I wake up at quarter to 6 (I’m still on central time so I’m operating 2 hours ahead) and Randy is still snoozing. I check the map for an open coffee shop and it turns out the Coffee Connexion opens a 6. Brilliant. I grab my computer and hoof it the few blocks to the estaminet only to discover it ain’t open. Sign says they open at 6 and it’s ten after. Sign's wrong.
They are probably on Tahoe time. No worry, I walk over to a bench overlooking the lake and bang out a few paragraphs on my machine. A few minutes later I see a Jeep pull up and a woman hops out to open up the Connexion. Good timing because my soft office-job hands were starting to get pretty chilly.
I order a cappuccino and banana raspberry scone and type away while listening to The Band on my cans. They must do pretty good business here at the Connexion because a steady stream of patrons comes through in the hour & a half I’m there. Around a quarter to 8 I pack up my computer, grab a couple coffees to go and head back to the Tree. Randy must be out and about so I leave his coffee for him in the room. I venture across the street to inquire about purchasing the skis I’m renting. They do rip indeed. The fella behind the counter looks it up and it’s a bit too pricey for me. I’ll be in the market for some planks this offseason though, we’ll see what kind of deals are out there on the line. I don’t leave empty handed, though, as I scoop up a pretty cool Lake Tahoe shirt with a Grateful Dead motif.
I head back to the motel and find Randy just about geared up and ready to head out. I strap on my toolbelt and we’re off to Squaw Valley. We get there just after 9 AM and get a much better parking spot than yesterday. A short walk to the base and we’re ready to rock. We decide to head over to the Red Dog chair, thinking there will be some good runs over yonder due to the sun exposure. As we’re about to go through the turnstile Randy asks one of the employees walking by how the runs off this lift have been riding in the morning. He says they’ve been pretty icy & our best bet would be to take the funitel (a gondola with two cables instead of one, a French innovation that’s much more stable in the wind) up to the top and ride the runs off the Emigrant chair. Excellent, I’m glad Randy inquired. Side note: he’s one of the most personable people I’ve ever met. If you don’t want to talk, run away quickly if you see my cousin Randy coming your way. He’s the best.
Let's Shred
We hop on the funitel and the only other passenger is an older woman and based on her accent I’d guess she’s from Scandinavia (she sounds a lot like our øl-loving Norwegian friend Sondre). I would have asked her where she’s from but she and Randy chat the entire way up the lift. Told you he’s personable.
Once at the top we make a short hike to the Emigrant chair and the lift attendant lets us know it won’t be open for another 15 minutes. No problem, we strap on our skis and pop down to the Gold Coast chair and do a couple runs there. Once Emigrant opens we ride 'er up and upon disembarkation we find ourselves confronted with a view that's even better than the others. Unreal. I snap a few photos then bomb down the hill with cuz. It’s a pretty smooth ride, nice snow, decently steep, and very shreddable. We do a few runs here then decide to head over to the Headwall chair. It looked like there was some great runs over there when I peeked at it yesterday & I’m excited to give it a shot.
We make it to Headwall and on the way up I can tell this is going to test us; the terrain is expansive and looks challenging. We get to the top and take a look over the front side and it’s a bit too treacherous for us. Maybe if there was some more snow coverage we’d give it a whirl but there are too many exposed rocks and cliffs for my liking. We scoot around the backside and end up at a wide open snowfield without a soul on it. What more could you ask for. Randy and I rip down it and head back up. This time we’ll try another line, a bit farther to the right that looks like it’s got some potential.
We summit and whilst making our way around the other side I narrowly avoid disaster. The traverse to get to our spot is a bit crowded this time and I’m trying not to run into this band of yahoos in front of us. Randy turns left to get to our drop in point and as I go to turn my right ski catches and edge and it pulls me towards the ledge. I’m up on one ski and it takes everything I've got to pull it back together.
A lesser man would have fallen.
