New Year’s Week

Following some exceptional opening day skiing on Day One we were blessed with bluebird powder and cold temps on December 27, smiles all around. The girls and I hunted down untracked snow underneath the lower portion of Lincoln all morning, as well as enjoying some great snow off Disney after it opened for the first runs of the season. Wild Man and his team waited in the Disney line for it to open and were on some of the first few chairs up, the six or seven of them were like a swarm hurtling down Disney Nose in the sun, hucking off everything in sight into the pow. At lunchtime he noted it was the best ski run he’d ever had: blue skies and 100% untracked cold smoke from top to bottom. I do remember having a similar run of my own last year in March, definitely the stuff dreams are made of…

Ski patrol did well to open up not only Disney but Lincoln as well on day two of the 2025/2026 season. Nothing like riding the chair over the cliffs of Silver Belt with blue skies above and nothing but untouched powder below.

In spite of the blue skies, temps stayed low throughout opening weekend and the snow remained in prime condition. With the entire mountain open and 62 inches/1.6 meters of fresh snow to enjoy, we spent day three lapping the upper mountain, hunting for whatever fresh snow remained. I noticed a distinct desire to tackle the steeps from Lilia with her brother absent while there were a few pockets of fresh pow to be had on the upper portions of Lincoln. It was a ton of fun to tackle the Silver Belt chutes and the meadow runout at its base with her… My chest did puff out just a little watching her brave the deep snow and tight lines between the rocks.

I even managed to score a few laps with Wild Man down Nancy’s Couloir and the steeps of Sugar Bowl off Disney during his lunch break while the snow was still in its prime. It was great to have him show me all the lines and drops he’d been training on with his team. He was surprisingly subdued about the dynamic within his team during those first few days, no doubt due to the fact he was dropped into a squad of the top U15 freeride boys who were all Truckee locals and had trained together since before they had any adult teeth. A little establishment of the pecking order was to be expected, and I think little Maxie was definitely somewhat intimidated by the caliber of skiing from his teammates. I watched them ski from the chairlifts, and Wild Man was definitely holding his own, but he was not quite at the point where he was sticking 360s off boulders into 40° landings like a couple of his teammates. It will come, no doubt…

Kevin, Sophia and Addi Bakker joined us again for a few days between Christmas and New Year. Their time at Powder Haus last year was marred by some pretty crummy snow conditions, so Lisa and I (and the kids) were stoked they were game for round two. Although they weren’t lucky enough to time the powder, they did score some exceptional sunny sky conditions with great snow for their time with us on the summit. Max took the afternoon off from training on one of the days they stayed, amped to ski with Big Kevin and the girls (and I imagine also to take a bit of a breather from the pressure and intensity of skiing with his team!).

A nice byproduct (for me, anyway!) of having to get Max to the mountain for training every day is being at the resort before the chairlifts start spinning (in spite of the consistent grumble about this requirement from his sister every morning). Both Bakker and Valtenbergs families were pretty sore after multiple days of open-to-close skiing, but it was nothing that some extended hot tub soaking and a few libations (for the adults) couldn’t fix. The vid below was the culmination of a dare from Sophia to Max whilst soaking in the hot tub: a top-to-bottom ride on the sled track behind the house from the tub wearing only bathing suits! No thank you.

We were given Code Names as a gift from Granny Jenni, Pops John and Steve for Christmas and were hooked before the Bakkers even arrived. They similarly got sucked into the competition and we all played countless rounds during their stay with us at Powder Haus. Really tricky to think like your teammate during the game, especially if they happen to be of a different generation. A ton of fun, regardless. I also need to remember never to play Addi Bakker – currently aged 10 – at Hearts without my full attention: she and Lilia absolutely crushed me, dropping the queen of spades on me twice in the span of three rounds.

New Year’s Day brought with it another atmospheric river from the tropics: warm temps and rain even at 8000 feet. Bogus. Temps are due to drop later today, however, and the weekend should see another onslaught of Sierra powder just in time for Max to start school at Sugar Bowl Academy. The wood stove is definitely going to get a workout later next week: forecast is calling for a ton of snow and a minimum temperature of 1°F/-17°C on Donner Summit on Thursday!