A Fool and His Skis

Upon arrival at Alpine Meadows Locker Room #3, I encountered friends staring at their phones, claiming that lifts were open, but other information indicated most were closed because of wind.

Walking from my car to the locker room did not indicate winds were extreme enough to place Roundhouse on windhold, but the sign was up telling us Summit, Roundhouse, and Scott were not going to run because of high winds. In addition, the Base to Base Gondola was on windhold.

People were taking their time booting up. Nobody seemed excited to be heading out, but we did head out and found Roundhouse getting ready to open. The lift opened a few minutes late, but it did accept riders a few minutes after 9am.. Not too long after, Summit opened.
The sky was gray and there were some winds, but nothing extreme enough to keep a fool and his skis off the slope.

Five runs on Roundhouse were enough for Mark who had other obligations today. Five runs in our group counts as a day of skiing, but always hope for more. We tried all the main runs and found most to be very firm. Those that had apparently been double groomed were the best as the surface was softer and held an edge well.  Single groomed areas were firm, very firm, and took more concentration to keep my skis from sliding out from under me.

Most of my fellow skiers stayed on the machine groomed trails. I, the most foolish in the group, had to try God’s Knob. My visit to this short slope included navigating very icy ruts and moguls. By the end of my short visit, I was hoping God appreciated my attempt to visit his named run.

My next venture was to ride TLC to the top and ski Sherwood, a place to take pictures of Lake Tahoe with your friends in the foreground. The upper part was groomed and one could hold an edge until it was time to take the return road back to Weasel.

However, a fool and his skis, wants to ski the entire slope so he can tell his friends he road the Sherwood Lift. This was another foolish idea that wreaks havoc with various parts of the legs. Frozen ruts all the way down from the return road puts a silly smile on a person face as they realize how dumb an idea it was to be jarred, to near death, just to ride Sherwood.

I will say the softest snow met my skis on Weasel, from top to bottom. A fool does not stop until he has ridden most of the open chair lifts, no matter the weather. Winds were brisk at the top of Summit. At noon they were apparently blowing at 56 miles per hour with a temperature of 33 (pretty warm). When I arrived at the off ramp, at the top of Summit Chair, I was met with a gust of wind that blew ice chunks off the ramp into my face. It hurt! A friend, who is taller than I, told me the ice chunks did not blow into his face. He missed the opportunity to complain about the ramp, one of his favorite things to do. Sunspot was groomed, but the sun had not come out yet, so it was also very firm.

Enough was enough, plus I have to run to Reno today. Perhaps conditions improved as this warm day progressed, but my skis are back in my locker waiting to be freed from prison once again tomorrow morning.

Enjoy your day,
Andy