I'd been holding onto a voucher for a free demo of powder skis from George's Ski and Board Rental on Ski Run Blvd. in South Lake Tahoe all winter. If you would have told me in the fall I would not take advantage of this little perk until April 1, I would have never believed you.
It's been a challenging winter. March was great -- some even called in Miracle March -- but we did not get as much snow in Tahoe this March as we did last March. This March was great insofar as the snow all season has been so lacking.
Yet on the night of March 31 the stars aligned. The snow was piling up and two friends had agreed to watch our kids the next day -- all day -- which meant that my wife and I had the entire day on the slopes. This alignment of the stars meant our first stop would be George's Ski and Board Rental to finally take advantage of those free demos.
My wife and I arrived at George's and were taken care of by Ray who has been outfitting locals and tourists alike -- when he's not pounding powder himself -- for 24 years.
I had a free demo but Ray did figure out how to get a few bucks out of me by upgrading my wife to a pair of demo powder skis for the day as well. Touché, Ray. Touché.
I was glad he did. On the best powder day of the year my wife and I hung out in the trees all day and floated on the powder like we never had before.
I learned how to ski only 4 years ago and have about 100 days of skiing under my belt in that time. About half of those are on an old set of skis I bought when I first started. My standard skis today are a set of Dynastar Ski Cross 66. These are skis made for going fast and holding tight. I've cut my share of fresh tracks in the tress on these babies, but it's not what they're designed for.
With me on a set of Fischer's and my wife on a set of Atomic's we floated on the powder like we never had before. We both noticed how much more we had to work our skis when we actually did hit the groomers, but we weren't at Heavenly to ski groomers. In the trees we floated and turned with ease.
And we loved it. Powder skis are going on my wish list.
-- Clark Vandeventer