Sierra At Tahoe

After we went to the basketball game, Drew spent Monday night with us. Up early, he and I headed to Sierra at Tahoe. I skiied there last year with Drew, Tomasin and Glenn. This is the second time that I have skiied this year; I skiied with Larkin at Northstar at the end of January. I am hoping to ski at Northstar one more time this year.

I took it pretty easy; I was not very aggressive. Drew skiied a couple of runs by himself after lunch. I was surprised that the snow was starting to get heavy after lunch.

We quit about 2 pm and headed to Morgan and Daniel's apartment in Placerville.

Northstar

As a retirement gift, Adventist Health gave me a REI gift certificate. I put it towards a refresh of my ski equipment. I have been skiing on poles I bought in 1977, boots I got in 1982 and skis and bindings that Sharon gave me for Christmas in 1998.

I spent the day at Northstar with Larkin skiing on the new equipment. The weather was warm; the temperature got up to 50 degrees by mid-day. As a result, the snow conditions were not the best. Additionally, the coverage was a little sparse at the bottom of a couple of runs that we explored after lunch.

I like the new equipment. In spite of the snow conditions, I felt like I got stronger and more comfortable over the course of the day. I wore a brace on my right knee; it held up pretty well.

I always enjoy Larkin's company. I need to ski a couple more times this year!

Sierra-at-Tahoe

Drew, Tomasin, Glenn and I spent the day skiing at Sierra-at-Tahoe. I haven't skiied since Tomasin, Glenn and I skiied at Shasta Ski Park in February of 2021.

Tomasin and Glenn met me at our house and I drove from there. We met Drew in the parking lot; he drove up by himself.

We skiied from about 10:30 am to 3:30 pm with a couple of breaks. I really enjoyed the day. My right knee held up pretty well. Drew has had a season pass to Sierra-at-Tahoe this year. He has skiied about eight times and is looking very strong.

Drew and I finished the day with dinner at Rey Aztec.

At Shasta Ski Park

Using RunKeeper on my iPhone, I built a map and a couple of views in Google Earth of our ski runs at Shasta Ski Park. If it had been a clear day, I think that we could have gotten an interesting group photo with Mount Shasta in the background.

Man Down Redux (Shasta Ski Park)

I took a quick walk from the Sheraton to the Sundial Bridge in the morning. Afterwards, I met Tomasin at his mom's house at 7:30 am. Snipes rolled up a few minutes later. Tomasin drove the three of us to the Mt. Shasta Ski Park; it was a little over an hour.

After some initial turmoil, I had a nice day skiing with Tomasin and his neighbor Glenn. It wasn't cold or rainy. The runs were covered with a fair amount of heavy powder. Turning in this kind of snow is hard on my right knee. It was foggy most of the day.

We stopped for lunch about 1245 pm. With the visiblity getting worse and worse, we called it a day about 3 pm.

Now for the rest of the story. Snipes didn't make it into any of the pictures...

Shasta has triple lift chairs. In Snipes defense, they are moving pretty fast. I had the chair sneak up on me a couple of times over the course of the day, including getting hit on the helmet pretty hard as I turned my head to look back.

Getting on the chair for the first run, I was with Tomasin and didn’t see what happened. Snipes was with Glenn.

Talking to Snipes later, he said that as he turned to look back for the chair, he got dizzy and lost his balance. Snipes then got plowed over and knocked down by the chair. They had to stop the lift, help him get up and put him on the chair. Glenn said later that Snipes really struggled to stand up.

At the top of the chair lift, it was a pretty steep ramp down, When you haven’t skied in a while getting off the chair on to a drop off can be daunting. Again, I didn’t see what happened, but Snipes crashed getting off the chair. He had a hard time getting up again; he to be helped.

I was down the hill screwing around with my boots, The first time I saw Snipes he was lying on the ground wrapped around a pole. Apparently, he had skied down a short distance and slide into the pole. He was on the ground saying that he was having some trouble breathing, shortness of breathe.

Fairly quickly, the ski patrol came up and started talking to him. Both the ski patrol and Tomasin were concerned that it was a cardiac event.

They ended up putting him in a sled and taking him back to the lodge. Once he was there, they put him in an ambulance and sent him to the local hospital. Snipes spent the rest of the day having tests run on him. He joked that everything came back fine except for {redacted}.

