March 12
Took another trip to Snow Valley. This one was better because I was more confident.
I'm particularly fond of skiing trails. Though they are hard to manage because they are narrow, the ride down is more interesting. Alysia and I also tried night skiing which turned out to be interesting
The perks - no one is there. The negatives - the snow had melted during the day and re-froze at nice causing the mountain to become very icy. Pretty much sucked.
Here's a video I put together. I'm doing jumps! (Not really.) Stick to end of the video to see some guy eat it.
March 6: Mt. Baldy
I was hopping to plan a gay ski trip like Szeto does that involved a cabin and sleeping over, but it was just really hard to organize. Plus, I was scared to drive in snow. But I did manage to get some folks together with a Groupon for a quick Mt. Baldy day trip.
We discovered that Mt.Baldy is terrible for beginners, but offers great lessons.
I was able to convert Jimmy to skiing. When he was done with the bunny slope, I set him up with a blue square trail.
This is where he ate it. He told me he was terrified. Apparently his "good lesson" did not involve carving, just pizza - ing. But we made it down. .. very slowly.
I was able to get a good one on one session. The instructor basically told me I've been doing it wrong, but I was able to correct my form and actually parallel. Alysia also took lessons in which the instructor informed her that she was better than his wife.
Mt.Baldy prides itself in being LA's closest ski resort (1 hour away), but consequentially the snow was melted and I found myself skiing on dirt rather than snow. The ski lifts are also terrifying. They look like they've never been updated since the 70's. The wood was rotting, the whole lift was falling apart!
January 9
Alysia and I drove above the clouds to Snow Valley. Our skis were jammed in her trunk with her backseat folded down. Like a gym membership, I was convinced that I would use these skis enough to get the complete value.
The ski jacket that I scored during my thrift shopping madness came in handy. This time I was wearing something that was waterproof.
Alysia's a pro. She was excited to try out some humps. Me, on the other hand, found myself eating it quite often. The skis boats that I had purchased were too big for me and I couldn't carve correctly. The blue squares proved to be a ridiculous challenge, but I was determined.
We make a cute ski couple.
The view was the same when we left. We drove down the mountain, through the clouds to arrive back home.
Need to go about 3 times more to get my money's worth! But the snow keeps melting. Next time I'm doubling my socks. Missing Snow Bunnies again this year, but it's so difficult to get to Tahoe.
