Tag Archives: snow

Spring Ski

health, nature, personal, photograph, recreation, scenic, travel, , ,

Warm Enough For the Patio

Out west there’s still lots of snow in March for an excursion to the slopes. The Lake Tahoe area is surrounded by lots of ski resorts. We took the hour drive from Reno, NV to Truckee, CA at the north end of the lake to visit Northstar.

I gave up skiing a few years ago, but my son and two of our grandkids are still active.

Here they are ready to hit the slopes
March is the tail end of the skiing season but all of the slopes were open.
You can see that with fewer skiers they had the slopes to themselves. They reported that the snow was a little wet but it didn’t stop them at all from enjoying their outing.
When they finally took their skis off, we went looking for a place to eat outdoors.
We found a nice dining area to enjoy the balmy weather
And the grandkids seemed to take to the pleasant temperatures.

Since our son lives in Reno, we’ve often had the chance to visit the areas around Lake Tahoe. The Northstar ski resort is one of them and I have a feeling that we’ll be back again.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

Let’s Go Skiing

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<br /> Lake Tahoe Snow<br />

Snow in the Sierras


Lots of winter snow is a boon for those who love to ski.

The Lake Tahoe area is noted for its many ski slopes. This past March our plan was to visit relatives in Reno, Nevada and then drive to one of the nearby ski resorts. We made plane reservations, packed and were on our way.



We traveled by plane from our home in Grand Rapids to Reno which is the closest airport to Lake Tahoe.



We arrived in Reno to some very nasty weather on Friday. Snow in the Sierras was predicted to be six feet deep.

As predicted the snow fell heavily over the Lake Tahoe area. Some places reported eight feet of the white fluffy stuff. Yes, as skiers we welcomed the snow – but not this much. All of the ski resorts were closed to the public as the workers there were doing their best to dig the lifts and gondolas out of the deluge and groom the slopes and trails.

The interstate highway from Nevada to California was closed for safety reasons and the traffic was stopped at the state line for three days.

On Monday my son who lives in the area said that we might try to reach one of the ski resorts by an alternate route. To our surprise these roads were relatively clear of the snow. Instead of a drive of 45 minutes by the interstate we drove for two hours to reach Truckee, CA by this “backdoor” road.

Truckee is home to the Northstar Ski Resort and sits close to the north shore of Lake Tahoe. Since the main road to Truckee was closed in both directions – Nevada from the east and California from the west, the parking lot was not very full.



On the back road we were treated to some very nice scenery.



The alternate road was relatively clear of snow and tarffic.


 



Here’s our skiing crew ready to hit the slopes at Northstar.



The four of them are ascending on the quad chair.


 



Later on we took the gondola to one of the higher slopes where we enjoyed the view from the top.



The skiing was great with lots of fresh powder and uncrowded slopes.





We finished skiing by late afternoon. We took the interstate that was closed for three days had just reopened. Half way back to Reno we could see that the vehicles stopped at the Nevada-California border since Friday were starting to move on the other side of the highway. As you can see there were an amazing number of vehicles crawling along Interstate 80 to reach California.


We’ll remember the time we asked for snow and received way more than we needed.

 

Our March ski trip turned out well despite the exorbitant amount of snow that the Sierras received. We also got to visit with our son and his family for a few days.

Written by:

Arnie Lee

 

 


Winter is Fading

nature, personal, , ,

This year’s Michigan winter has felt long and unpredictable. December was decidedly frigid and harsh. During other times, we’ve seen surprising warm spells intermixed with lots of cloudy skies, frozen temperatures and snow.

But as I ventured outdoors yesterday, my camera noted a subtle change taking place. I’m seeing that old man winter may be relenting.

Last weekend we turned our clocks ahead an hour – a signal that spring is on its way. I’m hoping for an abundance of sunshine to warm the air.
 
 
Written by: Arnie Lee