A Ski Trip is NOT a Vacation!

If you know me, you probably know that I am not much of a skiier.  I've skied a few Bunny Hills in the past few years.  And I've taken... 2 ski lessons... So, early on St. Patrick's Day, I arrived at the airport for my first trip as a member of the Columbia Ski Club!  We went to Lake Tahoe, California, and spent the week skiing at Heavenly, NorthStar, and Kirkwood Ski Resorts.  It was quite a week.  Lots of highs.  A couple of lows.  And some good lessons learned.



We arrived to Lake Tahoe around the same time that winter finally decided to make an appearance (even though spring was going to start in just a couple days)!  This has been a mostly absent winter for the Lower 48, and it has been a rough season for the ski resorts of the west.  The week before we arrived in the Sierra Nevada, about 4 feet of snow fell.  So we had a fresh layer of snow to celebrate winter!  A few more inches continued to fall the first couple days we were there! :-)

Sunday was our first ski day.  First thing in the morning, I rented my boots, skis, and poles.  Then, Tim and I took the short walk to the Heavenly Gondola.  Tim spent a few runs on the Bunny Hill, "Easy Street", with me, to help me get comfortable with things.  I took a tentative first run down the hill - call it "sizing it up".  Then, I realized that I still remember some of the key beginning concepts from my ski lesson in Austria last spring!  Winner!  Suddenly, skiing was not quite so scary, and was actually fun!  It was an interesting weather day, too.  Clouds, wind, and snow squalls still developing over the mountains.  I was skiing low enough on the mountain though, that the weather didn't have any real impact on my day.

On the Bunny Hill at Heavenly.  Nevada side.

Monday was not my favorite day of the trip.  It was a scheduled day-trip to NorthStar Ski Resort on the north end of Lake Tahoe.  We had to make the decision to go at the pre-trip party several weeks before the trip.  At that time, I was a bit disenchanted with my ski abilities, and chose not to spend the money on the bus trip up to the mountain.  Had I known that I was going to enjoy my Bunny Hill morning the day before, it would have been a no brainer to go up to NorthStar with the group.  I spent a couple hours in the morning skiing the Bunny Hill at Heavenly, then I went back to the hotel room to take a nap and read some more of "The Hunger Games".  Generally, it was just kind of a lonely day, and it was my own fault.  First lesson learned:  Skiing the Bunny Hill over and over again is only fun for so long.  More importantly, there is no reason for a skier (regardless of their ski level) to feel lonely on a large group ski trip.  Even if you're a beginner amongst a group of advanced skiers, at least go on the day trips to enjoy the company of friends when they're done skiing their more adventurous and challenging ski runs.

Tuesday was our day off, and we used it to explore some of the souvenir shops, restaurants, and local hangouts around Heavenly Village.  We found some great shops that I might have had a little too much fun in.  We found a great little cafe for lunch.  And the winery tasting room.  Oh. My. God. The winery tasting room.  Skyhawk Lane/Red Poets.  I think they're a small distribution winery, so you'll likely not find their wines in stores.  But if you're ever in Lake Tahoe, find this place, and check it out!

At the top of NorthStar.  Lake Tahoe behind us!

On Wednesday, Tim helped me make up for my lost Monday.  We rented a car for the day, and recruited a few friends to come back up to NorthStar with us.  It was a beautiful day.  Blue skies.  Warm.  I did a few warm up runs down the Bunny Hill.  It had a few big, wide switch backs, so it was good for practicing my turning skills.  Then, we went up to the next level green circle hill - Lumberjack. (If you're a non-skier, if you don't know the ski difficulty rating system in the U.S., here it is:  Beginner/Easy = Green Circle, Intermediate/More Difficult = Blue Square, Advanced/Most Difficult = Black Diamond.)  I struggled, mostly with my confidence and intimidation about the traffic on the slope than the actual slope itself.  No offense to snowboarders out there, but I. Do. Not. Like. Snowboarders.  Absolutely no respect for other people on the slope and ski slope etiquette.  Anyway, at this point, we've been in the Lake Tahoe area for several days, and I still haven't gotten a good view of the lake yet.  Still, I knew I was struggling, so I was afraid that Tim wouldn't take me up to the top of the mountain, and I was going to go home, without a decent view of the lake, yet again... Color me surprised when Tim comes back from a "scouting run", and asks me if I'm ready to head up to the top.  I couldn't believe he was willing to take me up there after watching me struggle and get frustrated on Lumberjack.  The only way to get down from the top is via blue square and black diamond slopes.  It took a little convincing, but Tim and a couple of our friends and I made the journey to the top, and I got my first view of the lake from above!  Even better I made it down the mountain from the top with all of my bones still in their rightful positions!  It wasn't easy, there may have been a few tears of panic and pain, but in the end I made it down to the bottom in one piece.  I am grateful to our friends who came up the mountain with us, and were instrumental in helping me make it down the mountain.  Thanks Tim, Jean, and Kevin for helping me ski my first blue square!

