The last 2wks of my life TR (no pics, sorry!)

[girlski0912]

In the last two weeks I have managed to swing a week in Tahoe and a weekend in UT, back to back. I don't have pics yet, and when I get them, only have pics from Tahoe. I have put off buying a digi camera in lieu of all the traveling I have been able to do.
Back to the TR- My last spring break ever (hopefully) was spent road tripping to Tahoe with a friend from Whistler and her old roommate. Holly and I compete together and really enjoy skiing together. Her roomie Brianne is cool and was a great addition to the trip until her boyfriend showed up unexpectedly (BOOOOOOOO, even though he is one of my really good friends and I have known him longer than her) and she ditched us. I guess "CHICKS BEFORE DICKS" doesn't apply.
We had my family's very styled out house to stay in for free at the Y on south shore, so we were a quick drive away from Kirkwood. On top of that, between Holly and myself, we managed to hook up tickets so that of the 6 days we skied we paid for one lift ticket. Insert shout out to Elliot for the Sugarbowl tickets; Tim Cohee at Kirkwood for the passes at Kirkwood, and Katja at Squaw for the passes to cover the tele rail jam that never was....I continue.
We got a late start the first day and decided to buy a half day ticket at Sierra at Tahoe. Review: Um...lots of quality gaper watching and ridiculously overpriced tickets. It was a sunny day however and things softened nicely. On the second run we end up meeting some local guys who showed us some backcountry lines and then got us thoroughly wasted after. One was an employee and that night there happened to be an employee party including free dinner buffet, drinks, bands, and craziness. After ganking lunchtrays and sledding Easy Rider multiple times, the decision was made to head back to the guys' house where we....got really fucked up, Brianne passed out and then woke up with the hiccups. Her solution was to dangle off of the couch upside down and try to pour water into her mouth. She didn't drown, but after consuming multiple baked goods prepared with a special herbally enhanced butter, she was too stoned to drown.
For the two days that we headed to Kirkwood our time was spent tearing around with the same group of guys from Sierra plus their local friends off of the Kirkwood freeride team. Super fun group of guys to ski with. Also made turns with Amy Holland who I knew of from competing but had yet to meet. She is a total sweetheart who kills it. Hope she kicks some ass on her home turf this week!
Kirkwood conditions were springy, though still pretty firm because of the high winds and cold temps that the mountain had seen. I hadn't been to Kirkwood in a long time and though the base area is completely different, the mountain still remains one of the best. All you Kirkwood mags are a lucky bunch. I would love to return for a tour of the bc. The boys showed us the multiple lines that they either tour or sled out to. Sick stuff for sure.
After Brianne ditched, Holly and I headed to Sugarbowl for a day. The place was COMPLETELY EMPTY...it was sort of freaky actually. We were shooting some photos for Holly's article of her month roadtrip that she is taking throughout Cali. (Check out Doglotion.com for reports of the Kirkwood comp and other local events that Holly is covering. She will also be doing a write up of our time there with pics and all...I will be sure to post a link when I get the chance.) There were low lying clouds but we still shot some ok stuff in the trees.
Sugarbowl, aside from being eerily empty, was still as fun as I remembered it being. Again, the snow was pretty corny and soft on most aspects. Memories of Sugarbowl on a powder day were very prevelant. It was our third day of being on hill and charging hard and by the end of the day I was pretty worked. This particular week in Tahoe definately developed and refined my ability to link fast turns and "carve" to the best that you can on tracked bullet proof. I was getting really good at it just about the time that ULLR decided to unleash on Tahoe. Enter Mr. Lane Meyer...

[girlski0912]

After partying like renegade rockstars on St. Patty's day, Holly and I decided that a day off to recover from hangovers and sore legs wasn't a bad idea. Especially after we heard the weather report. We needed to be well rested for the weekend of pow skiing at Squaw that we had ahead of us.
I called Lane Meyer to coordinate a meeting point for Saturday morning at Squaw. The last time I had skied Squaw I was 10. It was icy...I needed to have a tour of the mountain to change my mind. When we got there Saturday morning, Holly's car was smoking and it was raining. I was less than stoked at the idea of skiing in the rain. We had passes to cover a tele rail jam and vowed that we would at least give it a shot.
Meet the infamous Lane Meyer. I will take this moment to give major props to Lane and his roommie Rob- the two coolest guys ever! They showed us around, gave us a place to stay Saturday night so that we didn't get stuck on South Shore when 89 closed, and in general showed us a great time!!! These guys are the best!!!!! I digress....we all rally and head on up the Gondola. It is windy, it is socked in, it is sort of snowing and sort of raining. I liken it to skiing in a slurpie....we take a few runs off of Shirley chair and it is DEEP. It's also really heavy, which turns out to be a perfect base for the next day. Most of the upper mountain is closed, and for good reason. Our third lap off of Shirley we are on the chair heading back up and are thoroughly soaked. We are 10 feet from getting off of the chair after suffering through REALLY nasty wind gusts. We have the bar down because it is no fun getting swung around on a chair lift...no fun... 10 feet from the top and I can't wait to get off and the FUCKING CHAIR STOPS (BAD)...FOR 30 FUCKING MINUTES (WORSE)...IT IS BLOWING AND SNOWING AND THERE IS ICE FORMING ON OUR GOGGLES (FUCK ME)...We watch patrol come and go on sleds like this whole spectacle is an open house. We contemplate jumping off of the chair but no go considering the contigent of ski patrol present. THe guy on the lift with us can't feel his left arm. In essence, we are miserable and decide that this day is OVER...Once we are freed from our own personal hell taking place on a chairlift, we head down to start drinking.
The night is spent watching Hot Dog and drinking but certainly not enough to render us incapable the next day.
The next day is EPIC...and windy. Lany shows us around all that KT chair has to offer despite wind closures and shitty viz. The area that they call Geriatric Ridge (red dog ridge) provides the best wind buffed and deep pow turns of the day. We called it at 2 due to nasty wind gusts. It was the scariest storm skiing I have ever experienced. After calling it, we headed down for some adult bevies and dry clothes. Holly and I headed back to South Shore. The clouds started to clear as we drove around the lake (89 was closed) and knowing that I was leaving to go back to Seattle the next day, my heart was pretty heavy. I hate leaving the mountains which i now take as a sign that I need to be back in them ASAP.
I miss my flight the next day (I will refrain from any comments, though i have PLENTY). All that I will say is that there is a reason for why I am a control freak. It sucks learning the hard way the difference between people who can be relied upon and those who can't. Next time, i won't rely on Holly for a ride to the airport....I return home and begin reading post after post about how fucking deep it is in tahoe. The question repeats itself in my head "Why in the hell am i in class/work/seattle and NOT in tahoe right now?????" By Wednesday of last week I am beside myself. While that last day at Squaw was awesome, I couldn't accept that it was my last day of the season. So I start checking on tickets to UT, just for shits and giggles....and that is when the plan formulates to head to UT....

