7 Icy Springs

MLK day weekend, and Alison's birthday mean that it's time for our annual 7 Springs trip with our friends on the Hill. This year the warm winter we've had so far meant that only 12 out of 33 slopes were open, but at least they had a little snow as we arrived so it looked like winter. We got a little night skiing in on the first night and the conditions on the slopes that were open were better than expected.

On Saturday Owen, Hayden, Ronan, Adam and Connor all went off on their own, and Nora decided to ski with Elaine and me. We went up the Polar Bear Express lift first thing to ski the North Side, and ran into the boys over there. It was cold, and freezing rain was falling, so conditions were far from ideal, and Nora quickly decided it was time for a hot chocolate break, so we stopped in at Tahoe Lodge. We saw the boys heading back towards the front face as we stopped, but we couldn't quite flag them down (turns out Adam forgot some essential gear and needed to retrieve it to warm up). After our hot chocolate, Nora wanted to head over to the front face to see if we could find the boys, but before we got too far, I noticed the Polar Bear Express lift had stopped running. As that's the only way to get to the North Side, we decided to stay on that side of the mountain while we could. We got a few more increasingly open runs in on the North Face Slope (the only black diamond open on the mountain), but with the freezing rain icing over our goggles and gear, we decided it was time for lunch. Back up in Tahoe Lodge, we had the bizarre experience of having the place almost completely to our selves on a busy holiday weekend. Nora and Elaine called it a day after lunch, but I stayed out for a few more icy runs speeding down what seemed like my own private mountain.

For a trip with far from ideal conditions, we really made the best of it. The kids had a great time running around the hotel like they owned the place. Plenty of pool time, and even a session in the private outdoor hot tub. Nora blew all her money for the Bear Trap Fun Zone on the first night, so she decided to take up the treadmill for fun instead. The girls both got new pairs of goggles. We celebrated Alison's 50th. The only downer was Adam breaking his wrist, not on the slopes, but roller skating of all things. (Hopefully he'll be healed soon and ready to start climbing again!)

(click here for all the pictures)