Alpine Meadows, CA. 22 February 2006 

I went back to California last weekend, and had a great time snowboarding up at Lake Tahoe. I got 3 full days of riding in — 2 days at Northstar and one day at Alpine Meadows. Both were good, but kudos and top marks go to the good folks at the rental shop at Alpine for giving me a free replacement Switch back (the blue plastic piece in the picture above) when my binding broke unexpectedly.

The conditions were pretty much perfect: It snowed at least 12″ every day, and it was also unusually cold for California, which meant that the snow stayed dry, powdery and lots of fun. It was easily the best powder I’ve ever ridden on in California.

The trip was arranged by my buddy Gordon, who is currently based in Washington DC, but who I first met on a snowboarding trip to the “Ponderosa” (the ski cabin owned by the family Pon) back in 2000, when we both lived in San Francisco.

We stayed in the Ponderosa again this time around (first time I’d been back since 2000), along with 9 of Gordon’s other friends, and 6 other folks in a different group — the cabin had been double-booked! Fortunately everyone was cool about the situation, although it was definitely a little cramped.

On the way back I also had drinks with my ex Jessica and dinner with a bunch of friends (Angus, CK, Mark, Stephanie and Suzy) in the Mission (my old ‘hood between ’99 and ’02) before heading back to New York.

All in all, it was a great trip. Next month: Whistler, near Vancouver!