Four One Hour

Day 41: Another windy storm has rolled in.

We busted out ten runs in an hour today on what seemed like an empty mountain.














Tony and Brenda found some fresh powder and ripped some nice turns.













It was no surprise to see the slopes were empty today. It's great fun to be out in the storm, getting dumped on and knowing you are one of the few out there making turns. Brenda can be seen smiling amidst 50mph winds and in the middle of a snow storm, never complaining!

Forty (oz)

Day 40: We have been wanting to hit Homewood all season and today was the day. Tony, Brenda and I wanted to avoid the post storm big crowds and seek some solitude at Homewood, we were not disappointed.









Homewood has got to be the most scenic of all the Tahoe resorts.

Quail Face has quite a reputation for some of Tahoe's best powder, even late in the day after a big dump. Quail Face exceeded my expectation, the view was not bad either.









Tony's poles are 48" and can be seen buried in the fresh powder, too cool!

Tona Bologna Arrives

Day 39:
Tony arrived today from Southern California and brought with him a nice, needed storm. The weather today was very windy and not for the faint of heart. Great to be skiing with the "Tona" again!

Tree Ate

Day 38: The calm before the storm.

In Memory of our Best Friend

He made us laugh everyday. We will forever miss our Diamond Dog.

Day 37

Lincoln Day Lodge in the foreground and Castle Peak in the distance.

36

The jumps at the terrain park have gotten bigger since the X-Games have been in town. It's quite a rush to hit these jumps going really fast, launch into the air and land on the down side of the ramp.







A nice view of Mt. Judah.





The view of Donner Lake taken late in the day passing over the bridge on the way home.

Thirty Five

The East Face at the top of Lincoln may be my favorite lift serviced run at Sugarbowl. It's just out of bounds, hardly skiied and usually hides fresh powder for days after the storm. Today it was super windy.






The view down the short drop of the East Face , the afternoon shadows and a self portrait shadow of yours truly can be seen in the picture.

Three Four

A hike up Mt. Judah brought more fresh tracks almost 5 days after the storm. High winds and gnarly terrain was the norm on the climb up. Skied the Judah Bowl down and enjoyed about 10 great turns. A significant effort for 10 turns but still worth it.

Epic 33!

The temps dropped to the low teens yesterday and the storm dumped about 2' of fresh, dry powder.
Brenda and I tore up the East Face and Roller Pass today. Every run provided ton's of fresh tracks and ear to ear grins. It's not every day you are hootin' and hollarin' in the tress. Today was that day.

On the way up Lincoln chair today we rode with a couple of dudes that wanted to ski some fresh so we offered to show them. At the top we went straight off the back side, under the "Out of Bounds" rope & sign then Brenda heard them say "No way". It was great to see Brenda duck under the rope, drop off the cornice and rip up the fresh deep stuff while they looked on wondering "when did we lose our balls". My baby rips!

On our way down Old 40, we saw a film crew shooting some big cliff jumps and the this crazy kicker!

















I have been wanting to ski off the back side of Mt. Judah all season and today was really the first day it's been skiable. By the way, this is the "Ski Home" run (See December Archive Post, Checklist Item 6). After a pretty serious hike up you have the option of dropping back into Judah bowl or off the other side for a 2500' drop to Donner Lake. Well, today was the day. After dropping Brenda and Diamond off to ensure I had a ride back up, I raced up and got the 3:30pm Judah chair. At the top I saw a few climbers (2 dudes and 1 chick), the 2 dudes wimped out and the tough snowboarder chick wanted to go. We picked up a Tele Boarder on our way up the climb. The Skier, Boarder and Pin head was an interesting cross pollination of specie. Anyway, she had done the route a bunch of times and as it turns out is quite the veteran in the area. It also worked out that she was headed to my street for her pickup ride back up. Untracked, thigh deep, dry powder on a steep rolling slope was almost too good to believe.























Half way down we trekked through the RxR tunnel and out one of the access doors for the last 1000' of vertical (optional).

























The whole experience was too cool, reminded me of the Cat Skiing trip I went on in Washington. Get your powder skills in order and get up here quick! BTW, Bring a shovel, Beacon, Avalanche probe, Backpack and Snowshoes, Water and your Huevos! You will need the last item for sure and hopefully none of the others.

















This is the view of Donner Lake just before you drop down the last 1000'.

A Long Day 32

A 1:30am Pacific time wake up call in Boston for the first flight out helped me make it to the slopes just in time to rip up some fresh powder. Much like the annual Thanksgiving feast and how you can make room for dessert, I arrived home feeling ready to hit the slopes. Needless to say it won't be a late night at the Washoe log home.






The Snow Gods are blessing our area. Brenda and Diamond had some fun while I spent the day sandwiched in the aluminum steerage class @ 40K'









Brenda and I made some Nordic tracks in the neighborhood with Diamond tonight as well.























Spent about 1/2 hour talking with Jeff Burton at my Boston meeting. I'm not really a Nascar fan but it was very interesting to talk to a big time race driver. He's a great guy and I got him to share some good stories, including how he hates to be anywhere near Robby Gordon on the track.

Best Snow of the Year!

Day 31 brought 28" of fresh, sunny skies and another amazing day!

Brenda (in light blue) is on the far right of the chairlift.

The light blue speck in the "Sugarbowl" is Brenda.

The trees provided for some late day fresh tracks.
In the afternoon we took Diamond out to play in the deep, fresh snow.

Check him out getting ready to dive in.

Oh Baby! 16" of Fresh by 8:00pm!

Needless to say we will be up at the lifts before it opens tomorrow getting our share of fresh tracks!












Brenda and I spent some time today looking at homes.
Here are a couple we are considering.

XXX

Day 30: The Jabra X-Games are live and qualifying is today.



It was pretty crowded today. The last picture shows me having to dodge the huge crowds on the slopes today.

Two Niner

Day 29: The Super Pipe is taking shape. Hopefully after Saturday's storm it will be open.

PS. Over the last couple of weeks this Van has been seen in 6 different driveways in our neighborhood. It's full of Swedish Music Gear. We don't want to panic but we think Abba is squatting in our neighborhood.

Numb Brrrrr Tu Ate

Number 28: A nasty, windy mix of rain & snow.