Commonplace: Winter Weekend- Tahoe!

The Princeton ladies have an excellent annual tradition of winter weekend ski trips and this year Maggie and Dave Wooll did one heck of a job putting together a four day getaway to Lake Tahoe. We spent Thursday through Sunday catching up, eating, hot tub soaking, skiing, eating, birthday celebrating, eating and laughing. Here are a few pictures.

The welcoming committee. Poor lad was under the weather, but you could hardly tell.

This is the view from the upstairs porch (as opposed to the 2nd floor porch or entry patio) of the gargantuan condo we called home. I heard David speaking to the management company on the telephone, referring to the property as "the castle". I don't know if that name was his creation or theirs, but it is an apt description. This view is looking due west across Lake Tahoe.

Friday morning the ladies gathered for a baby shower for Kim.

The activity was creating customized onesies and diaper/burp towels with iron-on decals and fabric markers. Here are some of the results:

I escaped for part of the morning for dawn patrol on snowshoes, generously loaned to me by David. I drove up to Spooner Summit and followed the Tahoe Rim Trail to the north. I hiked for about two hours, out and back, up to an open knob well above Spooner Lake. One of my favorite things in the world is being in the woods in the winter, and when it also involves being in the mountains with beautiful views, deep snow, singing birds, and quiet solitude, all the better.

Here is a a self portrait:

The view through the trees. The snow was about 3 feet deep, at an elevation of 8000 feet or so.

This is at the highest point, at which I could see Lake Tahoe below, beyond the ridge to the west. The view is breathtaking!

On Saturday, the four Claspys drove north to the Royal Gorge Cross Country ski resort, the largest in the U.S. with over 180 km of trails. It was a fantastic day and conditions were wonderful. The snow was somewhere around 3 or 4 feet deep and beautifully groomed. The sky was overcast with snow falling all day, very lovely! We arrived around 11 am and got set up in rental gear. We skied for about an hour, then returned to the lodge for lunch, after which we followed a longer loop to the Wilderness warming hut and back. It was a great day out! The drive back to the condo was a bit dicey, however, with snow falling and the roads south of Incline Village pretty treacherous. The 50 mile drive took over 2 hours.

Here we are at the entrance to Summit Station. Those drifts are as high as the roof of the building.