Surprise Tahoe Ski Weekend

This weekend I planned to just hang around but on Thursday morning I had an email waiting for me from my dad that said he got called to The Plant in Tijuana and his colleague, who was also traveling suggested they fly through Reno and spend the weekend skiing before their meeting on Tuesday. So dad mailed me up and said, meet me in Tahoe!

Hells yeah!

I heard a storm was coming through on Saturday so I arranged for a half day on Friday and headed off to South Lake. I arrived at 8pm and was able to check into our motel, complete with full kitchen. My dad and his colleage, Mike, got there around 9:30pm and we settled in for a dinner of beer and Cheetos! Awww yeah!

Mike is one of those guy skiers who needs to be the first guy on the first chair of the day, so we got up at 6:30am to be out the door at 7:30 to grab some breakfast and then get our rentals. We stopped into this yummy mexican restaurant and had some awesome breakfasts. We also ordered some yummy pork sandwiches for later in the day for lunch. After getting our gear we were off to Kirkwood, about 30 miles away, in a blizzard! Good thing they rented an all wheel drive Jeep Liberty! Alas, it was slow going and anxious Mike didn't make his first run til 10am.

It was so tough skiing in a blizzard with 30 mph wind gusts! The snow was so deep, up to my knees in places, and falling so fast that even though we had been skiing with a few other brave souls for 2 or 3 hours, some of the trails were invisible! A few times my dad and I were just standing there looking at each other and thinking...um...which way do we go? At an early pee break, I had to stop and buy a balaclava to protect my neck and face from the cold and snow. At about 1:30pm, Dad and I decided to eat our stashed pork sandwiches. We found a prime spot at the bar, ordered up some brewskis and settled in. An hour and a half later full and buzzed, we decided to call it a day. I went up to grab our skis and found them all alone, practically burried. We then waited for committed-to-the-day-Mike who came in after 4pm. Home we went with a quick stop at the supermarket. After hot showers we all had a frozen pizza, cheese, apple and tomato soup dinner with some fine wine. Mike went back to his room and Dad and I passed out around 9pm!

Sunday, once again up early to leave by 7:30am. We decided to ski Heavenly and Mike suggested we eat at the lodge. Off we went where Dad and I ate eggs, bacon, biscuits and homefries while on-the-go-Mike chugged a coffee and ran for the first lift of the day. Dad and I believe in a full breakfast for energy on cold ski days! Sunday was so beautiful and sunny. The conditions were perfect and some of the runs purposely weren't groomed and just one lone ski track stood out in almost 2 feet of powder. Naturally we hit that run! Dad was impressed with the views. After a lifetime of skiing on the East Coast on their "hills," nothing compares to skiing actual mountains. I am really happy I got to show my dad Heavenly because the views are just amazing and I knew he'd be into it. We skied 9am-noon and broke for a granola bar and $8 dollar hot cocoa snack (I am totally serious). Back on the slopes we skied until 2pm and had $20 chili and then skied til 3:30pm. I was so beat by the end of the day that I barely had enough energy to execute a turn. But it felt so good. Then we hit the bar...natch...and waited for Mike. On the way home we stopped at Burger A Go Go for cheeseburgers, onion rings and chocolate malt milkshakes! After throwing up we headed to the motel for wine and The Matrix. I passed out by 8pm.

This morning my dad had to get up at 4am to leave by 5am so that he and Mike could get back to Reno for an 8am flight. The roads were still messy and I was hoping to leave that early too but I was totally stressing about the roads and decided to wait until the sun came out and melted the snow on the road and/or stores were open incase I needed to purchase chains. After about 18 calls to the road report phone number, I left about 8am and after some trouble getting out of the motel driveway, was on my way for my drive home.

I am totally exhausted but surprisingly not sore at all! I was really impressed with my stamina. That running three mornings a week really works!

It was such a treat to spend a whole uninterrupted weekend with my dad AND to be able to ski with him. We haven't skied together in over 5 years...maybe more. Growing up, my dad was such a hot-dogger that I could barely keep up, but since he hasn't skied in about 4 years and I had a few ski days here and there (and him not being used to the mountain air) we were pretty much matched. He has such a beautiful, fluid way of skiing and reminded me of winter weekends at the ski club where my whole family belonged for years. It was fun skiing in a blizzard at Kirkwood and even a better day at sunny Heavenly and I am so glad I got to share the Heavenly views that I rave about with him.

Yay Dad for last minute ski trips!