The hospital released him about 3 pm and Tomasin and I scooped him up and headed back to Redding. Leaving Redding in separate cars, we met briefly at Louie Cario's. After checking out the restaurant, we all decided to just head home.

It was January of 2009 when Larkin and I were with Hunter and he had to be carried off the mountain...

Celebrating My Birthday [2017 Northstar Day 3]

Pretty much a perfect day...

Sharon and I got up and had the buffet breakfast in the Manzanita restaurant in the Ritz. Sharon had a lot of trepidation about the day; she was concerned about trying to ski with Larkins. She kept talking about only skiing a little bit and stopping early...

Hustling to get our stuff, we met the Larkins at the mid-mountain lodge before 9 am. With stops at the Summit Lodge and tōst, the four of us skied off and on until after 2 pm. We sat in the sun at tōst for long time...

Skiing with the Larkins was perfect for Sharon. Larkin coached Sharon and worked with her on her form; he worked as a ski instructor at Sugar Bowl for a number of years. I really owe both the Larkins for how well they took care of Sharon over the course of the day.

While it was sunny on the ridge and the upper lifts, the mid-mountain was foggy like Saturday. The four of us stopped for very late lazy lunch at the Backyard Bar & BBQ back at the Ritz.

Afterwards, the Larkins headed home and Sharon and I headed to the room. Sharon went to the spa to hit the jacuzzi and steam room. I watched the end of the Green Bay versus Dallas NFL playoff game. It was wild; the Packers won the game by the score of 34 to 31. Aaron Rodgers is a witch...

Sharon and I finished the day with a birthday dinner at the Manzanita restaurant in the hotel. We had a nice dinner of caesar and beet salads with a couple of filet mignons. Last Sunday, Sharon gave me a pair of snowshoes for my birthday.

Here is how I have celebrated my last fifteen birthdays!

Two footnotes. First, Larkin, Cindy and I skied together the first time 35 years ago today.

Second, the infamous Man Down incident occurred on my birthday eight years ago.

2017 Northstar Day 2

The plan for the day was to ski. Sharon and I had coffee and oatmeal for breakfast at Café Blue in the hotel.

Bringing Sharon to the Ritz Carlton to ski is probably going to be a long term mistake. They have a great set up. When they checked in on Friday, they took our ski boots, skis and poles. When we were ready to ski, we stopped at the Mountain Conceirge and swapped our shoes for our boots. They keep the boots and shoes on warmers. Once you have your boots on, you walk out the door and they hand you the skis and poles. From there, you ski below the Big Easy Chair down to the Lodge at Big Springs. It is a very convenient!

When I went to buy the lift tickets, I was shocked at the price. We were quoted $150 for an adult lift ticket for Saturday.

Sharon and I had a great day. We skied for a couple of hours in the morning. We had a couple of burgers for an early lunch at the Backyard Bar & BBQ.

I got her back out on the slopes for a couple more hours after lunch. Over the course of the day, I got Sharon to ski progressively slightly harder and harder runs. The only drawback was that it was foggy most of the day in the mid-mountain. For the last couple of runs, we took the Vista chair up to the east ridge. It was sunny up there!

I got Sharon to ski a lot more than I though I would. Tomasin and Snipes had talked about coming up on Saturday, but never made it...

After skiing, we headed to the spa with the hopes of hitting a jacuzzi and steam room. Unfortunately, everything was set up for single sex, e.g. a woman's only jacuzzi and steam room.

Getting cleaned up, we headed back down to the village on the Timberline gondola. Unlike Friday night, the village was hopping. There were a lot of people ice skating and hanging out around fire pits.

We finished the night with dinner at Mikuni. We had about a 30 minute wait for a table.

Skiing at Boreal

Sharon, Jack and I spent the day skiing at Boreal with the Foys. Leaving Carmichael about 7:25 am, we pulled into the parking lot at Boreal about 8:45 am. It has been more than thirty years since I skied this resort.

The seven of us spent the morning skiing together. It has been February and March of 2008 since Sharon last skied. As a result, she struggled a little to keep up.

We stopped for lunch about 11:30 am. The lodge was packed. There seemed to be a lot of people who had set up camp for the day.