[girlski0912]

I call Monique ( a newbie to the board, but a tried and true partner in crime). I know that she really wants to travel and has the felxibility in her schedule to do so. 20 minutes later we are the proud owners of a cheap airfare and rental care package deal to UT, departing Friday night. Calls are made to arrange for places to stay and we end up staying with one of my best friends, Kyra, who lives in Park City. She and I raced in college together and then ski bummed together in Jackson...yet another partner in crime. Cue Monique raising the observation that the possible reason that I have so many partners in crime might be due to the common denominator in all of it...ME...I tell her she is probably right and off we go to UT.
We hit Solitude early Saturday morning and are blessed by the gods with bluebird, plenty of fresh pow, and NO CROWDS. Myself, Kyra, and Monique spend the morning lapping the front side before hitting up Summit Chair and Honeycomb. THE DAY WAS WHAT DREAMS WERE MADE OF...we skied our asses off in short. The laps in Honeycomb were perfect- deep and light and fresh. I was smiling like a fool each time we got onto the lift. Apres kicked off the procession to party our asses off on Saturday night. We started off by meeting up with Woodsy and Iceman at the Thirsty Squirrel for beers. It was great to see Woodsy and really cool to meet another mag, Iceman and co. That night we headed back to Park City and entered Cougar Hell aka No Name Saloon. It was too much for us to handle, despite the alcohol. And that was only making our observations more vocal. We went next door to Shucks were some poor schmuch tried to win me over by buying me drinks. Little did he know that I wasn't drinking them but instead handing them all to my friends.
And the last day...we headed to Brighton...

[girlski0912]

Hungover and exhausted, we were fucking worthless. Monique had her Crystal pass and Kyra and I finessed tickets. We lasted about 3 hours. The was warm and soft. After charging a few runs, I opted for groomers. I attemped a few drops with soft landing and my knees objected LOUDLY. At this point we decided to call it. The next storm was rolling in the sky had gone from blue to grey...That was our sign. We met Lynx, Woodsy, Iceman and others at the Thirsty Squirrel again. I learned the news about Altachic and DTM (STOKED!!!); also learned what Lynx's REAL name was (I had always wondered); and saw Woodsy in a pretty pale yellow shirt ala easter. Cute...very spring like!
We left this morning right as the storm was kicking up. It killed me. I am sitting in class right now writing all of this and re-living the past 2 weeks in my head. I graduate in 1.5 months, I take the bar in July and then I am free. It is snowing here now, so that will keep me sane for the next few weeks. After that, I need to figure out how to get myself back to the mountains next winter. I could live in UT for a few seasons, however any professional future in that state would be minimal for me. I don't think I could deal with the politics of it all...but the mountains I could handle. I miss those mountains more than I can articulate right now...It has been a good 2 weeks!

[White Chocolate]

Hungover and exhausted, we were fucking worthless. Monique had her Crystal pass and Kyra and I finessed tickets. We lasted about 3 hours. The was warm and soft. After charging a few runs, I opted for groomers. I attemped a few drops with soft landing and my knees objected LOUDLY. At this point we decided to call it. The next storm was rolling in the sky had gone from blue to grey...That was our sign. We met Lynx, Woodsy, Iceman and others at the Thirsty Squirrel again. I learned the news about Altachic and DTM (STOKED!!!); also learned what Lynx's REAL name was (I had always wondered); and saw Woodsy in a pretty pale yellow shirt ala easter. Cute...very spring like!
We left this morning right as the storm was kicking up. It killed me. I am sitting in class right now writing all of this and re-living the past 2 weeks in my head. I graduate in 1.5 months, I take the bar in July and then I am free. It is snowing here now, so that will keep me sane for the next few weeks. After that, I need to figure out how to get myself back to the mountains next winter. I could live in UT for a few seasons, however any professional future in that state would be minimal for me. I don't think I could deal with the politics of it all...but the mountains I could handle. I miss those mountains more than I can articulate right now...It has been a good 2 weeks!

Don't worry, the best is yet to come at the places you know the best


edit: forgot to say that it sounds like you had a rad/crazy last couple weeks. Nice

[Viva]

Yo, K. Mix in a few more pagebreaks, mmmkay?

[girlski0912]

Yeah...long post I know. It was a big 2 weeks for me. Plus, I kept having to switch classrooms, so the page breaks made it easy to post what i had typed without losing anything.

[CS]

Cool writeup, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a sweet trip. I could use a trip like that right about now.