Saturday, March 10, 2012

Spring conditions at Northstar



After finishing the second part of my exam yesterday, I was ready for some fun, so we went to Northstar for a day of skiing.  Conditions were spring like -- icy in the morning and slushy in the afternoon -- but there was an hour in the middle with soft corn snow, perfect for carving.  It's hard for snow like this to bump up, so everything was buffed smooth, and you could ride your edges nicely during that part of the day when everything was soft before getting mushy.

I learned a lesson: avoid the "Euro Snack Shack" at the top of the Comstock lift, where it took the two incompetent attendants 20 minutes to assemble a hot dog.  I begrudge the valuable ski time they wasted, and the $8 spent for that privilege.  Normally we take our own lunches, and surreptiously chomp them down in the lavish lodges, but today we forgot to pack them.  So I won't feel guilty the next time I do that either!

The kids had a good day playing at Nonny's and came home tired.  They had their bath, milk, and then fell asleep without any of the usual protests.  If you click on the picture above, you can see how bright it was up in Tahoe.  I took a photo of the marsupial mascot of the Northstar Ski School -- RipperRoo -- scurrying around the Big Springs deck.