Single. Too most, it means unmarried. To some, a wish, and for some, tired of being. To a skier, a quicker way to get on a chair, to avoid those lines, those lift lines, those lines that deter from the reason to come to a ski resort. At European ski resorts, local skiers push and shove, stand on skis, shout at those that miss chairs, and seemed have a one and only focus. Get on the chair to get another run. At US reosrts, mannerism seems to exist and single can be shouted out to get ahead in line. Many larger resorts have specific single lines, dedicated to making a more effecient lift line process. So if one can ski single and do 23 runs down a 2,000 foot slope, how vertical feet does that make? Is it high enough to reach a star, maybe one that relates to the snow storms that come from the north.
Once visited years ago, once skied all those runs, once remembered for all that vertical, MauiSkiBus returned and skied the resort north of lake Tahoe, the star lake of all mountain ski towns. Glamour had been brought here, a ritzy feel had been added, an ice skating rink put in the middle, a ski resort village of kala, Hawaiian for mula money. The cliche, “If you build it, they wil come”, stands so true here at this north Tahoe ski resort, attracting stars and skiers alike. Akau Hoku, the north star in Hawaiian and the NorthStar of the Vail family.
Locals have seen a sleepy non-known ski resort transformed into a European feel ski resort with amenities galore. Such as 15,000 ladies and gentlemen that want to get muddy here in the summer, turning themselves into mud dudes and mud felines. Skate around the rink at night, sit so close to the open warm flames, enjoy skimming across water on closing day, or hearing the howl of resident coyotes, all are here at NorthStar at Tahoe. Jess van Pernis was there to help, just was not peering around the corner when MauiSkiBus was shown a VIP parking spot late at night by the security of NorthStar. The day was shared with Truckee locals Bill/Helen and Maui locals Alyssa/JP, adding to the delight of remembering the day that ”single” was shouted out to ski all that vertical, so far north of Maui, the star of the Hawaiian Islands.
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