Skiing (not)

I was planning on skiing this Saturday at Snow Summit in Big Bear Lake. However, when I checked the weather for this weekend, it looks like it is going to rain during the day on Saturday. Skiing in the rain is no fun, especially when I don't have snow pants and have to wear my jeans.

I haven't gone skiing for a long long time. I think the last time was right after UCLA when I went to Mountain High with some ex-roommates. It was early April and the snow sucked. I could see exposed rocks and there was a lot of mud. Before that, we skiied mostly at Mammoth Mountain. I didn't start downhill skiing until I moved to Los Angeles. In the 8 winters we spent in Canada, it was mostly cross-country skiing (at golf courses), sledding, and ice-skating. The only ski resort nearby was Blue Mountain which was not really a mountain. It was really flat where we lived (Mississauga) and the only significant elevation change was the Niagara Escarpment. This is the same topological feature that gives us the Niagara Falls... impressive waterfall but nothing compared to a real mountain, even the ones here in Southern California.

It's ironic that both time this winter I wanted to go skiing and our parachuting trip had to be cancelled due to rain. It's not supposed to rain that much here in SoCal.

==========

Actually, I think the last time I went skiing was with some classmates during my MBA program. Not really sure where we went. I want to say Mammoth but I can't remember driving that far. I've also skiied at The Summit at Snoqualmie which is outside of Seattle with my sister and some of her friends.

Speaking of driving to Mammoth, I remember driving Leon's old Camry during our last ski trip at UCLA. We left at about 6:30pm and didn't get to Mammoth until after 6:00am the next day. It was snowing most of the way on Highway 395 so we had to drive with chains past Mojave and couldn't go much faster than 35mph. There are more stories about this ski trip, including some girls and a flat tire, but I'll have to tell it in another post.