I Heart Snowboarding
Got back yesterday after a fun filled weekend in Lake Tahoe. Ishai was generous to invite us to his relative's cabin in nearby Truckee, 12 miles away from Lake Tahoe's North Shore ski resorts. It was a small group (7 of us, 4 of which were med students), but it was a good time. His relatives have a beautiful, gorgeous cabin and they are very nice people, chock full of interesting stories.
Saturday morning we woke up early to get rentals for the two newbies that didn't have their own gear (me and Dan) and headed to the Alpine Meadows ski resort. It was snowing lightly, and we knew a storm was coming from the weather reports. I borrowed a pair of goggles, which were a lifesaver. It was cold and snowing and windy. Visibility got bad towards the afternoon and we were tired, so we left early. I spent most of my time trying to get my carving technique back on the green bunny slopes. I tried one intermediate slope, and regretted it because I was on my heels the entire time and my quads were screaming at me. (it would've helped to look at the above maps beforehand to know which were easy intermediates vs. more difficult intermediates, oops!) It was good, but the conditions weren't that great. I had a feeling the next day would be much better, but the majority weren't feeling it. I stuck with my gut and kept my rental for the next day. We went to Reno that night and hung out at the casino and bar, watching one of the playoff football games. Ishai gave me and Zandra a crash course in Craps, which sounds interesting enough, but I'm still a little too intimidated to play it. We ate at the buffet and I gorged on protein (prime rib, lamb t-bone steaks, pork chops, etc) and yummy mashed potatoes to help my muscles not get too sore the next day. Ishai's relatives were really nice in paying for all of us (they have a frequent player card and get lots of comped stuff). We went back to Truckee and it was still snowing, and hung out the rest of the night, chatting, drinking wine, and cracking jokes (I was laughing more than contributing, but it was still a good time).
The next morning I woke up early to get ready. The first thing i notice is that it's a beautiful day and the only snow that was falling was the snow that had collected on the trees. On the deck, about 12-18 inches of snow had fallen yesterday. Dave and I went back to Alpine, but everyone and their mother saw it was a perfect day and wanted to go skiing/snowboarding too. The day before, It only took about 30 minutes to get there. It took us close to 2.5 hours given the traffic, not just from I-80 and to Squaw Valley, the resort on the way to Alpine), but also from the residential area! It was crazy. We also parked in "siberia", very far from the main lodge. But, it was worth it. It was, in Dave's words, EPIC. It was a perfect day, the snow was perfect, and it wasn't crowded, given the parking and traffic, since everyone was spread out through the park. I stuck to the green circle runs and got my carving technique down again. hooray! i just need to work on the actual turning from heel to toe edge, i think it's a little slower than the toe to heel curve. but i was very pleased, I would get down the mountain and immediately get back on the lift, it was great. I had interesting lift partners too, and one of them turned out to be a friend of an MS2 at Davis. Small world! One of my classmates also called to meet up, but as I was sticking to the green slopes, I didn't think I would be much company if they were avid skiers. I tried another blue run and regretted it again. This particular one had lots of moguls, which were more for skiers than snowboarders, and that sucked badly. Went back to the green slopes for the last hour, and even got on the lift right before it closed. Awesome.
So, everyone who wants to visit me in the winter, let's go to Tahoe! The North Shore has 2-3 resorts and there are more around the mountains. :)
And Big Bear in 2 weeks! And Christian is officially on the road, he'll be in Atlanta tonight :) One more week till he arrives!
Saturday morning we woke up early to get rentals for the two newbies that didn't have their own gear (me and Dan) and headed to the Alpine Meadows ski resort. It was snowing lightly, and we knew a storm was coming from the weather reports. I borrowed a pair of goggles, which were a lifesaver. It was cold and snowing and windy. Visibility got bad towards the afternoon and we were tired, so we left early. I spent most of my time trying to get my carving technique back on the green bunny slopes. I tried one intermediate slope, and regretted it because I was on my heels the entire time and my quads were screaming at me. (it would've helped to look at the above maps beforehand to know which were easy intermediates vs. more difficult intermediates, oops!) It was good, but the conditions weren't that great. I had a feeling the next day would be much better, but the majority weren't feeling it. I stuck with my gut and kept my rental for the next day. We went to Reno that night and hung out at the casino and bar, watching one of the playoff football games. Ishai gave me and Zandra a crash course in Craps, which sounds interesting enough, but I'm still a little too intimidated to play it. We ate at the buffet and I gorged on protein (prime rib, lamb t-bone steaks, pork chops, etc) and yummy mashed potatoes to help my muscles not get too sore the next day. Ishai's relatives were really nice in paying for all of us (they have a frequent player card and get lots of comped stuff). We went back to Truckee and it was still snowing, and hung out the rest of the night, chatting, drinking wine, and cracking jokes (I was laughing more than contributing, but it was still a good time).
The next morning I woke up early to get ready. The first thing i notice is that it's a beautiful day and the only snow that was falling was the snow that had collected on the trees. On the deck, about 12-18 inches of snow had fallen yesterday. Dave and I went back to Alpine, but everyone and their mother saw it was a perfect day and wanted to go skiing/snowboarding too. The day before, It only took about 30 minutes to get there. It took us close to 2.5 hours given the traffic, not just from I-80 and to Squaw Valley, the resort on the way to Alpine), but also from the residential area! It was crazy. We also parked in "siberia", very far from the main lodge. But, it was worth it. It was, in Dave's words, EPIC. It was a perfect day, the snow was perfect, and it wasn't crowded, given the parking and traffic, since everyone was spread out through the park. I stuck to the green circle runs and got my carving technique down again. hooray! i just need to work on the actual turning from heel to toe edge, i think it's a little slower than the toe to heel curve. but i was very pleased, I would get down the mountain and immediately get back on the lift, it was great. I had interesting lift partners too, and one of them turned out to be a friend of an MS2 at Davis. Small world! One of my classmates also called to meet up, but as I was sticking to the green slopes, I didn't think I would be much company if they were avid skiers. I tried another blue run and regretted it again. This particular one had lots of moguls, which were more for skiers than snowboarders, and that sucked badly. Went back to the green slopes for the last hour, and even got on the lift right before it closed. Awesome.
So, everyone who wants to visit me in the winter, let's go to Tahoe! The North Shore has 2-3 resorts and there are more around the mountains. :)
And Big Bear in 2 weeks! And Christian is officially on the road, he'll be in Atlanta tonight :) One more week till he arrives!
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