Our morning started earlier than our sore bodies were ready for. Nick and I had decided to ride Squaw Valley Resort for a change in scenery and this meant an early morning and long drive to get to Olympic Valley. After Nick dug the Trailblazer out of over 6 inches of snow and with coffees in hand, we set out to see how the storm turned Lake Tahoe into a winter wonderland.
Apparently our blue-bird day drew out the locals and tourists because the wait to turn into Olympic Valley was ridiculous. After was seemed like forever, we were up the cable car and at High Camp at 8200'. Our ultimate goal was to ride the runs down to Shirley Lake which was the beautiful area we hiked with Kyla back in July 2009. So off we went.
This is where I found my difference in color. To preface, Squaw doesn't mark their runs by green, blue, and black. They mark their chair lifts. So as we dropped down some un-named run, we quickly realized what Squaw considers "blue" runs, the rest of the normal world considers it "black." With all the powder that was dumped on the mountain, the runs were covered in almost 2 feet of powder that's been plowed, pushed, and rutted out by other skiers and snowboarders. This makes the steep runs all that much more challenging.
The best part of the day was when Nick was leading and continued straight past a sign that read, "Experts Only." I hollered to him but it was too late. We were already in the midst of deep powder and steep runs. We were both doing great until I hit a mound of snow and did a flying Superman, landing face-first in the powder, sliding down the run, eating more snow than I care to admit, and all of this was under the watchful eyes of those on the chairlift above. It was a perfect 10 landing.
We ventured over to the other end of the resort and took a chairlift up to the top ridge hoping we can ride some different runs. Halfway up the lift, a huge cloud rolled in and were were in pure white-out conditions. Now, I don't get vertigo but these were conditions that gave anyone vertigo. Everywhere we looked, it was grayish-white. More that a little scary. What was worse was when we got to the ridge at the top of the lift. One side was a sheer cliff and the other side was a double black diamond bowl. Oh, and I couldn't see anything because my goggle lenses were for sunny conditions. Somehow we made it down the ridge, riding blind part of the way.
We decided to break for lunch and see if the visibility improved. After about 45 minutes, we walked back outside to even more fog and clouds so we decided to call it a day. We were exhausted and pleased with how we handled the "blue" (AKA "black") runs.
On our way back, we planned on getting together with Stacy and my old friend Heather for drinks and appetizers in Incline Village. The three of us girls reminisced on old times, swapped funny stories, and caught up on our lives. We had a great time and shared many laughs. Nick and I headed back to our hotel, took hot showers, popped a few Tylenol, and got ready to do this all again tomorrow...but back at Heavenly.
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