Spring Break Ski Weekend
The family came down to Tahoe for their first California ski trip over Spring Break. We stayed in the Koffel Cabin (Alpine Rental Group). The cabin was great: it has lots of windows looking out onto the field behind the house; it’s off of Alpine Road, so it’s very convenient; and it’s at the end of a cul-de-sac, so it’s nice and quiet.
As Sam and I drove up on Friday evening it started snowing and by the time we woke up in the morning there were 6 good inches of new, but slightly wet, snow on the ground. We fired up the old van and headed up to the hill. It was pretty windy and it kept snowing the rest of the day, so the only lift that was open was the main express. Despite being limited to one lift, we found some pretty good rruns in the trees on the front. At the end of the day I ran into Sam and he took me on the run he’d been going on most of the day—it was the best skiing on the whole mountain. I would mention Sam’s multiple double releases, but I think I’ll spare him the embarrasment. 
It kept snowing all Saturday and the temperature finally dropped so it was light and fluffy. We didn’t think much of it until the next morning, when we realized that there was a good 18” on the driveway, and that we were at the end of a very long cul-de-sac. Since we were at the end of the line, the plows weren’t expected to get to our street until after they had finished everybody elses, so the boys started shoveling snow from the driveway. At about 8 a plow finally came down the road, but it turned out that he was just the driveway guy, so the boy’s work was for nothing and the road was still blocked after he left. So we decided to hike out to the road and hitch a ride up to the mountain.
The skiing was amazing! It stopped snowing, got a bit sunny and wasn’t windy at all, so all of the lifts opened up. The Promised Land even opened up for a little bit. We skiied just about every off-piste run on the mountain, and never had to do any more than once. They may deny it later, but Coleman and Dad said it might have been the best skiing they’d ever done.