2013: What a way to start a new year! Jan 5th

"Lesson, Tour and Gear" cross-country ski package - for a party of four.  Holy Moly!  I never would’ve dreamed it.  Ever, ever, ever!  But there it was, in the card, their Christmas gift from my son and his fiancé to the two sets of parents:  Me and Jimmy, Alice and Tom.

I've never been on skis in my life, and now in the sunset of my years, I'm to climb onto a set of skinny skis and glide across the snow, cross-country style, and not break a hip or anything else!  Well, by gum, I'm game, let's give it a try!  The four parents agreed on Jan 5th as the date, arranged to meet in Placerville, CA, and ride together to Hope Valley Outdoors in South Lake Tahoe, CA.  Jimmy's never snow skied and neither Alice nor Tom has spent any time at all on skis.  And, just between us, neither Alice nor I slept well the night before....

But, what a day we had!  The temp at our 11am arrival was 20° and we bundled like Nanook of the North.  (Before the two-hour tour was over, I'd shed my jacket and ear muffs.)  We picked a perfect day, with little wind, and a robin's egg blue sky so full of sunshine it made our hearts race.  Or possibly the 7,000+ ft altitude made the hearts race.

Rhapsody in Snow.

 Tom and Alice at the yurt - Hope Valley Outdoors headquarters.  Almost as cold in as it was out!

 Picture us on skis!  OK, here's the picture!

 

Do not ask how many times we tested to see how soft the snow was.

 Me, Jimmy, Tom, Alice, and two others (Laura and David) in the tour.

 We even skied on the broad "highway" on the right side of this picture.

What a beautiful high alpine valley.

Conditions were ideal, with several feet of snow pack and six inches to a foot of fresh powder.

Nobody got hurt, tho everybody but Tom tumped over at least once.  Getting up wasn't easy with skis on.  We had a grand time!  Me and Jimmy would love to return, tho we really weren't very good at this skiing, but at least we TRIED!  Hope Valley Outdoors also offers snowshoe rentals and we'd like to try that as well.  But, any return to ski or snowshoe will have to wait -- Tergel is ready to carry us out of the snow, into the warm southern states.  We (snowbirds) leave next Tuesday...!