Last minute trip

We realized we had a mostly empty weekend, and couldn't let that happen. We decided to squeeze one last ski trip in. Our original plan was to go to Sierra at Tahoe since there a lot of easy routes there. A bunch of things happened, and we ended up going with a different friend to Northstar. I had a bad impression of Northstar because the last time I went there someone mistaken my rental skis for theirs. I was also concerned because mountain map had mostly blue and black trails. Our friend assured us that their blue's weren't as hard as other places blue's. 

In order to avoid getting up at 4 am, we drove up Saturday afternoon. We got lucky and found a cute little place near the lake. It had a table big enough to play games, and lovely view of the sunset. I will consider staying there again. Maybe even in the summer, since it is right on the lake. 

It turns out Northstar has all the runs Squaw is missing. Squaw has great beginner runs, and I assume great black runs, but not so much in between. Northstar's blue's are a lot easier and wider. It was a lot of fun skiing them. We even managed to do a Black Diamond route, partly because our crazy friend tricked us. We spent the whole day doing blue trails. It was nice having things that were just the right amount of challenging. Northstar is my new favorite place to ski.

We had lunch mid mountain. This is a picture of my overpriced, but delicious burger, and the view I had while eating it. The hill behind my burger is the one we went down after lunch. Crazy! It was the first time I ever skied on the back side of a resort. 

Here we a picture of us courtesy of Northstar that proves I made it to the top of the mountain. They have a place called Tȱst. It has fire pits and waterproof beanbag chairs you can rest in while admiring the great view. At 2 pm they have a champagne toast. I wasn't sure I was going to make it because I was really tired after the back mountain runs. The timing was perfect, so right after finishing the back mountain I could head right up there and then just one more run down then I could rest. I'm glad I went, but getting down was crazy. Of all the trails to not be a easy blue... It was crazy, narrow, crowded, right near an edge, and since it was the end of the day it was slushy bumpy snow. I think going down the black route may have been easier. 

It was a fun trip. Hopefully I remember how to ski next year.