11 posts tagged “ski”
It's been a hectic week, coming back from traveling and trying to regain some semblance of control at work and at life. A couple of surprises, with such key things like employment and health insurance, added uninvited excitement. Because of this I wasn't all that focused on the snow, but I was surprised at the oddly warm temps we encountered when we got back home. While N kept telling me snow conditions at Heavenly were still wintery in north facing aspects, I found that hard to believe when I was sweating at lake level just walking from my car (though maybe the down jacket, gloves, hat & scarf were overkill).
Since conditions are at that in between stage at anything not north facing (not quite corn and most definitely not winter snow), we had agreed that ski touring was the call for Saturday, if only to get a bit of exercise. N had been trying to ski tour with a friend of his, and he and his girlfriend were free. We don't usually ski tour with others, primarily because of most of our friends either don't live near us or are parents of small children. So it was sort of a novelty to meet and ski with another couple.
We ended up going up towards Emerald Bay to ski Jake's Peak, a mountain at the north end of the bay. We'd skied it once before, but had never done it from the south side. It ended up being a rather athletic climb, as it was steep in places, and firm enough to require either ski crampons (which I had) or experience skinning (which I did not have). Due to the boniness of the originally planned descent, we ended up skiing across the ridge of Jake's to another slope that had more snow, garnering some cool views along the way.
The payoff for the uphill work was on the descent, which was on a slope that appeared to lead directly into Lake Tahoe. That snow conditions were optimal (an inch or two of soft snow on a consolidated base) only made the descent better.
Given my overall ski fitness thus far this season I think I did pretty well. That I was able to go home afterwards and make an awesome chocolate raspberry cake (thanks to Clotilde's book) and a tasty chicken lima bean mushroom stew for friends was the surprising thing. We'll see how early I wake up tomorrow though...
Spring at Lake Tahoe means longer days, loads of sun and the freeze-thaw cycle that creates perfect corn snow. It's a big reason why the BF and I go backcountry, that plus we can avoid the craziness of the resorts *and* the dog gets a workout. This season's corn snow has been ripe for harvest for some time, but due to travel schedules and whatnot, we've not done much touring. Today's jaunt could be considered a front country tour, as we literally park the car on Highway 88 (south of Lake Tahoe) and start skinning up the snow. Despite the easy access we didn't see another soul the whole day.
All in all a relaxed tour. The combination of sun and exercise has wiped the three of out however. Think tomorrow will be more along the lines of the chairlift riding variety. The dog's probably not going to need any exercise tomorrow, seeing how she's currently passed out by the fire.
After a weekend of snow, wind and grey light, the reappearance of the sun was uplifting. Especially as it reflected upon the 2 to 5 feet of snow that had fallen. It was to be a Heavenly day indeed. While there were a lot more tourists than locals at the ski resort today, we still found some quiet and untracked places. And even bumped into friends.
Stupidity reached level 11 by about noon, and after an idiot (male, natch) ran into me in the lift corral and then told me it was my fault, I decided that was a sign to get off the mountain. So I took the mutt for a cross-country ski in the meadow, handily forgetting that I'd be breaking trail for the first mile in what had turned to heavy, wet snow. And I'm wondering why my legs are so sore tonight..?
Having spent so many years wearing boring black ski pants, I've recently become enamored of color, and of borderline tacky ski trousers. These snowboard trousers are my new faves, primarily because they're a tad less loud than my striped pants. The bright pink faux fur trimmed jacket adds that cougar touch, non?
Since the snow started falling, we've been talking about getting out into the backcountry, but the back to back storms and time off didn't synchronize until this weekend. Never mind that we're now seeing a high pressure system that's more akin to spring (50 degrees during the day, teens at night), we were on a hunt for winter snow, also known as powder.
So we headed up to a tried and true north facing slope we know well. My expectations were low, but I was out there primarily to get exercise and test my new birthday gift.
It's 1,700 feet uphill, give or take, mostly in the trees. Treeline ends just before the summit, where we were rewarded with 360 degree views.
The dog, who we brought along for the first lap, was unimpressed.
It's not every day Heavenly boasts 33 inches of new snow on its forecast. I usually invoke the 6 inch powder rule, so this amount meant I *really* had to get out and ski. Unlike the first wave of the storm yesterday, this snow came in light and dry, making for lots of over the head shots as I danced down through the trees. On my powder skis, BD Verdicts, I ski exhilaratingly fast, and I got caught up in that speed the first few runs, until my legs let me know that such speed was not sustainable. So while I dialed it back, N and I were able to knock out 20,000 odd feet of vert in a little over three hours. All in powder snow.
I'm tired now. But in a good way.
Between last night's screening of the latest Warren Miller film (always a harbinger of the ski season) and the snowstorm yesterday and today that's currently dropping fat flakes outside my window, it seems that winter has begun. Too bad my ski legs haven't yet received the memo.
It was a strangely reluctant start to my ski season today. With nothing but man-made snow at Lake Tahoe, I wasn't jonesing to get out like I usually am. That said, Heavenly had been using their cutting edge snow technology to blanket a few runs with very realistic snow, and N convinced me that even a few hours on groomed runs would be a good way to wake up my skiing muscle memory.
And it was good. Much better than I had expected (both the snow quality and my ability to link turns), no doubt due to the early wind hold closure of one of the access lifts, thus leaving the two open chairlifts and three covered ski runs nearly empty. Sadly, the wind hold caught up to everyone else, and we were forced to "evacuate" the mountain via the Gondola (the only way to access Heavenly at the moment), as the concern was that winds would pick up to the point that we'd be unable to get down.
Certainly an exciting way to start the ski season.
It's been a slightly strange week here. As I sit around in shorts and sandals today, blinded by my pale legs, I remembered that last Sunday I was in knee to thigh deep winter snow not far from here.
Instead of schlepping to one of the ski resort closing day celebrations today, I figured ending on a powder note would make for fonder memories of this ski season. So I went long run this morning in the nearby meadow, which is already so dry that by July it'll be a dust bowl. But I'm enjoying it now, because normally at this time of year my running route is affected by what has melted out.
We were in Whistler last week, partly for vacation and partly for an annual ski industry event I attend. In between working and skiing, we found time to sample some of Whistler's many restaurants. This meal was from Araxis, a high-end restaurant (with an overwhelming wine list) that's been awarded Whistler's best restaurant numerous times, judging from the stickers on the door.
One thing that surprised me about Whistler was how good all the fish was. Whether it was in sushi, cooked at a fine dining establishment or at a terrific local restaurant, it was always fresh and well prepared.
Attempts to recreate a dish I had last week failed miserably, primarily because the fish I was using came from a local Safeway.
