I got up at 4:11am, ate Taiwanese red somen noodle soup, drank tea and drove to meet up with Steve and Amy. It was dark and early. I forgot how to get to their place and did a bit of circling. I decided to just pull over and park to wait for our meeting time to arrive and then call them for the address and directions just in case they weren’t awake yet. I drank lemon honey juice and did my hair while I waited. I finally called them and they drove right up to pick me up. I had so much energy from all the excitement and caffeine and vitamin c, I was super wired at 5am.
We drove to Berkeley to pick up Laura Tan and I was just there last night, a few hours ago, felt like a blink of an eye. At Berkeley Steve took the back seat and Amy switched to drive. I rolled into shotgun to keep her awake while she drives. It was lovely to chat with Amy, the Amy I know, the sister I am familiar with, the fun relaxed generous Amy, all and all a very lovely experience.
Conversations in the car was about Asian parents and what they are into, forwarding emails on urban legends they take as truth. We joked about how we should create faux email forwards to parents as communication because they prefer to believe that than their children.
We recited on the drive and did morning ceremony. There was a light heartedness in the reciting, a youthful playfulness. It was all a very lovely experience.
We pulled into Sierra at Tahoe Ski Resort at 9:10am and there was traffic to park. The driveway was on thick ice, snow tires and 4 wheel drive on their borrow vehicle really helped. It’s a comfortable car. Laura signed up for another lesson at $35 including the lesson, lift ticket, and rental, a total deal. We parted at the entrance as we all went on different directions. I got on the highest lift after looking at the clouds and wind thinking that the earlier I get up high the better it is, things might change at this weather and the access might be closed. The lines for these lifts were long and took what seems like forever, an hour to be exact, super busy today. At the line for the lift a few hard core riders from Santa Rosa invited me to join them in the woods, I felt honored, I had to tell them I wasn’t that good of a rider and would not be able to keep up. They look like they do jumps and I don’t know think I will work my way to that. They told me about Shell station deals. These guys told me about the layout of this ski resort and the runs in detail, super amazing, gave me a blue print tree by tree, bump by bump. I followed it the rest of the day, saved me from crashing here and getting stuck there. The Back Side run was fun, full of fresh powder as flurries dropped from the sky. I really loved the powder and contemplated going into the woods to carve. I didn’t pursue it, I caught an edge and fell, the snow was thick and high, I got stuck in 5 feet of powder and had to walk it and I am five feet tall.
A helicopter flew over and search and rescue team on foot worked hard looking for a man who went into the woods yesterday and has been missing over night. They finally found him at 11am and he was dead.
In the midst of joy and breath taking experience in these beautiful woods, I sank into sadness and pain. I asked the wind, blowing hard today to blow away all of this sadness and hurt. Someone else’s dream is my nightmare. I continued to ride chanting, “It ends here. It ends at me.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling better, but the boundless bubbling joy of fun and playfulness never returned. I continue to ride and be entertained, to discover and explore. I stopped for chocolate underneath nice trees.
It was windy, the wind picked up and visibility deteriorated. Lifts began to close, I continue to ride and worked my way to green diamond. I don’t like the green diamonds here, lots of flat spots, not good for snowboard, great for ski.
At Sugar and Spice run I hit a pot hole and did a 360 aerial flip, I managed to land on the top tip edge of the board and crashed. The flip felt good and easy. If I had know I would have gone for a push off and pull in to complete the 360 to land on my feet. This showed me I can do 360 and more if I train. The crash was not great for the body though.
Reception on the mountain was poor in this windy condition. I did not pick up Steve’s message until 3:47pm. The meeting time was for 3:30pm and I missed it. Probably did pick up the message via ESP because I went to the bunny slope at 3pm looking for Laura Tan but I didn’t find her because I didn’t know what she was wearing. I caught up with the others as soon as I picked up the message and met up with everyone at 4pm. Laura ran for another run and I chased after her, I was the last one, the line closed after me. Going down Easy Ride run brought back memories from the last time I was here. It was my first time and I took the lesson, this bunny run, although short was monumental at that time, it took me 45 minutes to get down with lots of rests.
The ride home seemed long because we were tired and we squeezed in a dinner break and stop by Berkeley to drop Laura off. These one day trips are long days.
