Places I'm Visiting: Lake Tahoe

Went skiing last weekend for the first time in years. Comes back right away--like riding a bike, as they say. Good to get a physical workout, and the scenery is beautiful at Lake Tahoe. This is my favorite photo from the short trip. I'm thinking it might make a good negative for a cyanotype print, which would look something like the digital facsimile below.

Places I'm Visiting: Lake Tahoe (March 23, 2014)

Sunny and warm is not usually the sort of weather I associate with skiing, but I spent a pleasant two days at Lake Tahoe this past weekend on the slopes in beautiful weather. It was just cold enough at the higher elevations that strenuous skiing was comfortable. It was the first time I've been on skis in a couple of years. The snow was sparse, but more than adequate. The sun on the snow-powdered mountain tops was beautiful under fluffy clouds. On the slopes, the conditions were much better than I expected, actually, but everything remains outrageously overpriced.

Places I'm Visiting: Skiing at Lake Tahoe (January 18, 2011)

Got back from skiing last night at Lake Tahoe. It was unseasonably warm, the snow slushy, the sun merciless. It was fun nevertheless. I got in two good days of skiing. Went to Sugar Bowl for the first time. I rather liked it. I'd like to ski there again. There's a lot of the upper intermediate/expert terrain I like and it's less expensive than places like Squaw Valley.

The resort is a stone's throw from Donner Lake and the Donner Pass. On the way home, we stopped at the monument marking one of the Donner Party camps. Above the monument and the lake, at the summit of the pass, is an excellent view of the area that trapped the group. After rescue, the survivors climbed up the rocks that were at my feet when I took the photo below. A fabulous sunset followed this. At a local bookstore, I picked up a copy of Desperate Passage (Ethan Rarick, Oxford University Press, 2008), which looks like a good account of the tragedy. On the wall of my mother's house there hangs a small drawing of a bird in a red frame by Tamsin Donner--a direct descendant of the original Tamzene Donner, wife of George Donner, one of the leaders of the ill-fated group.

[Update: After writing this post, I read and reviewed Ethan Rarick's excellent book about the Donner Party and its ordeal, Desperate Passage.]

Places I'm Visiting: Lake Tahoe Skiing

Got back last night from a few days of skiing at Lake Tahoe. The snow was a bit slushy and it was thin at the bottom of the mountain (Heavenly), but the higher elevations were good. My son, Warren, did his first snowboarding on his own (after one class last month). In his usual style, he took to it immediately. By the end of the third day, he was comfortable even on the steepest (black diamond) runs--as long as they had no moguls. I was startled again by how overpriced the food is at Heavenly. We packed in sandwiches and drinks this time, which saved a lot of money and resentment. Definitely the way to go. We stayed with a couple of other families in a rented house. All in all, a good end to the skiing season. Didn't see any interesting birds, though. Last year I saw a number of Clark's Nutcrackers. This year it was mostly crows.