Heavenly, Skiing #5

There was a break in the weather for a couple of days and this was my chance to make a dash before the rain resumed. Thursday the 12th was a better day of the two -- rain was to come back in the afternoon of Friday -- but the road would be clearer on Friday morning. I rented the car, drove to Heavenly and made it all the way this time. 

It must've been 20 years since the last time I was here. I didn't come here too often even when I was healthy. It was further away than others and expensive -- Heavenly and Squaw are two biggest resorts and therefore proportionally expensive.  Driving on scenic US-50 was also a pain as it becomes 2 lane highway in the mountains: it's not that fun getting stuck behind a truck or RV when you are in hurry to get to the mountain or get back home. It's no wonder I don't remember much of it except for Gun Barrel and the view of Lake Tahoe from the top. 

I actually was at the resort at 8:30AM. I knew the snow was coming around 1PM, so I started out early so that I can finish early. But the lift didn't open till 9AM so I had to wait for a while. The upper mountain was closed because of the wind, and everybody was crammed into Power Bowl on California side. After spending a couple hours on Power Bowl, I got tired of the long line. I moved to Gun Barrel.

It was exhausting. Gun Barrel was not only steep, but it was also long. I had to make 5 or 6 stops to make it down to the bottom. Do that 3 times, and anybody would run out of gas. I quit and I returned to my car at 12:30. It was only about 3 hours of skiing for the day. But I did it almost nonstop except for a brief lunch break. 

The aftermath followed the same pattern: high for 2 days and then struggle for a day. I was back up and running by the evening of the 3rd day and I did ski exercise for a few minutes. The next day I was bed ridden for about 5 hours in the afternoon. I should've given full 3 days of rest, I guess.

Skiing #5 is usually when the novelty effect wears out and I start to struggle. But I'm still alive and kicking. Rotating to different resort must be extending it. Will it last for the entire season? We'll see.