The dropoff was only about 2-3 feet so we’re not talking life threatening peril but it still would have hurt as bad as a Joe Anarella crossface.
Danger averted, I find myself a few hundred feet past the point where I can join Randy. Oh well, I’ll just continue this way & drop in farther down the ridge. There looked to be some nice runs down there so all is not lost. I get to what looks like a nice open run and drop in. It’s steep and it’s a workout but quite fun. My legs burn all the way down and I’m sweating like a whore in church when I get to the bottom. Randy hasn’t made it down yet so I strip off my helmet, jacket, gloves, and neck warmer and let the lovely mountain breeze refresh me. I wait for about 10 minutes before ol Rand finally emerges. He was waiting for me & didn’t realize I missed our exit. I tell him of my near miss and we hop back on the lift. This time I make the turn and ride the line we had mapped out and it was excellent. What a day.
Once again at the bottom of Headwall we decide to hit the Red Dog chair and check out the Resort at Squaw Creek, Randy’s former employer. The resort is as far right as you can get on the mountain and we ski over to it after hopping off the Dog. The run was great, although a bit patchy in places, and we didn’t see a single person the entire way. We end up at the resort and Randy gives me a quick tour of the grounds. The swimming pool is open and people are enjoying the beautiful April weather, 63 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. After a quick break it’s back to the lift.
KT-22
Randy suggests we head back to KT-22 and try the front side that we didn't hit yesterday. This is the peak that Shane McConkey and his ski gang knew like the back of their hand. They would launch off cliffs, shimmy down chutes, and ski every inch of it all day long. They were adrenaline junkies and Squaw Valley was the place to be if you were a daredevil. Watching some of the shit these guys pulled leaves my jaw on the floor every time.
From the resort we take the Squaw Creek chair then head down to the KT-22 Express. On our way up we look out to the left and map our line. The main bowl is wide open but steep and bumpy. Ain't no problem. We hop off the lift and on our way over to the bowl, we get a tremendous look over at Alpine Meadows. I snap a few photos and trace out the runs we did yesterday morning then head to our drop in. As anticipated it’s steep and bumpy but we carve through it like it’s our job. My legs are on fire but it’s worth it. Halfway down we get to a run that looks like the snow might be patchy. We start to head around the side until we see ski patrol bomb down it so we follow them. Great decision, the snow is perfect and isn’t too chopped up. A great smooth ride after a workout and a half.
We jump back on to do it all over again. There’s about half an hour before the lifts close so we can probably get one more run in if we make it down in good measure. Back to the top and down the same line. Except one little hiccup… while working down the top section I'm right behind Randy when all of a sudden *whooop* I see him fly right out of sight. I pull up and see that he went off a ledge and didn’t stick the landing. He’s in a heap and his hat and goggles are on the deck. He’s laughing and tells me he’s fine so I swing around the ledge and hand him his gear. I look back up and see a rock about 10 feet tall and the splash in the snow where Randy landed. He said by the time he saw the ledge it was too late to bail out so he just committed. And he almost stuck the landing. I think it’s funnier that he didn’t though.
Randy shakes off the snow, straps his goggles back on, and we’re back at it. We make it to the bottom at 3:55 - 5 minutes to spare. We hop on and decide to take it easy this time and ride the Saddle. Both our legs are on fire and there’s no sense trying to push it too hard on the last run of the day. We cruise down the Saddle and it seems way easier than yesterday after the aggressive runs we did today. We get back to the main base area and I absolutely need a beer. I decide I’ll snag a beer, stick it in my pocket and head to the car to relax in some lawn chairs Randy brought.
We make it back to the car and strip off our boots. Holy cow, what a feeling. According to my ski tracks app we did 25,000 feet of vertical skiing. That’s excluding the first hour and a half of the day when I forgot to turn on the app. So were likely over 27,000 feet of make-you-work-for-it skiing. An epic day.
