February 2019 – wandering chardonnay

Certain Shade of Green -Incubus

It’s not easy being green.

Actually its not hard. Heck I never thought green was my color. Apparently it is now. My on mountain uniform is green and totally matches my backpack (that I’ve never used, til now). By pure coincidence I bought a light green helmet (it was the last inexpensive one they had). Plus I have Cnoc green ski poles too! Then I just got gifted this sweet coat….

Usually I got for the black out look……

Guess it’s time to mix it up a bit! Wandering chardonnay is going green!

(Side note: I normally don’t do name brand stuff…..but I am seriously loving on my North Face gear, like all of it. I could certainly update my ski kit, I’ve had everything for years, Salomon boots, Atomic Skis and an off the rack jacket. When I like something I stick with it, but I’m on the look out for replacements!)

Februburied

skiing

Snowmageddon……..Snowpocalypse, whatever you want to call it we go a crap load of snow. 102″ in the past 7 days, 38″ in the last 24 hours! But wait the forecast for the next week:

We are good on snow, yo….for now anyway we are full.

Last night the snow seemed like it would never stop. One of my roommates was trying to go to Santa Cruz but got turned around in Truckee when I-80 closed. It took my other roommate 2 hours to get home from Squaw 8 miles away! So glad I opted to stay in, plenty of stories of people stuck and hotels full. We had multiple people crashing at our place and more cars than we had parking space for. So we broke out the emergency supplies (beer, vodka, tequila and frozen pizza) and stayed up til 4 am watching people slowly drive by.

Squaw and Alpine were closed for the day due to high avalanche hazard. This morning the sun came out and the sky was a beautiful blue…we dug out (2 cars anyway)….then it clouded over and started snowing…again! Tomorrow I’m back on the mountain, I foresee a lot of shoveling and possibly a chance to send it! This is shaping up to be one memorable winter season. Oh Tahoe……

Magic Carpet Ride

Life, skiing

Worked the magic carpet today (a surface lift used to move skiers and snowboarders uphill). It’s kinda fun to work the carpet. Its a reminder that we all start somewhere. There was a ski instructor with 4 little kids all under the age of 5. Little shredders! They are so fun to watch they have little fear and learned quickly (low center of gravity helps, I think). So cool to see them “get it”, to the point they weren’t even waiting for the instuctor, just barreling on down the hill. Funny though when they get tired they just fall over and lay there! That’s it done.

Later there was the beginner adults with their instructor. Adults tend to be more tentative and careful. When kids fall they lay there….til you pick them up (and sometimes cry); adults fall, lay there laugh and apologize. No worries I say..lending a hand, now you know how to fall. Nailed it.

Eventually they will move on from the carpet to the chair lifts. Watching people learn to ski is pretty cool. Seeing their confidence build. Like most other things in life you will fall, but you have to get up (sometimes with help) and give it another try. Get back on the ~~horse~~ skiis! You got this!