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The perfect Day

The month of February is the perennial best month of the ski season but so far had yielded no snow and only a total of 2 inches for the entire winter, a far cry from spectacular. The season was already nearing its twilight (... mid-March) and yet no snow storms. Big Bear in years past would end the season with a foreboding snowstorm that sweeps through it as if to formally close out the season making way for spring, so hope for a snowstorm was not all bleak, just disheartening... It's hard to believe i'm on my 10th Season (... Kris on his 11th) and you can say we've seen our fair share of good and bad seasons (1997 & 2000 stands out for me) so we have become more selective especially with our local trips. This season was poised for worst ever in my time... In an attempt to salvage my season i took a trip to Big Bear on a Thursday in the end of February with a high temp of 46 F (... low of 26)... best conditions in 9 weeks. I couldn't phantom a drastic change in weather that would yield the ideal amount of snow that would save the season, not in March anyway so i felt the trip was incumbent.

1 week later. It snows... a foot of snow in two days prompting my 3rd trip of the season. This was a very nice day. What i did not expect was that the storm would kick-start a series of snow storms that would last for more than a month resulting in five awesome trips to Big Bear in a span four weeks including a memorable Sunday trip...

The March snowstorms yielded over 4 feet of snow. After the 5th trip with my snowboard pal Stan we decided to hang it up anticipating the end of the Season. After all it was late March and the Dodgers opening day was just around the corner. Like two old snowboarding pundits we reflected on a Season that almost failed us then simultaneously smiled and thanked the Snow Gods for the late winter surge.... But to my great surprise winter was not ready to concede reminding me that i've grossly underestimated Big Bear's sway. Big Bear received yet again another unexpected snowstorm the week after... 6 weeks running. This time a total of 9 inches refuting my supposed retirement the week before. So i suited up one more time....

On the 7th week. It snows yet again... refuting yet again my pseudo retirement. 6 successive weeks of snowboarding would have sufficed my insatiable snowboarding appetite but Big Bear proved its magic for one more week to cap off the season. This certainly was the season's swan song... If there ever was a perfect day at Big Bear that was it, Thursday April 6. In an attempt to describe what a perfect day is for snowboarding its the day after a snowstorm, over 14 inches of heavy snow, a clear day of no wind and no clouds shrouding visibility, a day of all days that fall precisely on my weekday day off.... it was just perfection. So perfect in fact that even the drive up the winding canyon roads of the San Bernardino Mountains was almost undramatic. Invariably there is one idiot who is driving all too carelessly thru the narrow elevation-changing corners sliding around scaring the wits out of other travelers who are happy just to get there in one piece while driving below the safe snow speeds trying haplessly not to bore their children in the back seat. This day, i was the only idiot, as every car seemed to yield to my erratic driving. Even the dimwit beer drinking white guy in a Heavy Duty 2500 Silverado Truck with an 8 inch lift and colossal Snow/Mud Tires turned out to let me pass..... I was driving so fast in the snow that the ABS (antilock braking system.... for those not versed in automobile jargon) completely failed locking the breaks under hard cornering sending my SUV across the opposite lane and my heart lumping in my throat. It was not a blind corner of course, hence the intrepidness... i wouldn't have done it otherwise. Fun though...

Posted by: Marc Gabay
Tuesday, April 11, 2006