With Dave down visiting for the Game Developer's Conference, it seemed a natural choice to head up to the slopes of Tahoe and introduce him (as I had a few years earlier) to the bigger hills of the west. Of course, as you've been reading, the temperature here has spiked over recent weeks, threatening the very idea of skiing...
Fortunately, the snow wasn't as bad as I feared. Heavy and slow to be sure (hard and scrape-y in the shade), but not the slushbath it might have otherwise been. And really, I say, what better way to introduce California skiing then California dude-I-don't-need-my-jacket! skiing? Two new experiences in one! As it turns out, 'twas my introduction to the slopes here as well (though I lucked out and the temp had just turned warm, so the snow was better then) and I remember just how doubly fun it was.
Our destination for this adventure was South Tahoe, to the resort of Heavenly. Straddling the border with Nevada, it was amusing to see the "Welcome to..." signs as one is skiing, not to mention looking at the town from atop the mountain it's easy to see the state line -- that's where the towers indicating the casinos lie. Heavenly itself had quite the altitude with a top-out of 10k+ feet, and a good number of runs. Extra nifty/lucky was that hotel I booked ended up being about a block and a half away from the gondola for the mountain, so on the second day we left the car where it was and walked right to the gondola for the trip to skiing pleasure.
It was a good couple of days, if tiring due to the heaviness of the snow. The slopes were not too crowded, and lift lines were as a rule quite short. We didn't redline anything and just concentrated on having fun in the absurdity of 15 degree (C, of course) skiing. This time out my rentals consisted of 160cm skis, which seems ridiculously short compared not only to the skis when I started skiing, but also what I'd rented previous years. Apparently being wider than the norm and with their uber-contours they are supposed to perform as well or better, and certainly I didn't notice much difference, though with the conditions it may not have been as easy to notice anything unusual or different. Dave's board was a bit too flexible for his taste, so we exchanged it before the second day. And what do you do when SPF 48 isn't enough??
Once a year (well, two days over a weekend, but only one weekend per year) seems strangely little to partake in skiing for someone who used to ski far far more often, but it seems to be the reality these years for me, a tradition that now extends 3 seasons. With the hills rather far away, and the cost so amazingly high it tends not to pan out more often. But at least those few days are a blast. Somehow I have better impressions of some of the hills I've skied in North Tahoe, but I can't put my finger exactly on why (the runs just seemed -- more bland?), and I wouldn't be adverse to returning to Heavenly or trying Kirkwood. There's certainly more options for dining on the South shore...
For those wondering where the title for this post originates (there's at least one of you wondering, I'm sure of it), why, it would be from the most-excellent demo by Future Crew. During one sequence, text crawls along a rolling background/landscape, following the ground as though projected from a great light. Climbing the mountain late afternoon, we found ourselves on a lift with the sun directly behind, projecting our shadows onto the snow below. As the shadows rolled, morphed, washed and warped over the terrain and moguls below, I could only stare, fascinated and entranced of the spectacle and being reminded of that very sequence from the demo.