Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Kirkwood - March 12, 2010

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Kirkwood had the same sun/wind crust firm, firm, firm and windy, windy windy conditions that we had at Squaw Valley. Until the mountain disappeared at 11:30 in a snow storm. The storm started out very wet, but the temperature dropped and the snow just kept coming. By 2 o'clock we were skiing freshies till our gloves were too frozen and cold. There was almost a foot of snow at the car when we left.

Once again, wind closed several lifts before we were able to take an entire tour of the resort, but one of the interesting things were these surface lifts. This was on a ridge line way at the top of the mountain. The wind was awful and occasionally we had white-out conditions in the snow and wind-blown snow. But once we dropped off the ridge far enough, the skiing got really decent and the wind wasn't so bad. They closed this part of the mountain before we could get back there again.

Isn't James so wonderful! It wasn't too long of a trek back to the car, but it was the end of our 4th day of skiing in a week and those ski boots were SO HEAVY! I did carry our poles... Thank you James!

That capped off a most excellent week of skiing in Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Lake Tahoe - March 11, 2010

Ah sad! I didn't want to check out of the hotel and pack our car full of all the stuff. But I was really looking forward to our 'poke-around-the-lake' day. It was BEAUTIFUL. Sunny and in the 50s. Most of the public parks to the water were closed for the season, so we never got close to the shore, but the views from the road are beautiful.

We stopped at Emerald Bay lookout and tromped through the snow to read the signs and look over the only island in Lake Tahoe. It has a little stone building on the top of the hill that was used as a tea house by a very rich woman who built her home at the tip of Emerald Bay.

We also stopped at a state park commemorating Donner Pass. The museum was closed, but we tromped through the snow to look at the statue anyway.

We ended our tour by driving by Donner Lake, Donner Summit and all the ski resorts out that direction that we didn't have time or money to ski.

James is interested in a ski company called Moment. They build their skis in Reno and James was determined to see if he could demo any skis. We finally found their workshop (they were just finishing a move to a new building) and even met the CEO. He let us each borrow a pair of skis for free and without collateral of any kind. James really wanted to try out a particular ski, but most of their inventory was out at a retail show. So James borrowed the Rubys and I got to try the Pikas.

(When we returned the skis on Friday night, we got to tour their new workshop and see some of the ski making machines. It was interesting to see their topsheet graphics printing out from a big printer.)

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Sierra-at-Tahoe - March 10, 2010

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Sierra-at-Tahoe is quite a distance from Lake Tahoe. You can still see the lake, but nothing like Homewood where you felt like you could launch off a roller and end up in the water.

Today was probably the best day we had, it was nice and sunny with lots of fresh! They had anywhere from 10-30in. of new and the trees were amazing cause they were filled with all sorts of powdery pillows and other natural hits. The groomers were also goooooooood.

I don't think James skied a single groomer - he was always on the lookout for 'hits'. And this resort was FULL of really fun natural terrain stuff for him to explore and me to admire!





Then we ventured out to Huckleberry Canyon (in the picture below, the ridgeline that you can see at about James' waist line is in the middle of Huckleberry Canyon). That's where we found the deep stuff. James could've played all day out there cause the natural terrain is cliffs of varying sizes and pillows.

James found kind of a technical line he wanted to ski (the exit I think was a mandatory air to fluff) but ran out of time as patrol was closing the area behind us. The ridge we skied (I think it was the ridge visible in the picture above) was the perfect slope and about knee deep, I got some face shots on the way down! It was even better cause we got towed out by patrol so we didn't have to walk the 1/2mile out!

We had about 3 runs left after our tow out of Huckleberry Canyon, so James skied in the trees and I floated along the edges of the runs in the fluff. Until I came across "Aspen" and "Aspen West" and had to decide which of Aspen's ski runs I would take. I skied "Aspen" and ended up on the edge of a half-pipe!

I think Sierra-at-Tahoe is our favorite Tahoe resort! (And if we ever get there again in good snow conditions, I will be prepared to spend all day doing laps in Huckleberry Canyon because I won't be able to get James to ski anything else.)

Video - James in the 'fluff'

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Homewood - March 9, 2010

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This is the view out of our window at the Mont Bleu Casino in Stateline, NV - just on the Nevada side of the border on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe. Staying 3 nights, SO glad to have a 'base camp' for a few nights.

Conditions at Homewood were WONDERFUL after Squaw! We skied mostly powder (10in.) all day in the sun after exploring the resort. The north facing slopes - especially the trees - were fantastic. But the south facing was crunchy underneath. The groomers were fantastic all over the mountain and I was ready for some groomers - can't remember the last time I skied 2 days in a row!

This is the main base lodge - I wanted a picture with the Homewood sign, so you can't see all the tables (to the left of the photo) where everyone ate lunch and enjoyed the sunshine.

Gilbert's Gulch is one of my favorite runs at Homewood. We skied it right at the end of the day and it still had lots of powder. James found a sweet tree powder run and just made laps! sunshine and clouds with beautiful views.


The visibility was SO much better and much less wind than yesterday. We like Homewood. Just look at the view!



Video - Jessi tree skiing

Video - Following James

Video - Following Jessi

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Squaw Valley - March 8, 2010

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Squaw Valley was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics and there were reminders EVERYWHERE! This was on the corner of the highway where you turned off to drive to Squaw. Love that the torch is still lit!

