Skiing was fun once again. The latest storm left 3 ft of snow in the mountains and the packed snow supplied enough grip for control. To boot, Northstar had lots of intermediate/advanced slopes with small bumps that are perfect for mogul practice.
Kirkwood had more snow and that is where I wanted to go. But then I remembered how slick the mountain road was 5 days ago after the second storm. I attempted to get to Kirkwood on 12/2, but I had to turned around at Pioneer just before Hwy 88 plunged into a dark ravine. The car already started to slip a few miles back, and the shaded downhill wasn't going to help the matter. I figured $5k damage that I incurred back in September in New Mexico was enough. Kirkwood will have to wait; I'm not going there till the weather has been clear for at least 2 days.
I got to Northstar around 9:30 AM after stopping for a quick charge in Truckee. But the parking lot was so far away from the lift -- you have to take shuttle to get to/from the lift -- it took me another 30 minutes to get on the slope. There were paid lots close to the lift, but I wasn't the one to shell out more fees on the top of $430 that I already paid for Epic Pass. Had I known that the parking was so far, I would've taken my backpack to carry my lunch with me. I had to take the shuttle back to my car for lunch, and I'm sure that took up another 30 minutes.
I managed to squeeze in 3 skiing sessions of about 4 runs each. The runs were at least twice as long as those at Soda Springs (I had to take 3 breaks on each run off Zephir chair), so a session of 4 runs in Northstar is at least equivalent to 8 runs in Soda Springs. At the end of the first session, I took Comstock chair to the summit. That one required 5 breaks to get down. It was 2 PM when I was back on the slope after lunch, and 4 PM when I was all done. I came home after dark.
The aftermath followed the typical pattern. The next day, I was up and running, flush with dopamine. Then fatigue and struggle followed before mildly recovering the 3rd day, enough to squeeze in 4x1 block jogging. Today, I'm struggling with heavy fatigue from the jogging. I probably should've given full 3 days of rest instead of jogging.
Overall, it's an improvement over the aftermath of the first skiing on 11/14, which was within the 2-week probationary period after the flu shot. So, now I'm concluding that the subpar performance after the first skiing was due to the flu shot, not due to weaker novelty effect after 3 seasons of skiing. I should do fine throughout December. Then I'll half the amount and difficulty. Then again, I may not have to. I can ski three different resorts in CA with Epic Pass, so I may be able to keep the novelty effect alive throughout the season by rotating the resorts each month. If I make it to Park City, Utah, I may keep going full power well into April. We'll see.
Another storm just dumped 4 feet of snow and I should be going up the mountains again. But I have to take my car in for repair tomorrow, and it'll take a week to get it back. I'll see if I can postpone the appointment to Wednesday so that I can go back to Northstar on Tuesday.
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