First time in Tahoe in 4 years!

Last weekend I made it up to Lake Tahoe to celebrate friends' birthdays and timely promotions/new jobs. I hadn't been to Tahoe since the winter of 2006, nor have I been skiing anywhere else since then. I have never been a strong skiier - I don't practice often, I don't like going fast downhill, and I don't have a lot of confidence on the slopes. But, I can enjoy myself for a few hours sliding around on the green and easy blue runs, and I mostly go to Tahoe for the apres ski and the cooking/hanging out in the cabin.

This trip's group had 8 people in a cozy cabin on the North Shore near Kings Beach. I drove up with Lorenzo on Thursday morning, skipping the weekend traffic and beating the snowstorm predicted for that night. On Thursday afternoon, I took a lesson at Sugar Bowl as there was a $54 package for 1/2 day lift, rental and lesson and the lesson really helped my confidence improve and reminded me of the right mechanics.

The next day, I stayed at home in the cabin, prepping dinner, reading, and taking a nap: a perfect day! But Saturday, I was back out on the slopes, trying out my new skillz when I unfortunately got onto a run that was way beyond my ability level. It was marked blue, but it didn't look blue. In fact, I could barely see it at all. Clouds made for very limited visibility. What I could see is that I would have to jump off a ledge to start carving down into a blowl of last night's ungroomed snow. This was not going to end well.

I stared at it for awhile, I watched other people go down, and then I sat myself down, slid myself off the ledge, and hoped I could get up to use slow and controlled sweeping curves (the only kind I can do!) to get down the mountain. No such luck. I couldn't see, I couldn't get through the ungroomed snow, and most importantly, I was scared.

After a few falls and struggles to right myself, I could feel the tears coming. I didn't mind crying. I knew I would feel better to cry out my frustration, but it still felt like a waste of time and it didn't directly contribute to me getting down the mountain. My friends were patient with me though, and section by section, I did make it down the mountain--although not always on my skis. There were many parts where I felt that the safer and more productive use of my energy was to slide down on my butt, so that I did. The parts where I did ski, I was so tense and scared that I wasn't using proper form (mostly leaning back in my boots instead of forward) which kills your quads very quickly.

At the bottom, I planned to have lunch (comfort food in the form of peanut butter, banana, and jelly sandwiches), rest a bit, and then head back out to the safer green slopes. But you can guess where I ended up instead. Three drinks later it was finally time to meet up with the group, and I enjoyed my aftenoon chatting with people at the bar much more than my few hours on the steep and scary slopes.

This isn't the first time I have had a frustrating and scary experience skiing, and each time, I ask myself: why do I keep doing this to myself? I suppose after awhile you forget how bad it was before, and usually you do want to conquer your fears. But for me, I go to Tahoe to spend quality time with friends, cook meals in a cabin, and look at the beautiful snow from the comfort of a warm living room.

This weekend was no exception, and each of our three dinners at the cabin were a joint effort between myself, Lorenzo and Jim (the birthday boys). My main contribution was the homemade mac n cheese, but the pork chops with shallots and apples and the slow cooked chili were all great cabin dinners.

On Sunday we had a sunny day for some hiking, and Lorenzo, Ksenya, Arielle and I did a few miles on a snowshoe trail (but without the snowshoes) around Donner Lake.

I love Tahoe, but I was also so happy to be back in San Francisco that Sunday night. Happy Birthday to Lorenzo and Jim, and thanks for organizing a fun weekend!