It was SOOOOO windy! No hero snow at Squaw today. Some wind powder pockets, decent groomers, sun/wind crust, flat light and craaaaaazy windy. Can you see from the sign below how many lifts are closed? The green lights are open, but all the dark buttons are CLOSED. We were lucky to get in one tram ride today.


A quick picture of the weather conditions mid-mountain. Looks promising for tomorrow!

James worked for a season at the Squaw Valley Sport Shop. So we stopped in there to see if anyone from 5+ years ago was still working there. Nope. James did pick up his souvenier here though - a zip hoodie with the KT22 logo on it. Too bad the KT22 lift was closed ALL DAY and we never got to ride it!

And a picture of the little gondolas. I think we only rode the gondola once also. It was open all day, but the best snow was off of a lift called "Red Dog".

Today wasn't the best day for skiing Squaw. Definitely need to ski at Squaw again sometime - give it a chance for REDEMPTION!

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Reno - March 7, 2010

We explored the most enormous sporting good store in Sparks/Reno called Scheels. It reminds me a lot of Cabellas. I loved the different statues outside the doors. These are huge! And there are a half-dozen more depicting different sports or activities.

Just inside the main doors is a huge double-arch fish tank. A fresh water tank on one side of the store and a salt-water acquarium on the other side of the store.

Amazing to see a catfish swim above your head - right James!?

I don't know what kind of fish this is, but isn't he pretty!

It is a two-story building and the center is dominated by a Ferris Wheel! It only cost $1 to ride.

Jonathan and Aunt Laura

Uncle Rod & James standing on the 2nd story watching the Ferris Wheel. All the way around the 2nd story landing are "Presidents". Life Size manequins of American Presidents (the most recent I saw was Ronald Reagan. I suppose they can't use presidents who are still living?) The Presidents are dressed in period clothing and are giving a speech - out of speakers near each president.

Like Cabellas, there are life size animals all around the store. This mountain of animals is on the 2nd story, so you can see how tall this building is!

Outside Scheels is an outdoor mall. Many different shops in stand-alone buildings. With lots of sculptures and several places to sit and rest. One of the other stores that I really enjoyed was frozen yogurt! James tried on shoes at the Nike store and the Adidas store. And we stopped at the Farmers Almanac store and the Harry & David store.

We said goodbye to the Bonnells and headed south to Lake Tahoe. Our first hotel was the Tahoe Biltmore in Crystal Bay just inside the Nevada border on the North Shore. We did a stay-and-ski-free deal - we paid the total cost of two full-price Squaw adult lift tickets to the Tahoe Biltmore and we also got to stay the night in one of their "cabins".

Here are the "Cabins" - basically a motel building outside the Hotel/Casino. Oooooold! But the price was right (essentially free). And once we turned up the heat at 2:30 in the morning, we slept just fine!

Lake Tahoe Ski Adventure - Highway 50 - March 6, 2010

Whooo Hooo! Vacation! James & I saved my Christmas bonus and spent it all on lift tickets at Lake Tahoe. We decided to take Highway 50 across Nevada on the way to Reno and then I-80 on the way home. James had already driven the "Lonliest Road in America", but this is my first drive. The state of Nevada turned the designation of the Lonliest Road in America into something of a tourist adventure and they give out Survival Guides. If you get your guide stamped in each of the 5 towns, they'll send you a certificate and a bumper sticker. We got our survival guide in the mail and used it to tell us a very little bit about the towns we were driving through.

Our first stop was Uncle Doug & Aunt Barbara's house in Santaquin, UT. We had the most fantastic buttermilk waffles, eggs, sausage and fruit. There house must be my favorite place to eat in Utah County! Thank you for feeding us!

Just over the border into Nevada is the Great Basin National Park. I had never heard of Great Basin National Park, but we didn't hesitate to stop and eat our lunch here. If we had an extra half day, we'd have stayed for the tour of the Lehman limestone Cave.
And we skpped the scenic drive up Wheeler Peak to look for the ancient Pinon Pines - the state tree of Nevada. Even with a week, we don't have enough time to do EVERYTHING there is to do, so maybe we'll get another try at the Great Basin National Park...

Our first stop for a stamp in the survival guide was in Ely, NV. And sure enough, there seems to be a casino for every town!

The second stop is in Eureka, NV - a historic mining town with some neat old buildings. We explored a museum in the old newspaper printing building that had a lot of history of the town and of mining.

Third stop: Austin, NV. This is a picture of Stokes Castle, located at the west end of town on a steep dirt road. The "castle" was built to resemble a Roman tower and is was used for only a short time as a summer home.

We only got stamps from the first three towns, the tourist stops in the last two towns were closed - plus it got late! So we mailed the survival guide postcard to the Nevada Tourism Office and are eagerly awaiting our Certificate of completion!

Just as it got dark, in between towns, we came across The Shoe Tree.

The story is that a newlywed couple got into an argument and one of them threw the other's shoes up into the huge Cottonwood Tree. After making up and as a peace offering, a pair of (the other spouse's) shoes were thrown into the tree. Ever since, shoes have been decorating this tree (and a huge pile at the base of the tree!). Makes the 'bead tree' at Brighton look pretty small!

This last picture is a casino in Fallon, NV. We stopped across the street for a quick bite to eat before finishing our drive to Reno and our air mattress in the living room of Uncle Rod & Aunt Laura's apartment.

A very mellow, very enjoyable road trip. Lots and lots of things we didn't drive off the highway to see, so there are definitely reasons to drive this road again!