My morning wake up call came an hour early. My daughter was bouncing on my bed like it was Xmas morning. “Daddy, Daddy, get up, get up, IT SNOWED last night!…lets make a snow man!” The clock said 4:45 AM, “its still dark out…go back to bed.” She would not let up. It is the first I have seen of the snow gene from her and although I had only slept five hours her enthusiasm and persistence paid off.

The five inches on the deck was a nice change from the endless summer but it was a little bit of a tease. Not enough to snowboard, but biking and climbing was now over for the year. After a snowman filled morning I got online and visited my old friends  and checked the weather cams at The last few seasons I have not been the guy riding rocks early season but for whatever reason I have the itch this year. I will be the guy milking the patch for a few turns.

More snow fell through the day and someone I knew must have ridden. The first few calls were met with laughter. My wife looked at me like I ws crazy but I finally got Jim Zellers on the phone. “Its killer….no rocks…lets go tomorrow.” We were on it early the next morning. Expectations were low as we pulled into the trail head to our favorite low tide spot. Pretty quickly as we gained elevation skinning up we realized conditions were better then expected and our plans changed from a small grassy hill to a the summit.

Dropping in off the top Jim’s and Scotty’s screams, as well as there sprays confirmed there was POW to be had. AsI rolled of the top the weight of summer seemed to fall of me with each turn. I wiggled out as many turns as possible, got one face shot, hit two mini airs and hit zero rocks.

Tahoe instant base.  It started snowing 30 minutes before this photo.  It the only snow in the world where a 20 inch base is enough to ride in the backcountry and not hit a rock.

Waiting for the sun to come up to session the backyard.

Fall is still hanging on in some places.

4 snowman, three snow angles,  a few laps on the sled in the bag by 7:30AM.

It was about here that we bailed on the low angle groomer and went for the peak.

We were mountain biking back here 3 days ago

Jim Zellers is fast in the mountains.  Unless you have four legs you are probably not going to get in front of him.

Aagghhhhh!!!!

Scotty making good on a slash we spotted on the way up.