Remind me...the gas pedal is the smaller one on the right, and the break is the larger on the left, right?
The brake is the one on the left, but you still use your right foot. BREAK is what you don't want to do to your parent's car.
I had a few drives since Sat. that were much longer than they should have been due to all the drivers that think 15-20 mph is the appropriate speed to drive in the snow. If you can only go 15-20, you probably should NOT be on the road or at least pull over and let the 5-100 cars stuck behind you go by. Even yesterday evening coming down highway 50 on wet road (hours after chain control ended and it had not been below freezing for 18 hours), some people thought 35 was an appropriate speed on straightaways (turns are posted 45-50).
Back to the stoke...I made a better decision on Monday and was at Stagecoach before lift started loading for passholders about 825. I was on about the 15th chair, but missed friend who was staying near there and was waiting for me. Maybe because she is well under 5' tall and when it's a powder day and line is forming, I get in it and then put on my skis. We connected after a couple of laps.
Heavenly reported 12" new with 8 overnight on top of 9" new the previous day. But it was very dense and crusted from wind or precipitation that fell once it got warm. I looked for better snow by going into more protected trees with varying exposures, but did not find anything better so I skied the crust, looking for deepest and most untracked available. My friend was struggling as the only groomed run had a lot of loose snow and being about 90 lbs. she could not make her usual tight, precise turns. We were joined by another friend and (after 8 Stagecoach laps for me) eventually moved to and rode Boulder twice, the only NV chair Heavenly added before noon. Lower NV trail that connects from Olympic to top of Boulder had usual excellent snow. I will add some pictures when I have more time,
On shuttle back to my car, I heard Olympic chair had opened, but it is not very steep or wind-protected so I left about noon. After a stop at Dart to re-fill my growler with
Lagunitas Hazy Memory, I stopped by cabin to re-heat some pizza and do a little more shoveling and picking up and packing. Heavenly opened everything including the Face in the afternoon. So I drove to and parked close to the Tram. I just missed one so I poled over to and went up Gunbarrel, then Powder Bowl and Sky chairs, getting to 10K top about 1:30. There was a sign going towards NV warning you that Dipper was not running and if Comet and Olympic both closed, you were on your own getting back to CA as Heavenly has eliminated shuttles between NV bases and gondola base.
I took high entrance to Milky Way Bowl and found some decent deep untracked. I took gate 1 into Mott and got into the main branch of The Y higher than on Friday, It was steep enough that crust was not a problem although I did have to watch the sluffing. Near bottom I cut below Rocky Point and found the usual steep and deep lightly tracked and very enjoyable. I was going to use Dipper (had just opened) to go back through higher gate into Mott, but rode chair with a boarder who wanted to know where the good trees were. I offered to show him Meteor Woods, but after crashing together when unloading, I guess he decide not to follow me. I headed that way, but found skiers right at top of Dipper Run was untracked and somewhat wind-protected. I eventually went across run into Dipper Bowl. Next time up I skied Meteor as run was not tracked out, then tried to get to gate 3 on Mott, but without road at top of lift, I got too low and did not want to hike up to gate as snowboarder were doing so I went into untracked below it.
Anyway this has probably gone long enough...I ended up riding Mott 3x (repeated Y getting into it and exiting below Rocky Point higher) and Dipper 4x. Returning to CA base, I skied Maggie's Canyon, probably first day open, and Advanced Roundabout, which had opened on Sunday and was signed expert only. I got back to cabin at 4, was on the road at 5 and home at 9, where my wife and girls (Beagle and White German Shepherd) were all happy I had not extended my trip past 5 days. Choosing Heavenly over Kirkwood turned out to be a good call as I heard Kirkwood did not open, Carson Pass and Spur were both closed Monday morning due to avy control so people that tried to get there ended up back at Heavenly.
Over the holiday the fine doubled to $1340 !
