Post Christmas Wrap-up

Ok, so I've been a bit lax in updating this.

So - here's what we've been up to: working working working and shoveling snow!

We have finally gotten loads of the white stuff, and boy, it looks great! Although it took Paul and hour to dig his way to the car (sorry, no photos this time) and a further half hour to actually dig out the car ready to head out!

but I digress...... FIRST, I had a day of shadowing a lesson in the Gondola area, which I needed, so I know where to take the class to when they are ready for lifts and such..... that was OK, although I had two students in that class who had difficulty getting onto the 'mighty might' which is a glorified rope tow, with handles on it. I worked through the lunch break and was gratified to get both of them able to use this to get up the hill without falling, and to come back down again in a wedge, controlling their speed.... and they were even starting to turn!! Of course I was not paid as an instructor on this and got no actual 'thanks' from the instructor I was shadowing, although he did acknowledge the hard work saying 'I work harder for my tips than he does' but I was pleased I was able to pass on the ability to get around the mountain to two people who otherwise might have given it all up!

The next day, I taught my first group at level one, all on my own. It was hard work, but worth it. It started with Paul and I both being assigned to start with the 'never ever' group and then split them up to each teach a group. There ended up being 24 students, so it got split into a total of 4 groups..... I had two people come back the next day, so it couldn't have been that bad!! And everyone managed to get onto the big chair lift at the end of that day!

The day after (when the two came back) I had a level 2 class, so we got to start straight away skiing, and we then did a few 'easy' runs before they all decided they wanted a challenge, so we went down the face of Easy Street (which I ended up dubbing 'oh, crap' hill by the end of the day). This is still a green run, but has two places with a steep pitch, and it was a VERY busy run, and had more hard-pack, (or to use the eastern ski term, Frozen Granular: read as icy) than snow on it, and it was snowing quite hard, and the wind was fierce and cold.

However, my intrepid group finally got the hang of it, and came down without any falls, and with confidence, so my job here was done too! I think I will do OK as a ski instructor!

My main goal is that my students feel safe and secure, and have a good time! If they actually learn to ski along the way, all the better, but I don't want to be a drill sergeant to push them to learn the skills, if they hate every minute! So far, everyone has progressed well from when I get them to when they leave for the day. And I hope to keep it up!

So - that level 2 group was on Christmas Eve.... I got down the mountain about 4:15pm and signed out.... sorting out my paperwork for missing pay after the Department Training following the orientation. Paul then reminded me we should be picking up a rental car!! I hadn't booked, so I wandered (quickly) over to the Embassy Suites to the AVIS desk in hopes we could get a 4WD for 2 days so we could visit the Millers. When I got there, a man was just finishing returning his car.... and I got to the window at 4:55pm. She said she closed at 5, and that there were no 4WD available for 2 days as she needed them for Friday the 26th. I asked if I could take a 2WD and swap on Christmas day, but of course they would be closed!!
So - she then asked if I was staying at the hotel. I said I was an employee of Heavenly - and she decided as a 'local' I would then NEED a car and not only did she 'find' me a 4WD, she got me a discount too!! The man in front of me had just returned a Pontiac Vibe, which is actually an All Wheel drive, but it suited me fine. She was worried as it still had snow on it and had not been cleaned, but as the snow was falling thick and fast, I told her there was no point in taking a clean car as it would get snowed on anyway!! So, I had my car. I called Paul and set up to meet him outside the office, and then picked him up. And then realised we had no Christmas Tree yet!!!

So, it was after 5pm on Christmas Eve, and no tree! We went to the hardware store (which closed at 5pm) then to Rayley's (a supermarket) but no luck. We went to Long's Drugs, who were having a 50% sale on all christmas stuff, but no tree... although they had some white spraypainted thing which was supposedly a tree. I decided to leave without the white monstrocity! We headed to Safeway next, but they had nothing either, although we took advantage of this stop to get a bottle of Perrier Jouet Champagne as a Christmas present for the Millers...... But still no tree. Next came Rite Aid, which closed while I was looking around... they had a sale on Christmas Trees, but they had none left!! It was looking like this might become the 'year without a Christmas Tree' but I refused to be cowed!!

We headed at last to the other branch of Long's Drugs at the Y, and I found a small 18 inch tree, pre-decorated, including lights...... and bought some suction cup hooks to hang lights on the windows. Kathryn was kind enough to send us some Christmas lights, some Hannukah lights and some decorations which will fit in with my own decorations left back in England..... so I was intent on at least using the lights!!

The one disappointment was, on the way out, after paying, I found some quite nice fake trees, 4 feet tall, for only $15. I would have gone back, but I did not have enough decorations for a tree that big, so I left with the little tree. It was kind of like the Charlie Brown tree..... but it did the job, and is not too wasteful.

Home we came, and it was then almost 8pm. I set up the tree and hung the lights on the window...... and made sure that I left the windshield wipers up as it was still snowing heavily. Boy, was I glad I did that!!

The next morning, Christmas morning, dawned and was amazing the transformation all that snow caused! It was still snowing, but not as heavily. The birds were flocking around the bird feeder, and the sheer amount of snow out behind the house was impressive to see! We phoned the Millers to say we would try to get out to come over for Christmas dinner. We also did video chats with the in-laws for Christmas greetings....

It took Paul an hour to dig the path from our door to the car. I then went out to help dig out the car, which took another half hour, including scraping the ice off the windows. There was well over 2 feet of snow out there...... and I had to dig out behind the tailpipe of the car, as it was backing up into the car, and would have been quite dangerous. But the car started well, and heated up really well, with a great defroster, so anyone requiring a small AWD car, I would recommend the Vibe. Seriously.