After lunch, the group split up and I took a long run with Sharon along Sunset Boulevard. From there, Sharon took a break to get some water and I tried to track down everyone. After almost an hour of searching, I finally found the Foys and Jack skiing on the Lost Dutch chairlift to the far right of the resort. I skiied with them for the rest of the afternoon. I quit about 4:00 pm and met Sharon in the bar, while the rest of the group took two more runs.

Loading up the cars, we were on the road a little after 4:30 pm. The traffic was pretty heavy; it took us an hour and 45 minutes to get back to Roseville.

After trying to get into Chicago Fire in Roseville [an hour wait], the two families ended up having dinner at Roundtable near Douglas and Sierra College.

2014 Northstar Day 2

Getting up before 7 am, I went down to the Starbucks in the village with my book. I had a cup of coffee and read.

My original plan was to ski with the Larkin group for a second day. While I was at Starbucks, Larkin texted me to let me know that he and Cindy were going to take the day off. His back and ribs were trashed.

I headed back to the condo and kicked back while Hunter and Yuli got ready. One thing I have learned over the last 37 years is that you can't do anything with Hunter and be in a hurry… Hunter had booked a lesson for Yuli. We got her to the ski school and organized about 930 am. Hunter and I were on the slope skiing a little before 10 am. We skied Comstock Express and the Backside until about 1230 pm and then headed to the mid-lodge to meet up with Yuli.

After a quick bite to eat with the two of them, I headed back to the condo to pack up. I was on the road about 130 pm and back in Carmichael about 330 pm. It was a great couple of days. It was nice to spend a couple of days with Hunter catching up.

After twisting my knee yesterday, it was not happy with me in the wet heavy snow at the bottom of the runs. I am probably going to have to ski with some kind of brace on my knee next time. It also dawned on me that prior to this trip I have only skied once in the last four years. This was two years ago at Sugar Bowl with Jack. Note to self, I need to try to make sure that I take at least one annual ski trip!

Finally, it is really shocking how little snow cover there is. Looking north from the top of Northstar, there is no snow in the Martis Valley.

2014 Northstar Day 1

Up before 5 am, I was on the road about 6 am for Northstar. The plan for the next two days is to ski with Hunter and the Larkin group. I rousted Hunter out of bed a little before 8 am with a phone call and got him to let me into the garage at One Village Place. I have had a chance to stay at Hunter's condo and ski twice before [2009 and 2010]. Looking back, I was shocked to realize that I have not been back here in four years.

I settled into the condo and then walked down to get a lift ticket. The Larkin group [Joe, Cindy, Pete and Karen] called almost as soon as I got back from buying the ticket. I met them a little after 9 am at the gondola and we headed up the mountain. We skied together on the Comstock Express stair until about 10:30 am when Hunter finally caught up with us.

After another couple of runs off of the Comstock Express, we headed towards the Backside. We skied the Challenger run. On the second run down, Hunter led us off on a short run called Follow Me. It was a mess; it was not groomed and lots of little trees sticking up through the snow. Although I twisted my knee, I worked my way down pretty well. Cindy and particularly Karen had more problems.

The next time down Larkin got tangled up with a snowboarder near the bottom. In the thirty plus years that I have skied with him, it is the longest that I have ever seen him stay down.

At this point, it was after 1 pm and we decided to head to Shaffer Camp for lunch. This is a private restaurant, bar and lounge located at the top of the Zephyr Chair. Hunter had dropped Yuli there earlier. We had a nice lazy lunch.

After lunch, Cindy headed to the mid-lodge. Larkin and I skied a couple of runs on the Backside and off the East Ridge. We never connected with Hunter. We quit about 4 pm and met the rest of the group at the mid-lodge. Finally connecting with Hunter, I skied down to the condo with him. The Larkin group stopped by the condo for a few minutes to get a tour.

Hunter, Yuli and I spent a long time in the jacuzzi. After getting cleaned up, we headed to Mikuni's for dinner. Looking for somewhere to have a drink after dinner, we wandered around the village. It was empty and everyplace was closed. We ended up going back to Mikuni's and essentially closing the place down. By the time we got back to the condo, it was after 11 pm and I crashed.

The weather was a little funky over the course of the day. While we were skiing, we had light snow flurries for most of the day. Towards the end of the day, it got very wet. When we stopped at 4 pm, my jacket was very wet. When we walked to dinner and then wandered around the village after dinner, it was raining lightly.

