Tale of two experiences.
Northstar. Solo, wet, trees.
Heavenly. With two friends. Bluebird. Fresh pow.
Northstar. Started off morning at McD and almost called it off. Fifty degrees and pouring rain. Decided to make the drive up at least. Listened to a radio doc talk about heart issues with diet and exercise - foreshadowing? Kept going despite no change in conditions. Parked car and got dressed and on the shuttle bus. About half way up the gondola from the village to the base rain turned to large globs of snow. Up the first lift and snow was coming down hard and wet. First run on front side EXCELLENT. Deep carveable snow that wasn't too sluggish. Did several runs over by the black diamond chutes before moving to the backside. BACKSIDE!!! Better than the last time I was there. No people, steep black runs, great deep floaty but heavy snow. Third time down I decided to venture into the trees. Best tree experience I have ever had!! Got into the groove of not thinking about turns just picking lines through the trees. Dropped off an eight foot ledge onto a crossover which scared me at first but excited me after! Legs finally gave in before I was ready to, but needed to save something for Heavenly tomorrow. Changed and dried off at car. Drove down to Truckee and had a spinach avocado omelette.
Heavenly. Yesterday's wet snow on the north side of Tahoe turned out to be a powder dump on the south side. Met up with Ian and Bennet and dropped my car at the airport. Another McD breakfast on drive down. Never been on this side of the lake and marveled at the scenery. Long wait to get first gondola up out of the village. At mid-station, walk to second lift at altitude took its toll. Elevation yielded powder but took lots of oxygen out of the air. We spread ourselves all over the place on each side of the state line so wound up doing lots of traversing instead of shreading. Mostly blues too which is what happens when ridin with others so enjoyed the benefits, which were lots of laughs and shared experiences. After a lunch break I got my board locked but not unlocked. After getting them cut free joined up with the guys again. Ian's legs were done so just Bennet and I for the rest of the day. We ventured up to the 10k peak and did some blacks and trees. As the sun got lower the powder froze up, but we did find areas where it stayed soft. Another great day on the board.
Hard to return and attend conference for next three days. Killington would have lots to live up to now. And turns out it did and then some!
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