Meghan Kelly Teles!

Though we had a fabulous fall, I could hear winter knocking at the door. Reports of early snow storms only make skiers antsy – though we know that the best skiing is still months away. Last year, PK and I took an early season ski trip to Colorado and it was an excellent antidote for the November skiing blues. It was so successful in relieving anticipation, I decided to do it again this year and hit up Woodward at Copper to practice some backflips with actual skis on.

Thursday night was spent in Denver reminiscing with some childhood friends. It was amazing to see them and learn about Astis Mittens, a company started by one of their Denver friends. We also had a few good laughs about the fact that I had a highlight video which I showed to everyone on the big screen in their amazing loft apartment.

I told everyone to get to work on their highlight videos and headed up to the mountains the next day.

My sister and I got to A-Basin in time to make about 6 runs before we had to bust a move for our drop in session at Woodward. We met some friends who are also ripping skiers and went nuts right away throwing 360s and backflips into the foam pits. Everyone had trepidation before their first drop, but it was all erased with the effortless jump and then landing into the foam pits. I tried about 8 backflips and had only 3 good ones.

To take a break from backflipping I headed over to the cliff and threw a front flip into the foam. My skis hit the foam, I compressed, and I kneed myself in the mouth and absolutely shredded my lip. Ten stitches later, I looked like this.

foam to ski --> knee to lip --> Meg to ER

Not to be discouraged, we skied the next morning at ABasin again.

still jumping

When the crowds arrived, we bailed for some lunch and to find a full face helmet to I could return to Woodward. Bam! Got a Giro Full Face! I think this will really help me down the road! My sister and I headed back to Woodward and threw ourselves into foam until we were exhausted.

Sometimes the hardest part was getting out of the foam as evidenced here.

After one more morning of skiing, this time at Keystone, we headed back to Denver to spend more time with awesome non-skiing friends and catch my flight back to Tahoe. I got plenty of looks when I boarded the plane with my fat lip and my full face helmet carry on. This morning when I arrived to work a coworker told me I was like a 10 year old with a different injury every two weeks. Brutally fun weekend!

It’s back!  Winter!  Just as I was swimming in the lake, enjoying the 80 degree temperatures of the unseasonably warm fall, reports of a winter storm started hitting all the major weather outlets.  Although, I’m scrambling to get a construction project done before winter, I couldn’t help but be a little excited to see what this early-October snow storm would bring.  As I drove home from the job site last night, I could see the clouds rolling in.

scenic viewpoint of 1st storm of winter 2011-12

The next morning I awoke to rain at 6600 feet, but it turned to snow around 7:30 AM.  The excitement was growing.  I jumped in my car and headed up the east shore of Lake Tahoe to the construction site.  The sights were beautiful.

rough "seas" and snowy mountains

this doesn't even look real!

The snow halted the construction project so I decided to see what I could find in the backcountry. I headed up Mt. Rose highway, which at almost 9,000 feet, is the highest year round pass in the Sierras.  It felt good to be skinning again.

back in the bc

Like many Sierra storms, there was a lot of wind with this snow, which made it perfectly supportive for it’s 10″ depth.

Reno is down there somewhere

Despite the shallow snow depth, these turns felt great for October 5th.

Ski with Caution!

The “good” weather is supposed to return, but it was nice to get a taste of the upcoming winter.  Welcome back La Nina!