It's been a banner year. The Sierra got 60 feet of snow and several resorts will remain open till July. I sure am getting my money's worth out of Epic Pass that I paid $430 for. I've skied 14 days so far and I probably can squeeze in another 5 days till May. If my body holds up, that is.
And I am holding up, so far. It's been a vast improvement over the last season when I was succumbing to post-ski sickness a month into the season, just like previous years. I started struggling 2 months into the season this year. Then I traveled to Utah for 3 days of skiing, and survived it without post-ski struggle. It must've been the Novelty Effect from that trip. Since then, I've been skiing with minimal post-ski struggles. The last trip to Kirwood on 3/25 was harrowing -- I rolled off The Wall for about 100 feet, and then had to get my car towed to Sacramento after running it into a ditch off hwy 88 -- and I ended up with cold sore on my lip. Still, I've recovered from it after 4 days without getting sick. Maybe I suffered a little more fatigue than I should've, but it wasn't much worse than normal recovery after a hard skiing for healthy people of my age.
Another atmospheric river hammered California on the week proceding 3/25, for the umpteenth time this year. Then the weather broke on 3/24 and I had to go up the mountains. Since the problematic Hwy 88 was clear this time, it had to be Kirkwood. I planned to spend the morning in the backside and then I came back to the front side via Eagle Ridge. I remember the route from the company ski trip in 90s when the snow was waist deep and one of the guys got buried and gave up. I also remember it when I led a Stanford group there: one of the girls went over it by mistake. I had to ditch the Swede I was skiing with and then follow her to make sure that she didn't get lost.
I ended up spending the first half the morning on The Cornice. The snow there was soft and jumping off the top was surprisingly easy. I did a few runs there and then went to the backside and spent the second half of the morning on the Sunrise before coming back to the front side via Eagle Ridge as planned.
The Wall looked scary as I looked up from the below. The fall from the top looked about 20 feet. The steep part where the shadow of the wall ended was about 40 feet. But I had The Cornice under the belt and the path to the left of The Wall looked easy enough. When I got up there though, I decided to check out the path to the right where the cliff was. The Cornice was soft, so maybe I could tackle this one too if it was soft. It wasn't. The Wall was icy, and the soft portion started only where the wall ended. I hesitated for a good 5 minutes and then finally jumped off. I leaned back thinking the snow would grab my skis like it did on The Cornice. The skis instead skidded on the ice and I ended up spun around. I then rolled a good 100 feet and lost all my skis and poles. My goggle also got separated from my head and ended up a few feet below me. It got filled with snow and ice, and I was no longer able to see through it.
The rest of the run was synch once I got back up and picked up the pieces. The wide and soft bumps were a hoot to ski. After the top portion, I took the gulch back to the chair. And no, I didn't go back up. One yard sale was enough for the day. As it was, I ended up with a whiplash and my neck was sore for a few days.
I stopped in Jackson to refuel on the way back home. It should've been a smooth sailing from there. Just before hitting Hwy 16 however, I hit a hitch. Hwy 49 through Drytown is usually bad enough without shoulder and a ditch right next to it. Then the road eroded, and the white line crumbled into the ditch. My front tire hit the crumbled white line, lost control and I ended up in the ditch. The car bounced back out and then swerved into the oncoming traffic. Luckily other cars slowed down and I didn't hit anybody. But rear passenger side wheel and the front undercarriage got trashed. The wheel well lining got all crumpled and stuck between the car and the tire. I was thinking I could drive the car to Sacramento if I removed the crumpled lining. No such luck. It took me a while to get the lining removed -- the plastic pins were bitch to remove and I didn't have a right tool -- but the car still wouldn't drive. The wheel was tilted and made hideous sound when driven. I had to get it towed.
The tow arrived in 40 minutes, and I dropped the car at Kniesel's Autobody. It was Saturday evening, and they wouldn't open till Monday. But I didn't want to have it towed again, so I just left the car there over the weekend despite the danger of break-in. Now I'm still waiting for the estimate. It'll probably another a few weeks before I get my car back.
I don't know what it is with this car. I haven't had at-fault accident in 40 years, and then 3 accidents with this Tesla. This interstate cruiser does not have good visibility and it doesn't have steering feedback. All my previous cars were small and fun to drive; this one is big and numb. I think that is what's been causing all the accidents. I'll have to get rid of it and get into a smaller, sportier one. The freedom of free fuel is hard to give up though. Maybe I'll just rely on FSD, when it becomes usable enough, and not drive. In the meantime, I'll have to have Autopilot on more often. It doesn't work too well on twisty roads, and that was probably why I had it off on Hwy 88 and 49.
So, why did my post-ski sickness improve this year? I think it goes back to my theory that the remaining 5% of the exertion-hypersensitivity was still getting triggered at the same threshold and wreaking the same havoc. It's now down to 3%, and the post-exertion sickness is finally starting to improve. It's like murky water. You get close to the bottom, but you still can't see the bottom through it. Then, as you get even closer, you suddenly see the bottom. I think that is where I'm now. I may not be 100% yet, but I'm starting to see the end through the remaining 3%. One more season of Eletric Hobo, and I'll be 100% recovered, I think. I hope.