While digging out the car, we were offered Christmas dinner here with the landlords if we could not get over the Mountain Pass to Carson City. Good thing, as we had not planned to be home for dinner and would have resorted to canned goods for our Christmas dinner if we had not made it!!

The snow was deeper than the car, but with a bit of momentum, we managed to get out of the drive and down to the end of the road onto Tahoe Keys Boulevard. Once on the main road, we managed a reasonable 25 miles per hour, and it was amazing to see how this town deals with the amount of snow which falls. They push the snow to the edges and the middle, then send the snow 'grinder' down to 'eat' the snow, and it spits out to the side, where this convoy of dump trucks goes along to get filled up with the snow. They then take this snow and dump it in a lot in the Sierra Forest, which eventually melts and becomes part of the lake.

Anyway, the car was sure-footed, and we made it over the pass into Carson City without further incident, although I did not go over 30 mph, and spent most of the down-hill in low gear to prevent braking and possible skidding. The hardest part was probably coming into the Miller's driveway!!

We had a fantastic afternoon and evening in the Washoe Valley, and stayed the night, as the roads would have still been a bit treacherous. The next morning, we headed out sharpish, to head back and video chat with the rest of the family we had missed the day before.... as the time difference is extreme, we wanted to be back by 10am.

The car did not have to be back until 5pm, so we headed back to Carson City to see what their Used Car inventory was like, as the busses here are ok for getting to and from the mountain in time for work, but any other time of day they are SHOCKING!!! Needless to say, the cars were more than we could afford, so we went back to the Millers for a slightly more leisurely good-bye and wished them well into the New Year. Then back over the mountain again to return the car by 5pm. AVIS were suitably impressed with the timely return of the car, and they were pleased they had rented the car to me as many of the 'reserved' 4WD they thought they had ended up as no-shows.

Then, it took well over an hour to get home as the bus service was shocking, again. Sheesh. a car would be useful right about now!! We waited 20 minutes, then got a bus with a broken heater, and a driver who did not know where the stops were. We went the 'wrong' way for 20 minutes, then back again, missing stops everywhere, and as I was not wearing long underwear, nearly froze on the mile-long walk from the bus stop back to the house!

But I survived, and we are still walking around and working and using the free bus service. But it is no longer so glorious.

It's almost Christmas!

Leaving north lake tahoe region

After passing the exam Paul and I went with one of our condo mates down to Jason's beachside grill for a celebratory burger and salad bar. It was a VERY cold night so we took a taxi down. It was amazingly cold in the restaurant, although they told us that booth seven should be warm, there was a frigid draft coming from somewhere! Brrrrrr. It was hard to get into anything, but the salad bar was pretty good! Big American style salad bar with choices of normal lettuce and stuff as well as various pasta salads potato salad and about twenty dressings! Burger was lovely too!
Then we stood outside freezing our bits off waiting for a taxi which never showed! Thank god for iPhones, as we found another taxi firm who turned up promptly, and was cheaper than the previous one too!

After that silly fiasco, we decided a car would be necessary to move our stuff back to the south of the lake.

We spent more than we should on renting a car, but due to another big storm heading in, we decided 4 wheel drive would be a wise idea.
So, we loaded up and headed south. We wanted to be sure of the plans for the first official day of work on Friday, so we wandered back to the California base. After being told nine am in uniform, I managed to get the voucher for discounted equipment, so we toddled off to see what there was.
Unfortunately the 50 percent is based upon retail base price. There are loads of sales already on, so less discount than it looks. I decided to demo some skis before buying anything. Then back to our place to drop our bags and skis.

We got some Christmas cards and decoration gifts to open and headed back up north for the big celebration party (back at jason's) the theme was E or A for educating adventures, and some people really went to town on their costumes! But anyway, awards were given to our examiners, and it turns out that everyone passed, so some pretty happy people all around.
This morning, another early start, to take our condo mate to Reno for his long slog of a flight back to Melbourne. He just came to get his certification. Then back to truckee to return the car. After enterprise brought me back, the mad condo cleaning had to begin!! Check out by eleven am and we all hoovered and scrubbed and packed up everything.
Then the northstar bus turned up to drive us back to South Lake Tahoe for the remainder of the season!

We passed the PSIA level 1 !!!

Paul and I skied hard today. I volunteered to go first... And has to teach two types of students in two separate lessons. And I passed!! So, I will get a certificate and more pay per hour. Yippee!!!!!!!!! But my feedback says buy new skis. My current ones are a bit long and too stiff to teach in. So I need to look for shorter, softer skis to clamber around in. And Paul needs a new jacket, as we had to try to re-waterproof his old one... He looked like a snowman yesterday in all the powder!

More snow and we are mid-exam!

Well here we are in the teeth of the first real winter storm. Had about two feet of powder on the mountain, looking like a real ski resort now!
As for the exam, we are still working through teaching exercises and working on our skiing skills. Tomorrow is the big day where we pass or fail. Our instructor seems confident that we are 'ok' so we hope to pass and then spend the rest of tomorrow skiing the powder as it is still snowing hard!!!

Snow!

Not much yet but it happened... Snow and even here in the valley by the lake not just the mountain! And there's more to come...
And the exam starts tomorrow, so we might even get a chance to try teaching on new terrain!
But today is a day off, so full breakfast and another trip down to South Lake to see if we can get our passes! At least we have passed our security checks! I received a copy of mine and so has Paul.
Finished our training yesterday, so ready ( or not ) to take the exam... Wish me luck!

Photos will be uploaded next week!

As I cannot upload photos from the iPhone here you all will have to wait!