Well the term "stormy" is used to describe all kinds of situations that are unpredictable, challenging and often, exciting. One may describe a dream with similar adjectives and that just about wraps up the last couple of days. With storm totals of 60 plus inches and winds strong enough to win an arm wrestling match against Sly Stallone, our usually peaceful wonder land visited a surreal dreamlike state.
Perseverance was the name of the game when it came to scoring epic fresh lines and let me tell you, the pay-off was BIG! As I started to the hill yesterday early in the AM, I encountered a group of hitch-hiking English blokes, who weren't able to get on the shuttle. I was more than happy to be the Sierra shuttle extension for these determined snowboarders who had walked a mile in the snow that day, and in the rain the day before to catch a ride up the hill. They we chipper and well mannered, I guess they were just stoked that they were going to ride fresh all day and those happy thoughts had erased whatever happened previously. They also helped my dig out my racks that were buried in a beanie of snow and iced shut- an added extra.
Along the way we passed some snow gobbling monsters.
When we got to the hill, it was snowing steadily with almost no winds. From the base it looked like we may have gotten 8" or so. But like in a dream, things were not as they seemed. I was delighted to touch down on 12" to 18” once I was able to feel for myself. There were some chair lines yet, the magic that was found at the cue’s end was well worth the wait. I felt a bit mentally challenged when I couldn't control the amount, or the volume, of my laughter as swooshed through trees, raced through single tracks, floated off boulders right back into trees again. Still, I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything and I'd do just about anything to get it- not unlike the English kids.
As the staggered lift openings allowed us access to areas of the mountain in increments, there were fresh lines all day long. I hit up Knob, then West Bowl, and finished the day with face shots in Jack's Bowl and the trees off Castle. I was whipped by then and on one of my last runs I crashed into a cushy tree well where I rested before I dug myself out. Here's the view from where I caught my visible breath.
I also made some friends while in line- Nina from the Pub and another shred head from SF. We had a blast- funny how in this environment you can easily make a friend of a complete stranger, never even seeing his or her face.
In the dreamiest part of my day, I had the time to marvel at a single snowflake that fell upon my jacket... so simple and perfect…..and my puzzler puzzled how many more billions of these little buddies it takes to make an experience like this happen.
I finished the day with a hot co-co and now today back at work, my soreness has disappeared, the sun has peeked through the clouds and it’s almost as if it never happened. Just like a dream.
There are plenty more dreams to be had out there today with Gates 2 and 3 open along with lifts on the backside.
See more photos in What Dreams are Made of Photo Album.
