Wednesday was such an awesome day of skiing at Kirkwood Mountain Resort that I really had to slap myself back into reality and head down to South Lake Tahoe. Highway 88 was cleaned nearly down to pavement, but the snow piles on both sides of the road were well above the roof of SUVs.

After a few days at Kirkwood, a pristine mountain community, the ride into South Lake Tahoe is a real cultural shock, with half the city having the glitz and bubbling nightlife of a Nevada gaming town, nothing like Las Vegas but still a lot of neon. However, if you are in town to ski all you need to see is that big mountain - Heavenly.

When I arrived late Wednesday afternoon, the gondola was rising out of the town center into a thin cloud. By Thursday morning it seemed the heavens opened on Heavenly with a fury. Snowing and blowing caused the some lifts to close for safety and I was only able to ski a little of the Nevada side.

It takes days like this to prep the mountain with great snow for the amazing bluebird powder days that always follow. The only thing to do was to hang in there, batten down the hatches, and wait for Friday.

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Photo © Mike Doyle