Skied at Northstar at Tahoe
Skied with group leader Fairtomiddlin, Segbrown, Noodler, Bazzer, Ski3PO, WVskier, Chris, Living Proof, Jimmy, Garyskr
Skied on Dynastar Course 66, race stock
Conditions were very firm in the morning and the afternoon, a tad softer for a couple of hours in the middle.
Well, skiing is fun! Even when your fave mountain is a thousand miles away, decent snow is days away and the fun terrain is off limits.
This was a day when it was easy to see that the off piste was a bad place to be and I confirmed that on our first run. Skiing fast on a rolling groomer I cut left around a patch of trees when I should have stayed right. Took some air over a roller and that's when the landing zone came into view and it was nasty, rutted up, refrozen chicken heads. Thinking back on it, I remember that while in the air, my mind was consumed with recognizing how much it would hurt to fall on that terrain at that speed. Thankfully I was able to keep my bases down and ride out the nastiness back to the corduroy. Whew!
There were a couple of bump runs that looked vaguely inviting to the foolish, however the rest of the group showed better judgement and convinced me to stay away. Other than groomers we did take a couple of laps in Shawn White's personal half pipe. Noodler showed us how not to drop in and young Chris (son of Chrisandy) showed us how to get right to the top. I sure hope no video of my run down the pipe surfaces but it was invigorating none the less.
I'd like to give big props to Fairtomiddlin. On his third day on this mountain he guided a fast paced group of eleven with aplomb. I never would have guessed that it was his first day leading. He kept a good pace, gave good directions, stopped to regroup just often enough and in good spots.
