tahoe! We bailed on Al’s Tours, we imported the Holmes’, we ditched the Monster, we ran up credit card bills. We also apparently scared off the snow – over a week and not a flake of fresh. At least i brought the edger.

We had a relatively casual morning on Thursday, not in a big hurry to get on the hill until things softened up a little. First run at Squaw was about 10am after the gondola to the top. Things looked very different from the last time I was there after 2 feet of powder, and most of the blacks and the trees were closed. Instead we wound up hitting almost every lift and open blue or black, and got a big workout from the number and length of the runs we did. Short lines, fast tracks, and much carving to keep from killing ourselves made for very sore toes and knees.

We swapped boards for a couple of runs, and that was a hoot since neither of us had really ever ridden anything other than our own. in the hotel I noticed how the angle of Beckie’s blade was much more pronounced than mine; that along with the narrower design made it much easier to control on the icy hardpack. Crossing over the sweet spot during turns i could feel the back catching and dragging just enough to provide extra control — much different from the feeling of having to sort-of haul the back of my board through the last part of a transition. Too bad there were no powder days to show my board in its best light, since i think the fat ends and easier blade-angle are what make it better in powder.

One of our last runs we found a bowl off the Headwall Express lift that had softened up enough to be really fun. Beckie followed me out, and while we both had some trouble on the run out, she did great on some hard terrain.

A couple Guinesses back at the car, then we decided to give the night riding a try.

2 beers, dwindling daylight, re-iced slopes and yellow incandescents make for an interesting run. Especially when we were trying to get down in time to catch the next gondola up. After 2 runs of basically crouching, carving, and praying we decided the novelty had run its course and time for dinner.

Next day we hit Alpine Meadows, and its my new favorite Tahoe resort. The mountain is a series of bowls and ridges, with a sweet lift layout that makes everywhere pretty accessible to everywhere else. Fast lifts, some good long runs. On the front side, we didn’t deal with any traversing but easily could get from one side to the other within 1 run. The backside is also not hard to get to and offers different stuff that was west facing – it was fantastic from about 12-3 when the ice softened up. Seemed like good snow would open up pretty much everything in sight – cliffs, trees, bowls, hikes. and it all fed into the lifts. Great vibe there too.

We played in the slushy snow off Sherwood lift, and hooked up with a friend of Matt’s named John. John was a terrific snowboarder, and incredibly fun and goofy and playful guy to ride with, and a former ultimate player for coed-champs Trigger Hippy and Donner Party, and a smoke fiend too — we had lots to talk about! Odds are we had met or at least squared off at some point in the past, and both of us got a kick out of that idea. John showed us some fun options and a few nice tracks through the trees, Beckie did a great job keeping up, and we really enjoyed the tour and the company.

here’s Beckie hitting a big bowl after a short run through the trees. i’m not sure if she in fact made a toe-turn whilst in the forest, but still did a great job pushing herself onto what I think is the hardest run she’d done.

The day got icy fast, but we still stuck it out til last chair, albeit with a mellower attitude.

and took the opportunity to capture all the grandeur that can be yours at $50 for 3 days of Chevy Aveo.

I’m pretty sure i sliced up my elbow on the nose of my board while trying to adjust the car’s climate control system, aka, “The Nob”.

We went over the hill to Reno to have a great dinner with Matt and Anita, though the drive back to Incline Village sucked ass and the road started to look kinda squirelly. Saturday we were gonna hit Mt. Rose. We kinda wanted to do Diamond Point, since it was cheap and south-facing and involved little driving, but the idea of hanging with Matt and Anita was quite appealing. While I am bored with Rose and it sucks in icy conditions, riding with friends truly makes it worthwhile.

A day happened, my board cable was releasing the bindings and only with the help of Rose’s shop was i able to keep riding, some fun fast runs pointed out by the Westfields, my fever peaked and i shivered all afternoon, and a bbq in the parking lot where Beckie engulfed mass quantities of chicken and beer. We were happy, while not the best weather, another great weekend on the boards.

Our flight was delayed…for ever. It was actualy an hour and a half, but by dog-years was forever. Here is Beckie showing her boarding pass, and Mt. Rose in the backround where we could have rode for another hour and a half.

somehwhere after this, my fever peaked, and the trip to Phoenix became an unpleasant shiver-fest. and then we got home, to our monster infected with the same. Its good to be home.