Hey, have some fun!!!: Another Winter Gone (Almost)

It is well into May now and the winter won't end! I just skied knee deep powder last Sunday!

The resorts are staying open on the weekends and people are loving it. The Amgen Tour, a huge bike race in Cali, was canceled due to snow last weekend. We're all a little over it and I've been itching to get my bike out, but that will all come with time. Well, Katie and I actually did ride our bikes to the bars Saturday, but to our surprise we rode back amid huge dumping snowflakes falling on our cold legs! Anyway, here's a wrap up of the Winter Season 2010-2o11.

I got back from Chile and started a month late into work, Dec. 1, but still had time to train our new rookies at ski school. The season started off with a ton of snow (the theme of the winter) and we jumped right into business!

Squaw Valley has been sold to a new company: KSL. We were all a bit nervous about the changes and expectations. Of course there was good and bad, stress and pressure, but in the end I think it will work to Squaw's advantage.

Squaw has always had an independent "go big or go home" kind of attitude. Powder days include security at the world famous KT-22 lift due to massive lines full of impatient powder h

ounds chomping at the bit. World class skiers come to Squaw and huck themselves off anything, and do it with style. The mountain is definitely intimidating with way more advanced terrain than beginner and it has picked up nicknames like: Squawsome and Squalleywood. Every year people get seriously injured here (including my roommate who broke his back a few years back), but Squaw is a mantra to those who live and ski there. I have to say you will never realize the full extent of a ski season and the crazies who are part of it until you live and work at a resort. I've been blessed to be a part of it.

This is officically my last season at Squaw Kids. Five loyal years of service is enough to feel good about moving on. I am

so indebted to Karen, my boss, and our crew. I have learned so much about management skills and have built upon my own confidence and knowledge in a working world. Squaw Kids has been a perfect fit for me: working with kids, helping instructors and interacting with the parents has taught me how to balance a work environment with professionalism and fun. And we always have fun. I've had a good amount of responisibility, but at the same time am working with young fun people from all corners of the globe. I'm always laughing at work and learning new phrases in Spanish. I'm outdoors in the sunshine physically and mentally working hard, and it's been a blast every

season. But alas, all good things must come to an end.

Tahoe is a seasonal town full of transitional people. For my 20s it's been perfect: parties, activities, adventure, roommates....all with no strings attached. But when I peer down the road ahead of me, I don't see the same lifestyle. I'm ready for stability (to a degree) and being available over the money-making holidays to sit down to a turkey dinner with my family. I don't know exactly where or how I will get there, but I am saying goodbye to Tahoe and to Squaw Kids this season and am embarking on a new type of adventure: adulthood.