With another significant snowstorm approaching, Alex and I were eager to have one last go at snowboarding at Lake Tahoe's ski resorts. Checking the weather on Friday, March 16, I was concerned about the requirement for chains on Highway US-50 and US-80 and the closure of US-88 (the road to Kirkwood).
When I woke up at 4:00 am on Saturday morning, I checked the road conditions for freeways to Lake Tahoe, and US-88 was still closed. I decided to drive to South Lake Tahoe and snowboard at Heavenly on Saturday, hoping to snowboard at Kirkwood on Sunday if US-88 opens up.
The drive to South Lake Tahoe started out reasonably well. I was making a respectable time until I approached Placerville, where unusually heavy traffic began. When we arrived in the city of Strawberry, all the traffic stopped. Fresh snow on the road required many cars to be on chains. Although I had chains in my car for the Audi Q5, I did not want to deal with the hassle of putting them on (if not required). Thankfully, I was never asked and never felt like I needed them. After 30 minutes of waiting, the traffic restarted, and we slowly inched along.
After a grueling, 6-hour drive, we arrived at South Lake Tahoe around 10:00 am. I parked my car at Bluelake Inn, and Alex and I put on our snowboarding gear. We walked over to the Heavenly Gondola.
There was a lot of fresh snow on the trails (and it wasn't supposed to snow on Saturday). We were eager to snowboard on the freshly fallen snow when we arrived at the base.
We took the Tamarack Express chairlift to mid-mountain and snowboarded to the Nevada side on CosmicWavethe trail. From there, we boarded the Dipper Express and snowboarded down Dipper Line, encountering fresh powder. What joy!
As I did not have breakfast (and Alex only ate some snack bars), we got an early lunch at the East Peak Lodge. It was already crowded when we arrived at 11:30 am. Alex selected a pizza, and I chose hot soup with toppings to warm up.
After lunch, we took the Dipper Express to the top and snowboarded down to the California side, following the California Trail. On the way there, I found some deep powder in the trees.
Once near Sky Deck, we took multiple turns on Sky Express and Canyon Express, going after powder in the trees. It was so much fun, and we encountered places with bottomless powder.
Here is a GoPro Hero4 Silver video of my ride down the Express Line piste.
After a few more runs, we stopped for another lunch at the Sky Deck Lodge. I was really ravenous and ate a chicken sandwich.
We snowboarded the "High Five" trail using the Canyon Express chairlift (as it was least busy) for a few more runs. The trees were the most fun as we found lots of deep powder there.
By now, we were both tired and decided to return to the Bluelake Inn for rest and dinner at our favorite Applebee's. Alex had his usual steak, while I had a Pomegranate Margarita, Bourbon Chicken, and Shrimp.
When I woke up at 4:00 am on Saturday morning, I checked the road conditions for freeways to Lake Tahoe, and US-88 was still closed. I decided to drive to South Lake Tahoe and snowboard at Heavenly on Saturday, hoping to snowboard at Kirkwood on Sunday if US-88 opens up.
The drive to South Lake Tahoe started out reasonably well. I was making a respectable time until I approached Placerville, where unusually heavy traffic began. When we arrived in the city of Strawberry, all the traffic stopped. Fresh snow on the road required many cars to be on chains. Although I had chains in my car for the Audi Q5, I did not want to deal with the hassle of putting them on (if not required). Thankfully, I was never asked and never felt like I needed them. After 30 minutes of waiting, the traffic restarted, and we slowly inched along.
After a grueling, 6-hour drive, we arrived at South Lake Tahoe around 10:00 am. I parked my car at Bluelake Inn, and Alex and I put on our snowboarding gear. We walked over to the Heavenly Gondola.
There was a lot of fresh snow on the trails (and it wasn't supposed to snow on Saturday). We were eager to snowboard on the freshly fallen snow when we arrived at the base.
We took the Tamarack Express chairlift to mid-mountain and snowboarded to the Nevada side on CosmicWavethe trail. From there, we boarded the Dipper Express and snowboarded down Dipper Line, encountering fresh powder. What joy!
As I did not have breakfast (and Alex only ate some snack bars), we got an early lunch at the East Peak Lodge. It was already crowded when we arrived at 11:30 am. Alex selected a pizza, and I chose hot soup with toppings to warm up.
After lunch, we took the Dipper Express to the top and snowboarded down to the California side, following the California Trail. On the way there, I found some deep powder in the trees.
Once near Sky Deck, we took multiple turns on Sky Express and Canyon Express, going after powder in the trees. It was so much fun, and we encountered places with bottomless powder.
Here is a GoPro Hero4 Silver video of my ride down the Express Line piste.
After a few more runs, we stopped for another lunch at the Sky Deck Lodge. I was really ravenous and ate a chicken sandwich.
We snowboarded the "High Five" trail using the Canyon Express chairlift (as it was least busy) for a few more runs. The trees were the most fun as we found lots of deep powder there.
By now, we were both tired and decided to return to the Bluelake Inn for rest and dinner at our favorite Applebee's. Alex had his usual steak, while I had a Pomegranate Margarita, Bourbon Chicken, and Shrimp.
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