Twice so far in Tahoe!
It is true — Tahoe ski resorts have closed during the Pandemic, however, we are able to reminisce on our two trips that we got in before it happened. Our first trip was an immense success. Jamie’s company funded a weekend at the slopes, and we took advantage of taking intermediate lessons, which were a must after our brutal snowboarding performance in Colorado earlier this year. These lessons turned out to be perfect! Our teacher was this rockstar woman in her 70’s who began snowboarding in her late fourties, and rides the slopes with an enviable smooth glide. Somethings clicked for us, and we have since then improved so much. Not once since that class did we catch an edge, and are now able to ride flat without trembling fear.
During the Bould company trip we did a second day to continue practicing everything we learned during our lesson. And Mother Nature was on our side - we got 9 inches of snow. Tahoe has gotten virtually no snow up to this point, and so the trails were fluffy and we rode the ski lifts in blizzards. It was like waking up to a snow day - and instead of the excitement of school being canceled, we got to play a bit more adventurously and dangerously on our snowboards.
Our second trip to Tahoe was recent - and we originally planned on doing a two day snowboarding trip again. It ended up being a one day trip, and the snow was EPIC. We found a slope that had a lot less people on it, and got to tempt our fate within the trees. It was incredibly memorable - there were times where all 6 of us were jamming out together. I would link to my toes as Alex moved onto his heels beside me. I could feel Jamie behind us as Emily squatted low to the snow in front. Teddy jumped a hill, and Asim flew beside us. It was so much fun to move in a pack down the hillsides, and when the wind picked up, we were encompassed in white. So much so that we could no longer see each other, and our breath was held in awe.
It was moments like that that are frozen in time, and becomes the reason why we return. Why we brave the traffic to get to Tahoe, or in our case, to get out of Tahoe. This last trip to Tahoe proved the most treacherous, as all highways closed due to the amount of snow that began to fall. We couldn’t go to the lifts a second day because of the Pandemic, and so we shoveled out our cars and decided to head back early. It ended up taking 24 hours to drive back to Tahoe, 16hrs on the road, and a 7hr emergency hotel stop (we hid Boo in our coat when we learned no dogs were allowed at the hotel. It was 1am. Ain’t no body got time for that). It was maddening, and I cursed Tahoe. But then I think of that sweet powder, and the moments when I was one with the wind and mountains. And I forget about the tears I cried taking off tire chains for the 7th time, or the moments when we had to find the chains in the middle of the night when they fell off. We tried so hard to leave, and undeterred, look forward to when we return.