Checking out the view before the trip down!

Taking a break, regrouping.  I'm on a blue square slope!

When we arrived home that night, we had a celebratory Aprés Ski cruise on the Tahoe Queen.  It was a great time with great friends and great music!  And way too much to drink... ;-)

Aprés Ski Cruise on the Tahoe Queen.

No point in going over much from Thursday, which was spent at Kirkwood.  Tim and I were both feeling under the weather.  I tried to ski a little bit in the early morning on solid ice.  Tim tried to ski a little bit more.  In the end, neither of us lasted long.  It was probably a combination of exhaustion (both of us woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep), altitude (the base of Tahoe is at about 6500' feet), dehydration and hang over (from Aprés Ski the day before).

Friday was the last day of skiing.  I spent a few more hours on the Bunny Hill on the Nevada side of Heavenly, while Tim went to ski some of the more challenging trails.  Later in the day, Tim and I decided to venture over to the California side, where there are some incredible views of Lake Tahoe.  You'll never believe what I did!!  My first double black diamond slope... Oh yeah!!  Straight down hill... moguls... awesome!  You gotta love any activity where you can see a sign like this...

At the top of Gunbarrel.  A double black diamond slope.  Straight down hill.  Moguls.  And a wide open view of Lake Tahoe!

  

... Nah... just kidding!  I barely made it down the blue square run just a couple days before!  What makes you think I've already graduated to cliffs and moguls?  I did, however, learn another lesson from my ski experiences during this vacation.  On our next ski trip, I will be taking an entire week of ski lessons.  I've mastered the snow plow.  Now, my goal is to learn how to ski and control my speed with my skis in parallel.  Maybe then my knees won't hurt so badly when I get down to the bottom.

I learned a few other lessons on this trip.  As I mentioned before, I knew in advance that the base of the mountain was at about 6500'.  Therefore, the meteorologist in me knew the air was going to be very dry.  For my next high altitude ski trip, I will make a constant effort to stay hydrated.  I will not drink too much at Aprés Ski (I'm a light weight anyway... typically I'm already feeling it after one drink).  I will invest in saline nasal spray.  Breathing in that dry air constantly is very irritating on the nose, and I've been told that saline spray helps with the irritation... and helps to prevent the bloody noses.  I will also scout if the hotel/condo complex has humidifiers on hand in advance.  If not, I will be investing in a portable humidifier.

The most important lesson of all:  A ski trip is NOT a vacation!  It's work.  Waking up at the crack of dawn to get breakfast before the lifts open.  Dressing in so many layers, to avoid getting too cold or too hot.  Lugging all that equipment around.  Finding time to fit in relaxation like the hot tub and naps.  Constant evening activity.  And not sleeping all that well due to the altitude.... it's funny, you exhaust yourself in all that fresh air during the day.  You have absolutely no trouble getting to sleep at night.  But you wake up every couple of hours because of the thin, dry air.  You guzzle down a glass of water, and you're out almost instantaneously again.  It's definitely not a restful type of sleep.  I guess my point is, if you're hoping to catch up on sleep on vacation, don't expect to do it at 6500' altitude when you're accustomed to life at sea level...

Like I said a few challenges and lessons learned along the way.  But generally a fun trip!  I really enjoyed getting to know some more people in the ski club.  I enjoyed feeling like an almost competent [beginner] skier getting on and off the chair lifts without falling when others around me were not quite so lucky (that's not to say that I didn't fall a few times over the course of the week, but never getting on and off the lifts).  I enjoyed getting more confident and building up a little bit of speed on the Bunny Hills.  I enjoyed challenging myself with some more difficult ski slopes (though I did not enjoy the pain in my knees that accompanied by those challenges).  I enjoyed the food... the beverages, too.  I look forward to becoming a better and more confident skier with some really good lessons... hopefully next winter.