The Trees Were All Dressed in White

My brother and our old friend Jerry were here this weekend. We went snowboarding, which I've done once or twice before but we decided to all board since Jerry had never skied and that would allow us all to kind of suck and feel challenged on the easy slopes. We weren't absolutely sure we were going to be able to make it up to Tahoe because the area was experiencing blizzard like conditions. I awoke at 4am Saturday morning to check the weather and roads and attempt to find a ski resort that was opened. Parts of highway 80 were closed but 50 was open (if you had 4wd or chains) so I decided on the first resort off of 50 that was open (Sierra-at-Tahoe). I woke Frank and Jerry and we headed out around5:30. It is a mere 3.5 hour drive to Tahoe that was mostly uneventful. The snow on the roads weren't too bad.

The snow at the resort was fresh (which translates to soft to fall on, which we did a lot of) but around 1pm it started snowing and blowing like crazy. Somehow this change in weather coincided perfectly with our first ride up to the very top of the mountain. It took use 1.5 hours to get down because we couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of us. So it was a bit like learning to snowboard with your eyes closed. At one point I fell down and then got up but couldn't look directly downhill without going blind so I looked down at the ground but could really tell where the ground was and I tried to get my board moving again and thought I had; I readjusted my balance for moving but it turned out I actually wasn't moving (the snow flying past my created the illusion of motion) and so I fell over again, which was even weirder because it was so white I couldn't predict when I was going to hit the ground. It was a very bizarre , and maybe humbling experiencing. I have new respect for the power of winter weather. I can see how easy it would be to get lost and confused in a powerful winter storm. The resort ended up closing early. The drive back home was slightly more challenging, mostly due to limited visibility but the roads were also slicker.

That's all a bit of a side track from my normal postings, but I had mentioned Jerry earlier and there is something profoundish about feeling lost in a sea of white. It was good to see Frank and Jerry together, obviously still good friends. That made me happy.