Wednesday — Stormy, with a Chance of National Automobile Museum

The National Weather Service described the winds at and around the Tahoe-area ski resorts on Wednesday as “destructive” and chains were required on every road between Reno and the chairlifts. So, after dropping Argosinu (née Telkontar) off at the airport, going back to the room to sleep another couple hours, showering, packing, finding and using a laundromat, and getting a by-then late lunch at Carl’s Jr., I headed over to the National Automobile Museum in downtown Reno.

I didn’t take a picture of the outside. Also, I’ve gone from having never been to a car museum to having gone to two in two months.

Right, so I didn’t know what to take pictures of inside either. I sort of tried to take “artistic” photos. The lighting was tough, a lot of glare. They had a lot of cars, but almost nothing after 1950. A lot of really old cars. The Ferarri was run during the 1952 through 1955 F1 (or whatever it was called then) seasons. It came in second in the 1955 Argentine Grand Prix. Here are photos of old cars:

Here’s the Ferrari. I think the art shot almost works for it.

Also third in the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix.

So that’s pretty much the museum. They tell some good stories, every car has a detailed description plate on it, there’s some significant automotive history described there. Probably worth going, depending. Took me 2.5 hours. Cheap metered parking is right outside the front door.

Mit herzlichem Glückwunsch,

bkd

Tuesday – Mt. Rose

Paid: $49 (weekday full-time student price at window)

Quality of Random Lift Strangers: N/A

Weather: Sunny with high winds at the top.

Would Return?: Probably

Mt. Rose was exactly as advertised: unpretentious, locals-centric, solid vertical and elevation, and windy (although I think everywhere was probably windy that day). In terms of attitude and vibe, Mt. Rose was night-and-day compared to Heavenly (and Squaw) and, ceteris paribus, I preferred Rose’s relative easy-goingness – not that ceteris ever *is* paribus. Conditions were pretty firm (not icy) on-trail and off-trail was cruddy (this included the tree areas unfortunately). Mogul runs were carved deep with pretty inconsistent snow (thanks to the warm weather, lack of recent significant snowfall, and wind I’m sure). Spent all day on Northwest Magnum 6 (heckuva lift name) after hearing that the east-side runs were more scraped.

It was exciting to be able to see our hotel from the top.

Also:

• Wish they’d had some better snow, obviously. The chutes looked like they’d be fun, but we saw (from a distance) one person who ventured in there all day and, based on his form, he didn’t look too happy.
• Was also sad that the trees down the lift-line weren’t more skiable (I tried twice).
• Didn’t understand why they wouldn’t run the little triple chair off to the right of us. There’s not a ton of skiing at the very top and the triple looked like it would at least be out of the wind. (I’ve been told by a local, however, that it’s not actually any less windy on the triple, just a lot slower.)
• Not very crowded – we didn’t share a lift ride all day.
• I liked that the ticket booth woman barely even blinked when I requested the student rate (I’m 41; yes, I’m a full-time student with the ID to verify it).
• It’s cool that there’s one resort around Tahoe that offers such intense discounts.

Conditions were definitely a little firm that day. That said, it was hilarious listening to locals complain about how terrible the “ice” was. At Blue Knob that’s called straight-up powder.

bkd