We drove to Lake Tahoe to go skiing at Palisades with Kat and Kendra. The traffic gets very backed up at this intersection. Good place to set up a stand to sell stuff.
Traffic was slowed down a bit because of an accident in one lane.
The other cars involved pulled off to the side.
Many elk around San Luis Reservoir.
Sacramento has a very distinguishing bridge.
Ogii forgot her winter coat. We need one for skiing, and I'm not going to pay for one to use one time from somewhere expensive, so we went to Goodwill, which thankfully was open late.
A coat we found, and another interesting one.
Snow is starting to build up close to Lake Tahoe.
We're celebrating Kat's birthday, so we got a cake from the local grocery store. I wonder which one she would like?
Hopefully this one.
Happy birthday!
With Ogii.
The snowblower was cleaning out the driveway, but it stopped working for some reason.
I went to help him out figure it out.
Pulling the linkage apart.
Hey, there's something in here.
I tire iron that somebody had left on the ground got sucked up into the blower and jammed it up.
All good to go now.
Up for breakfast.
Kendra cooked bacon.
Ogii petting their cat.
Lots of snow outside this door.
The AirBnB has some nice, big metal prints.
The traffic very bad right around when the mountain opens.
But if you wait a bit, it dies down some.
Ogii in her new coat from Goodwill. You might want to take the tag off.
Headed out.
A couple of cops by the turn from the highway to the moutain. I wonder if they were helping to direct traffic earlier.
Cool house.
They brought their own table and supplies to party in the parking lot.
The mountain behind them.
I think we'll avoid that run.
Fun outfits.
The rental area was busy.
Pulling skis and snowboards up from the storage area below.
The line moved fast.
Lockers that use a credit card is so much easier than quarters.
Although many people just leave their boots under the benches for the day.
The mountain's official Twitter feed is a good source for updates. I was hoping to go across to Alpine on the base-to-base gondola, but it's closed due to wind.
They also have an app.
Which has a helpful map. Much better than unfolding a small paper one.
The aerial tram.
Hot tub at the top? That would be fun.
A disco ball.
Everybody packed in.
It's cold, but not freezing.
Here comes the tram.
Everybody in.
Going up.
Us.
Ogii is ready.
Buttons to operate the tram. Don't touch them by accident.
Definitely don't want to go the wrong way and try to go over the boulders.
High camp.
Their skis were very hard to get on.
And it wasn't just us; many people had trouble getting the heel to press down hard enough to latch in. I wonder why that is.
Ready to go.
Gotta make sure Ogii doesn't go that way.
And she's down.
Good thing she's still young and flexible.
Cute animal butt pads for snowboarders. Whoever thought of that was brilliant.
Ogii pointing to the easy way down.
Ready to go.
Uh oh, down again.
Lots of moguls up there.
Down at the lodge. Many people hanging out after skiing.
They have an onsite equipment storage.
Uh oh, Ogii lost one of her gloves.
There's one, but it's not hers.
We ate at the River Grill and Bar for dinner.
The bar.
We sat by the fireplace.
All of us.
Steak.
My turn for a birthday cake.
Blowing out the candles.
The next morning, we checked the lost and found, but didn't find Ogii's glove.
Aw, the gondola is closed again. I guess we won't skill at Alpine.
So I'll take the funitel instead.
You can get in the line to stand or sit. The stand line is shorter, so I took that.
Here it comes.
Inside.
Going up.
I like that their app will track you.
I can keep an eye on Ogii on it, too.
There's a lounge, but only for Chase Sapphire Reserve card holders. We only have the Preferred, so we can't go in.
The ski school instructors are wearing tutus.
The Arc, a big building with food.
I wanted to get around to the backside because it has a lot of blue runs.
Unortunately, it looks like all of that lifts that get me up and over the top are closed...
... due to wind, just like the gondola.
Yep, the one on the right, which I want, doesn't have anybody on it and isn't moving. I guess I'll stay on this side.
Somebody else hiked all the way up and over. I'm not about to do that, especially because I don't know if I would be able to get back.
With many of the lifts closed, the other ones were super busy with very long lines.
The app tracks how far you went on each run.
And even your daily totals.
Pretty view.
Since the runs that were still open were so crowded, we decided to head home early. Elk up on the hill again.