This trip began with a threat of stormy weather. The Bay Area was under a constant media blitz of potential blizzard, or at least snow on every mound of earth if not down to sea level. As it was, the blizzard in the Bay Area was a bust. But the storm did materialize for NSC’s bus trip Friday night.
The bus was filled with happy NSC skiers, guests and our contingent from the Monterey Ski Club. A wonderful dinner of ground beef and peas over rice and real homemade mango pudding for dessert provided by Karen was enjoyed by all. Unfortunately the bus’ DVD player would not cooperate, so the long bus ride was without the added entertainment. Karen provided a raffle for various gifts. Everyone won something and had a good time. I think the key chain beer bottle openers were the optimal prize. When we arrived at the Sacramento Truck Stop, we picked up Brian and Allegra. We flew up Interstate 80 until we hit Gold Run. Then we stopped, crawled and stopped again. Grady put on chains, but some links broke. Grady adjusted the chains. More chain links broke. We finally arrived at the Sands Casino and Hotel at 4am. NSC is very fortunate to get Grady as our bus driver. Into our rooms for a nap and a 7am wake-up for an 8:15 departure heading to Squaw Valley. Ten people decided not to take part in our ski adventure and instead took in the sights of Reno and some added winks of sleep. But we did pick up two additional skiers who had driven from Heavenly to join us on our ride to Squaw Valley.
The trip to Squaw was slow, but the scenery was beautiful with fresh snowfall covering the trees. We enjoyed a breakfast of bagels with cream cheese or peanut butter and jelly. A short detour into Truckee train station to pick up Carol, who joined us from her stay in Northstar. Grady maneuvered the bus into the last bus parking space. Karen picked up the lift tickets and we were off. The upper mountain was closed until about 10:30am due to avalanche control. When we got on the mountain, we found fresh new snow. In the afternoon the lift lines thinned out for enough runs to tire everyone out. As people drifted back to the bus, refreshments were spread out beside the bus. Curtis, Margaret and their daughter Nicole joined us for refreshments. We made our way back to Reno without chains.
The next morning was a 6am wake-up and 7:15am sharp departure for Sugar Bowl. Tony Moy got to the bus too early, so he went back into the casino to gamble. He won $, but almost lost his ride. Luckily, someone from the bus saw Tony running along side the bus and yelled “WAIT, WAIT ….”. We enjoyed a breakfast of a tasty ham and cheese croissant. We arrived at Sugar Bowl without chains. There were minimal crowds so everyone got in a full day of skiing. The snow was great, packed powder. Curtis O. had to stop early to catch a shuttle to Reno, a plane to LA and a plane to Taiwan. At the end of the day refreshments were set up and enjoyed by all. Several skiers found a way to ski within 15 feet of the bus with only slight risk of damage to their skis. We started home from Sugar Bowl but quickly had to stop to move more beer from the storage area into the ice chest. Have to take care of priorities. Then off we went back towards the Bay Area without the need for chains. Dinner of grilled chicken with couscous salad and fruit bars was served on the way down the mountain. We returned to the Bay Area tired but happy, having enjoyed another successful NSC ski trip.
