The Donner Party--Take 2!

This spring break we repeated our Tahoe ski trip from last year. The kids were so excited for another week with friends at the Donner Summit and a week of skiing. Of course, we are always wondering...how will the skiing be? Will the weather be good? Will there be enough snow? It is the last week of March after all. But this year, Mother Nature had an entirely different experience in mind for us!

We arrived in Tahoe on Sunday, March 20th, just barely. The freeway had been closed for hours that day due to a big storm. It finally reopened only to cars with 4-wheel drive or chains. So we creeped up the mountain, excited to know there would be fresh new snow to ski on the next day. Who knew that ski resorts can actually close due to too much snow!!!! In the week we spent there, the Donner Summit (named such because it is where the Donner party was stuck in the winter of 1847) received 14 feet of new snow. Yes, you read that right...14 feet in one week! This winter was one of the biggest snow falls on record for the Donner Summit--mirroring the winter of 1847. In fact, the monument built to the height to mark the snow depth the winter of 1847 was completely buried when we were there.

Our 4-story condo complex we were staying in was barely visible from underneath the snow. The last day there, they had to come and dig us out of the building because the entrances were snowed in as well!

From inside the condo building, looking out.

On Monday, the ski resort we were staying at was closed. They had too much snow to open. Doug packed up the kids and went with the group next door to Ski Bowl to ski, while I stayed behind to work on a few things for work (that online job of mine follows me everywhere I go, and I was really behind due to a lot of time off in March). My friend Maria and I made a trip into Truckee to get some more supplies. While at the grocery store in Truckee, the freeway was closed again. So we enjoyed a 2-hour parking spot on the freeway until it opened again. People were out of their cars, building snowmen on the freeway divider, waiting for the freeway to open again! We finally made it back to the condo, vowing to not leave the mountain again until it was time to go home. That was a smart plan.

On Tuesday, the ski resort we were at managed to open the front half of the mountain. We had a fun day skiing as a family, even if our choices of runs was severely limited. We were skiing in powder like we'd never seen before. Terry wasn't too happy when I snapped a photo of him waist-deep in powder (it took him about 30 minutes to dig himself out). Wednesday through Friday, the resort we were at was closed as record levels of snow continued to fall. So we spent one day skiing at Boreal and another day at Ski Bowl.

Terry-waist deep in new powder

Thursday at Ski Bowl, the wind was blowing, the snow was flying, and the temperature was freezing! But we had so much fun. At one point the resort lost power and the ski lift came to a halt. That's when we learned that backup generators for ski lifts take about 25-30 minutes to get started. I was on a chair with Trevian and to keep her calm through it, we sang all her favorite songs from music class. She taught me the Turkey song that she sang all Thanksgiving long..."a turkey knocked on my back door so I invited him in...it was a chill November morning so I invited him in...won't you come into my kitchen, my friend..." Doug did not have it quite so easy. He was on a chair with Zach. Zach doesn't take to unexpected circumstances quite so well. The panic started to set in and he wanted down...NOW! He asked Doug "what are our options?" Doug replied "well, we either sit here and wait for them to restart the lift...or we jump." Zach quickly replied "THOSE ARE NOT GOOD OPTIONS!" But the chair did eventually restart and in the end the kids were rewarded. They gave out vouchers for $30 in food and free hot chocolate for everyone stuck on the lift. So Zach and Trev enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in the lodge, sipping cocoa and playing table top hockey with sugar packets.

All 5'7" of Terry, against the 14' side of the road.

Our last day there, Friday, we were just desperate to get out. We felt like we'd been prisoners all week, buried in more snow than we'd ever seen in our lives. Thursday night the snow plow driver had warned us that there was so much snow coming that we needed to park in a different location if we had any hopes of getting out. The next morning, we were pretty grateful we'd done that, as it took 3-4 hours to dig everyone else out. But our car was loaded and ready to go once we helped finish digging and we hit the road, just as the freeway opened again to 4-wheel drive vehicles to get off the mountain (it remained closed to anyone wanting to go UP the mountain). When we arrived in Sacramento and stopped to refuel and eat, we felt like kissing the grass when we got out of the car. Finally released!

I must say we have a new appreciation for what the Donner Party went through those many years ago. It was amazing what we faced with all that snow--and we had winter clothes/gear, a warm condo to stay in and a 4-wheel drive vehicle to help us get around. I can't even fathom what that winter must have been like for those pioneers.

The next day, happy to be home again, I headed out to do some much-needed retail therapy (which my friend was convinced was due to my suffering from PTSD) and came home with a pair of bright red high heels...since dubbed my post-traumatic stress shoes. Not that I needed an excuse to buy shoes!