Skiing at Sugar Bowl

With Jack out of school for two weeks for Easter break, he and I spent the day skiing at Sugar Bowl. We got there by 8:20 a.m., were on the lift at 9:00 a.m. and skied three hard hours before taking a break for lunch. With a clear, bright day, the snow got very heavy and wet in the afternoon. Jack struggled initially in the heavier snow. After a couple of falls, he said "I need to focus and concentrate" and then did a lot better.  We skied until after 3:00 p.m. and were back in Sacramento by 5:00 p.m.

Jack at Skiing at Sugar Bowl

Skiing at Sugar Bowl

Jack and I had a great day of snow skiing at Sugar Bowl.  Up early, we got there by 8:30 a.m. and were on the slopes by about 8:50 a.m.  I enjoyed the morning, but did not like the snow after lunch.  The snow got very heavy and wet in the afternoon.

Jack got stronger and stronger as the day wore on.  He was fearless.  Frankly, Jack is a much better athlete than I ever was...

We took off early and headed back to Elk Grove for his rec baseball game.

At Sugar Bowl

At Sugar Bowl, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Playing in the Terrain Park at Northstar

Hunter, Debbie and Tomasin at Northstar

2010 Northstar Day 3

Compared to Sunday morning, Tomasin and I got a much earlier start to the day on Monday. After I wandered the village looking for eggs, we had a quick breakfast and jumped on the gondola.

We were skiing by 9:15 a.m. With essentially no lift lines, we skied under the Comstock chair for about an hour. Just as we were about to switch over to the Backside chair, Hunter and Debbie showed up. I was pleasantly surprised; I had not expected them to catch up with us until much, much later.

The four of us skied the Backside chair for about an hour and a half. We skied hard and explored six or seven different runs. Although more overcast than Sunday, the weather and the snow was good.

Breaking for lunch, we headed back again to Shaffer's Camp, the private restaurant at the top of the Zephyr chair.

We finished up the day skiing under the Comstock chair and then headed over to the terrain parks for the last couple runs of the day. We skied back to the condo about 3:15 p.m.

Tomasin and I packed up and were on the road by 3:45 p.m. I was back home in Elk Grove before 6:00 p.m.

It was a very nice couple of days. I don't get enough opportunties to see Tomasin. I enjoyed everyone's company a great deal.

2010 Northstar Day 2

After a late night, Tomasin and I were moving a little slow on Sunday morning. By the time, we had something to eat, got lift tickets and boarded the gondola, it was almost 10 a.m. One of the benefits of Hunter's condo is that you can take the elevator to the ground floor, pick up your skis from a rack or a locker and walk straight to the front of the gondola line; this is a very nice perk.

The weather was perfect and the snow was great. Unfortunately, the lift lines were long. We headed towards the Backside and skied a number of runs. Several times, we probably waited in the lift line almost 20 minutes. Hunter and Debbie finally caught up with us about noon. The four of us skied the Backside until about 1:00 p.m.

From there, we headed to Shaffer's Camp. This is a private restaurant, bar and lounge located at the top of the Zephyr Chair. Last year, Hunter, Larkin and I were planning to have lunch there before Hunter's crash. I finally got a chance to get inside this year and we had a very nice lunch.

After lunch, the four of us skied Lookout Mountain. The lift lines were generally a lot shorter.

We ended back to the condo about 4:00 p.m. went straight to the jacuzzi.

Debbie had made a reservation for dinner at Wolfdale's Cuisine Unique. Hunter's condo has a car service that took the four of us into Tahoe City to the restaurant. It was a very nice dinner; the meal was nice enough that I will probably take Sharon there next time we are in the area.

From the restaurant, we walked to Pete and Peter's. The bartender was the niece of someone who worked for Tomasin. We had a couple of beers and hung out until the car returned to take us back to the condo.

I crashed in the condo watching SportsCenter only slightly earlier than on Saturday night.

The Backside at Northstar

The Backside at Northstar, originally uploaded by heringermr.

Skiing at Sugar Bowl

I had a wonderful day skiing at Sugar Bowl with Drew and Jack.




It was an odd day from a weather standpoint. When we first started skiing, it was overcast and a little breezy. By the late morning, the clouds were gone and it was bright and sunny. By 2:00, it started snowing. It snowed harder and harder as the afternoon when on.

Although he fell a lot, Jack did a pretty good job of keeping up with Drew and I. He particularly enjoyed skiing in the terrain park.