Ahh...Ski Week

So we hit the slopes again this past week. My older daughter's school was closed for the week, yes ski week, (and by the way, today too, a bit of a pain, but that's another topic.) One of the annoying things to contend with when you drive to Tahoe is the traffic. What would normally be a 3 1/2 hour trip from the Bay Area could turn into a 6 hour or worse nightmare. To avoid this scenario, my husband had the bright idea of getting up at 5am in the morning to make the trip. You think it sounds painful? well it is. We did however avoid traffic and the girls were very happy with their McDonald's pancakes for breakfast.

We were on the mountain at Squaw, with our gear on, by 10am. We had spring skiing weather. The girls improved so much over the four days we were in Tahoe. As for myself, I thought I had improved as well, when I actually made it down a black run at Northstar on our second day. But I don't think I did. On our last day at Squaw, the girls and their dad just headed downhill with no problem down a run called Exhibition (which, by the way, is coded blue on the map, but that particular section is shown as black on the signage...just so the facts are straight here...). I started down and got stuck smack in the middle of the run. My right foot just would not listen to my brain and refused to point downward. It just didn't move and it didn't move for at least 5 minutes or more. I finally tried to slide my skis down and then my foot decided to unstick itself from the parallel position it was in and pointed itself down the mountain. Just a reminder that I still lack guts when faced with a steep slope. It is actually a psychological problem I know...I made it down the black at Northstar because people have told me Northstar is not as difficult a mountain as Squaw. But as soon as I saw the black diamond next to the name of the run at Squaw, my legs froze. It just wasn't going to happen.

Thank goodness my daughters don't take after me. Although my older one had quite a scare at Squaw on our third day in Tahoe. We had an instructor for the morning that day and he thought she was ready for some hard runs. He took her down Siberia and she did fine. Someone told him the snow was good at Headwall, a black. He took her down Headwall and apparently she skied trying to avoid rocks that were showing and fell. Since it is a very steep slope, she fell quite a ways. It really frightened her. She told me she was scared and people came up to ask her if she were OK. And that did it. She didn't want to ski anything harder than Gold Coast that afternoon. Poor girl...I would have been scared too.

The next morning, our last, my husband, not wanting that to be our older daughter's last experience skiing, coaxed her into skiing an 'easier' black run, Granite Chief. She did fine but my sister who skied with them told me she was a bit teary eyed but made it down. Good for her...a better person than I.

We had fun but thank goodness I am home and don't need to put on my ski boots! Skiing is fun but again there is a lot of overhead involved. As I mentioned in my other post on skiing, there is the packing, the traffic etc. Also don't forget the potty breaks! It seemed like my younger girl, who is 5, had to go so many times! And it is a royal pain! I mean...having to take off the helmet, jacket, mittens, sweater, the bib just to go to the bathroom and then having to put them all on again. But I know we are lucky to be able to do so and it's great to see the girls proud of themselves.

Skiing is definitely a workout for someone like me but snow tubing really gave me a workout!! I was sweating! I took my girls and one of my nephews tubing and boy trudging up the hill with the kids in ski boots...now that's a workout. After an hour I was spent and smelly. For those of you who don't feel that skiing is a cardio workout, just go snow tubing with 3 kids. That'll do it.

Some tips...food on the mountain is better at Squaw than Northstar. There is no comparison. We usually ate at the Arc at Squaw (thanks to my sister's recommendation). She took us one day for lunch at Sandy's Pub at the Resort at Squaw Creek (you can ski right to it on the Squaw Creek run). The kids meal is a deal there! (Obviously it is relative but we are talking about food prices on the mountain after all.)

Buy discount ski tickets before you go. You can buy them at REI and other stores in the area. We weren't planning on skiing at Northstar this time around so when we did on our second day, we were bummed we were going to have to pay full price. Luckily, a woman in line next to my husband offered him her 'buy one get one free' voucher for ski lift tickets. You can ask for the voucher from any Shell gas station if you fill up with at least 10 gallons of gas. Nice to know. Skiing at Squaw is slightly cheaper than Northstar with young kids. Adult prices are nearly identical but Squaw only charges $10 for kids 13 and under and Northstar charges $34 for 5 and above. (Although the child's ticket is good for another day of skiing at Northstar.)

Well there you go...we all survived another ski week with no serious injuries. And it was fun!