Recalling Powder Days

Many people live for life on the beach, the city, the farm, but up here in Alpine country we live for the snow. The seasons are changing up here and attitudes are shifting from the beach to Heavenly Mountain. There are a lot of groans and complaints, mainly form the women who don’t want to forfeit their sunny days in the sand, but, truth be told, the majority of the folks up here are praying for an early snowfall. The past couple of seasons we haven’t received very much snow until the middle of December. As weather trends have shown us in the past, a few late seasons eventually build up for a great early one, and that is exactly what we are wishing for.

There really is nothing like hitting South Lake Tahoe’s Heavenly Mountain right after a serious dump of the white stuff. Last year, I was lucky enough to have the day off from work and be able to experience this phenomenon first hand and break in my new ski rentals. It was a Sunday night and it had not stopped snowing for three days, so I knew Monday morning was going to be the pristine day on the hill. We received close to four feet in three days and Monday it was supposed to clear up. The weather man was actually correct and Monday the skies cleared, the ski resort had 40″ of fresh snow, and I was waiting for the first chair up the mountain. The lines were beginning to fill up, all of the local powder hounds and super lucky tourists were anxiously awaiting the ski lift to begin carrying folks to the top, and I had just finished my coffee, perfect timing. The ski lift began running, everyone’s brand new ski and snowboard rentals all freshly waxed, and smiles all around, we all started one of the best days of the season. It was one of those days when your ski rentals couldn’t go fast or high enough to keep up with the adrenaline your body was producing. By the end of the day, which was around 1pm for me, your body was aching, thighs burning, and soles of your feet stinging from pure jubilation of the perfect ski day. I and many others like me, I believe, live for these days and if everyone in the world could experience just one day like this one, I think we would be living in a much more peaceful world.