The Freedom To Ski

It’s been quite a year. 2020 will be known for a lot of different things, many of them unpleasant. Sadly, this is a year where not many of us will be skiing to celebrate Independence Day. Not only was our ski season cut off, so was the storm track, for much of the winter. Consequently, no Tahoe resorts are able to offer skiing on the Fourth of July this year. That’s probably a good thing as Tahoe is insanely crowded for the holiday already as it is.

You would think that there’s not really any place left to ski this summer, but that is not true. My dedicated patch skiing friends are still out there finding a few turns. My friend Stev has skied for 200 consecutive months. While that is not a record, it’s certainly respectable. Stev’s passion for skiing was documented last year in the Wall Street Journal. He also has documented hundreds of days of skiing patches of snow as small as your driveway at his site Patchskiing.com. He has been a mentor to many of Tahoe’s summer skiers, including myself.

My friend Spence has also been out there getting after it. To him, patch skiing is more of a solo adventure. There’s rarely people or dogs in any of his photos, just tracks in the dirty snow of July.

We’re specifically not mentioning the locations of any of these last remaining patches of snow, for fear that they will be overrun with tourists looking for that perfect Instagram post.

So today I raise my pint cup of Montucky Cold Snack to the patch skiers of the world getting after it, in the midst of a dry summer where skiing seems so unlikely. Like many other locals, I’ll be hunkering down in the backyard this weekend, avoiding the crowds that have taken over Tahoe. Here’s to hoping for a big snow season and the hope that we will see lift served skiing in the coming season…