We hang out at the car for about 20 minutes, reminiscing on the day’s tracks and other memorable ski trips. All the while planning our trips for next year. This will have to be an annual tradition, maybe even a summertime Tahoe trip for mountain biking and lake activities. It’s times like these that hammer home how lucky I really am. I have an amazing family and the opportunity to spend my days living the life of luxury. I know I will cherish this weekend forever.
An Alibi Ale Works Pale Ale down the hatch, we head back to the Pepper Tree. We unload the car and I grab my skis to drop back off at Tahoe Dave’s. Skis returned and everything in order I have to make another quick pit stop. Remember how I left my phone on the lift? Well it seems my forgetfulness is not limited to my cellular device. After the thrill of watching a drug deal happen before our eyes last night at the Fat Cat, I neglected to grab my card from the booklet. I walk in and the bartender grabs the stack of lost cards (and it is a STACK, I ain’t the only one whose been had by the Fat Cat) and I’m right on top. He hands me my card and it’s back to the Tree.
Last Night in Tahoe
It’s just before 6 and I ask Randy when he wants to eat. He gives me an emphatic ASAP. I agree, we worked up a damn appetite on the slopes today. I hop in the shower and 20 minutes later we belly up to, you guessed it, Jake’s on the Lake. It’s my last night in Tahoe and I have a hankerin for steak. I order a nice easy Pinot Noir to start things off and decide on the sirloin for supper. Rare. The bartender asks me if I’m sure about rare. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Randy orders the shrimp scampi because he makes a mean scampi and wants to see if Jake can measure up to his. We swap some stories with the bartenders, actually I should say Randy swapped some stories with the bartenders, he can and will talk to anyone. He’s an inspiration.
Our food arrives and I switch to a bigger Cabernet. Or at least I tried to. The bartender inquired if I was looking for something more full bodied to have with my steak and when I said yes he suggested the “Jakes Zinfandel.” The price point is about half of what I ordered and he tells me that a winery in Northern California had a snafu during the chaotic early months of Covid and ended up with a batch of wine they couldn’t trace back to the vine. They knew it was Zinfandel but couldn’t in good faith sell it to their loyal consumers full freight (or at least this is what the bartender told me, it was probably box wine they put in a used bottle. At least he gave me a generous pour). It was quite nice in my exceptionally amateur opinion and was a delightful companion to my steak. To be fair pretty much anything would have been a nice companion to that piece of beef.
After dinner we *surprise surprise* took a walk down by the lake. The sun was still out this time and gave a different perspective to the lake that I hadn’t had yet. I walked up to the shore and dipped my hand in. Not quite as frigid as I thought it would be. Definitely chilly but I thought it would have been colder.
We walk down the shore a bit and then Randy gets a hankerin for some hot chocolate. We walk back to town and down the main drag. We notice a small arthouse movie theater that piques our interest and we walk up to the window to see what’s showing.
Godzilla vs Kong.
What the hell
The single screen self-described "arthaus cinema" is screening Godzilla vs Kong. I can’t believe it. I was hoping to see something in Romanian by a French director about unrequited love during wartime. Godzilla vs Kong. Good lord.
Anyways we keep walking down the road and stop into a Shell station. I snag a pint of Deschutes IPA for a walkin-around beer (it’s Tahoe, I’m sure it’s cool) and Randy comes up empty on the hot cocoa. We walk next door to the Safeway and cuz comes out a few minutes later with a box of powdered hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows. He seems pretty happy.
We start heading back and walk right past the empty lot that used to be the Naugty Dog. We have a moment of silence to show our respects and I pour a little out in her honor. You hate to lose a pillar of the community like that.
A few minutes later we make it back to the Tree. Randy heats up some water in the tiny little coffee maker and makes himself a cup of cocoa. I can tell from his face that it’s hitting the spot. He asks if I want one and I say sure what the hell. He brews me up a cup and I have to admit, it did hit the spot. The perfect nightcap to a perfect day.