On Saturday, the hubby and I went skiing at Heavenly, where we discovered Mott Canyon the last run of the day.

Right about the time we should have started skiing back to the car, JB came across a gate that led into a double diamond run. We pretty much have a rule of thumb that if there is a gate with a warning sign to enter a run, we must ski it.

It was definitely the steepest stuff we had found at Heavenly, and I was bummed that we discovered it on our last run of the day. Now we have to go back!!! Half way down the steepest part of the run, we came across a man sitting with his skis off. We inquired if he was injured, and he said, that he wasn’t, and that he just couldn’t make it down that hill so he was waiting for ski patrol to come bail him out. As we were talking to him, a ski patrol appeared at the top of the run, so we left, knowing he was being taken care of.

But it must have hurt his ego to have a woman check on him and then ski right down it without hesitating!

When we got to the bottom of the run, we saw signs for the chairlift pointing through the trees. The sign pointed left. The hubby went right.

So, there I was, going left on a little trail through the trees, and as I’m skiing, I’m screaming at the hubby, “Left! Left! Wrong way!!!” Next thing I know, I hit a huge hole, my ski tips dug in and I went flying face first into the snow. When I landed with a thump, both shoulders cracked, and I sat there trying to determine if I was injured or not.

When I determined that I wasn’t injured, I sat on my butt, and said the first thing that came to my mind, “Holy smokes.”

I then heard the hubby calling me on the walkie talkie asking what happened.

I replied, “I was so concerned about you going the wrong direction that I didn’t see a hole in the snow and I did a face plant that ripped me out of both skis. I’m going to be a few minutes.”

Of course he was very entertained by all of this. This is what he said he heard, “Left! Left! AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Next time we go to Heavenly, we’re starting in Mott Canyon so that we can give it the proper attention!

I had great hopes for the storm this past weekend, and was not disappointed. When I woke up on Sunday, I went online to find out how much snow Kirkwood had received.

Up to 30 inches in 30 hours was my answer. I bundled up and headed to the hill with the hubby.

It was truly an epic day. And in fact, I’m proud to report that I’m actually starting to get my powder mojo going.

Sunday was a day for the die-hard powder hounds. It was snowing hard, the wind was blowing extremely hard over the ridges, avalanche cannons were repeatedly going off, and there were smiles abound everywhere.

At one point, a lift attendant asked me, “How’s it going?”

And of course, I said, “Great!”

His response was, “Well, you better be!” And I think that says it all. The snow was so good that you were cutting fresh tracks on every run, and it was like skiing on a cloud.

It is forecasted to snow almost every day this week, so make your plans to head out to Reno-Tahoe next weekend, as the conditions should be phenomenal!

Around 2:30pm, typical for us, my husband and I decided that it would be a great day to go tele up some new peak. So we set out for Mt Rose highway and we parked at that new rest area at the highway summit. We set out for the peak that is just to the south of the peak with all of the relay stations and antennaes that is at the top of Mt Rose ski resort.

We had a great climb up, though it was alot hotter than we had anticipated, especially for that time of day. We finally got to the peak around 4:45pm with plenty of sunshine and a nice cool wind that forced us to bundle up a bit. The views from there are spectacular. You can see Lake Tahoe and Washoe Valley at the same time! And We got a completely new view of the mountains than the one we are used to. And even better, the skiing on the way back was great on the north slopes–it was hard to believe that the powder from the last storm hadn’t iced over or gotten wind packed. Of course, there were pockets of ice and crust, but we were still surprised.

Needless to say, on the way back to the car as we were on the slopes with other aspects, the snow was just short of an ice skating rink! We pulled pack into the parking lot around 6:10 pm, realizing that the days aren’t so short anymore and that it was a good thing we didn’t just sit at home waiting for the next storm.

Just another fun day in the Sierras!