So much powder

Lots of rain in the Bay Area translates to heavy powder in Tahoe. Throw in a clear Saturday, and you have ingredients for, not the perfect storm but the perfect ski day with fresh, clean, virgin powder. After scouring the weather reports on Thursday and Friday (in between reading blogs and businessweek forums), I knew Saturday would be one of the best Tahoe days of the season. Instead of going to the Cal/USC final home game, I opted to tear up Northstar with my freshly waxed skis. The best part of the trip was discovering a new favorite run. If you take a right off the Lookout Mountain chair lift and ski down the border by the picnic bench, you'll find the deepest powder in Tahoe. At one point, I skied past a tiny little tree whose branch caught my right knee and I found myself tumbling and landing in waist-deep powder. As I lay in the snow, I thought this is what it must feel like to lie on a million pillows.

I hope the ski conditions in Vermont are similar to that of Tahoe because I don't know if I can survive two consecutive powderless winters. With only 12.5 weeks left in the Bay Area, it seems like I won't have enough time to complete my Bay Area checklist. Ah wells, I guess I'll need to start a new checklist for So Cal. Any ideas?