Powder Day at Donner Ski Ranch

Early last week, I realized I had enough use-it-or-lose-it points at Sugarbowl to get us a free lift ticket if we went before they closed for the season (Nimue's lessons really rack up the credit!) Plus, we've only gotten one ski trip in this year (albeit a good long one with both backcountry and resort components. Clearly the solution was to head up to the mountains.

The storm timing was just about perfect.

We headed up on Friday night under clear skies, and got Nimue into her usual lesson at Sugarbowl on Saturday while we amused ourselves on the friendly spring slush bumps at the top of the mountain. About mid-day, the snow started to come down, transforming those delightful slush-bumps into powdery-feeling bumps (though Chad, being a telemarker with a higher standard for powder and a lower appreciation of moguls would disagree with my classification of them as powder bumps). Most fun, especially as it became clear by the end of the day that the storm was a true late-season Sierra dump.

Snow snow snow snow snow. By the next morning, the car was covered. We had decided the previous day that Sunday would be a family ski day since Nim had done so well in her lesson (she even skiied off the lift that went to the very tippy-top of the mountain at Sugarbowl), and instead of going to Sugarbowl, where I might have felt frustrated by not being able to spend the day ripping through the trees in the powder, we went across the street to Donner Ski Ranch.

This ski area is a lower-cost, not-as-steep, small, friendly, old-timey resort. Think lots of good blue and green trails, slow calm lifts, and no crowds.

And two feet of fresh powder. Woo hoo! Nim showed herself to be quite competent, and after the first couple of chilly runs (and a miscalculation on my part that led to us coming down part of a run labelled as a black), we found a run off the top of the mountain that led Nimue to whoop in exhilaration at every turn. "Mommy, this is fun!" What a good kid. She doesn't seem to be bothered by ungroomed snow at all.

By the end of the day, the sun came out, and we had an uneventful drive back down the hill. 80 was clear of snow, but occasional snow flurries slowed the traffic somewhat. Lots of neat clouds to look at, and the air through the Central Valley was the clearest I've ever seen it, having been just washed clean by the storm. We got quite an interesting view of the tall buildings in Sacramento under dramatic cloud-filled sunny skies in the distance as we came down off the hill.