The last weekend of the season should be a warm funfest basking in mid 50s blue sunny gloriously languid days of skiing. That wasn't how it worked out last year in Vail when we had ice storms and freezing winds on the last day of the season and it's not how it seems to be unfolding here in Tahoe.

Today there was some sunshine, and when the sun graced us with its presence, it was quite lovely, but more often than not, good ole sole would hide behind fast moving ominous black clouds. Normally this wouldn't be such a problem. The snow was perfect, which is was unexpected this time of year, but since I was determined to have a serious spring day, I wore only one of my old Samoan shirts on my torso and was colder than a popsicle in the deep freeze.

In the afternoon, when Russell quit to set up the barbeque and Kristen left to check out the band playing at the Gondola, it only got worse, even after I had gone down to the car with them to grab a sweater. I skied a few more runs and then made my way to the top of the gondola the watch the pond skimming contest.

Last year, I went to Vail's World Alpine Pond Skimming Championships. It was a big deal. There were sponsors, there were announcers, there were judges, tons of be costumed contestants, and a massive pool of clean, cold mountain water over which they all tried to skim. Heavenly, in comparison, was a sad joke.

The pond was just that, a small dirty pond. It was maybe 30 feet long and 15 wide. It was lined with a black glad bag, but it must have been punctured because dirt had seeped in from somewhere leaving a pool of brown water. There were no judges. There didn't seem to be any rules. The pond was so short that most of the contestants came screaming across it, spraying the assembled fans with water or piling into the "protective" webbing at the edge of the pond.

It was cold. It started snowing a little even. I gave up after about 20 people went over with about 75% of the folks making it across the way.

I took some pics with my microcompact Canon S400. It overcast and they didn't come out all that but it will give the flavor of the event.

Days Skied This Season: 24