Over the Christmas Holiday I was able to take my family on a ski vacation. My wife’s family owns a home in Tahoe Donner, usually a 3 1/2 hour ride from Marin. We left on December 28th in the afternoon and arrived by 9 p.m. that evening. It was a bit of a schlep as rain, wind and snow pelted us on the way up and Cal Trans required chains on all vehicles traveling over the pass. When rides get long and arduous, I sometimes question myself for making the trip. When we arrived, the house thermostat read 35 degrees! I built a fire, turned on the water (we shut it down when we leave so that the pipes don’t freeze) and soon we were asleep.

We awoke the next day to overcast but clear skies and an exterior temperature of 28 degrees. As this was the first day of our trip we decided to ski at the Tahoe Donner ski area. It’s small, just 3 lifts, a few runs, very inexpensive and nothing too difficult. It was nice to get our ski legs under us before we hit something meatier. All in all, it was a great day. A very cold but great day!

On Wednesday morning, it was storming. The snow was heavy, the temperature was cold (good) but it was windy. As we made our way onto Highway 89, what usually is a 25 minute ride to Alpine Meadows took over an hour. During our first ride up the chair, my 10-year-old son, Daniel, looked at me and said, “It sure is cold and windy!” I thought that this was not going to be a pleasant day. But then, it stopped. All the weather just stopped. The snow stopped; the wind stopped. All of a sudden, the conditions were perfect. Alpine Meadows is the perfect resort as well. With their 12+ chairs and numerous beginner, intermediate and expert runs, it has something for the whole family. For the next two days we had perfect conditions at Alpine Meadows. Alpine is not as large as Squaw Valley (just next door) but the same mountain with the same degree of variety and challenge.

What a great trip! Unfortunately, we were rained out on New Year’s Day but that was okay with us. We packed up, closed the house down and made the 3 1/2 hour trip back to Marin. I’m glad we made the trip. It was some of the best skiing I’ve done in 30 years!

Posted by:Mark Machado