We arrived at the Sierra Club Claire Tappaan Lodge near Donner
Pass/Sugar Bowl area a little before 2:00 PM. The snow was piled high
and in no time we were sitting on a balcony enjoying a cold brew and
the afternoon sunshine. We met a young chap from England, who is
taking a break from being an air traffic controller by traveling around
the world. He said he was up in Tahoe to snowboard, which is
fascinating, since that sport does not exist in England! He declined
to share photos of his snow boarding prowess with us, so we were left
to our own comic visions. In the evening we retired to Claire
Tappaan's cavernous living room complete with a massive fireplace - a
wonderful room to sip brandy and listen to tales of adventure and, of
course, stupidity. Note - Claire Tappaan is in danger of closing due
to lack of funding. To find out how you can save this wonderful lodge,
contact the Sierra Club at
http://www.sierraclub.org/outings/lodges/ctl/savethelodge/.

Since breakfast wasn't being served until after 8:00 AM, we enjoyed a
relaxing morning of packing and getting set for our big adventure. We
arrived at the trail head for New Bradley Hut by 9:15 AM, but it took
us a good 45 minutes to actually hoist the 40 pound packs and strap our
skis on. We had intended to ski the five miles into New Bradley Hut
last year, but a blizzard and 4 feet of fresh snow turned us away
(instead it took us 2 hours to ski 3/4 of a mile into the Warming
Hut). This year it was sunny and warm, with a well broken in ski trail
all the way to New Bradley Hut. We encountered lovely scenary,
including the female variety, on our 3 hour ski into the hut. Even Mr.
Jones, who as you will recall was in dismal physical conditon last
Fall, managed to reach the hut in good spirits.

As you can see from the pictures, New Bradley Hut is wonderful -
complete with a wood burning stove, well stocked wood supply, Coleman
stove, a solar lighting system, and boundless opportunities for alpine
and cross-country skiing. After munching, we headed out for some
backpack free skiing. Coctail hour arrived around 4:30 and we perched
our Therma-Rest Lounge Chairs on the edge of the meadow with a 180
degree view of the surrounding mountains. Half-way through consuming
way too much Tanqurey, we heard what seemed like voices. Which seemed
odd, since if was dusk and we thought no one would be attempting to
find the hut at such a late hour. But to out surpise, 10 minutes later
a couple with way too much energy and their rather large German Shepard
arrived at the hut. So as not to shock them and let them settle in a
little, we continued to sip our Gin and enjoy the sunset.

When we managed to stumble back into the hut, we were greeted by Ed -
the dog and a crackling fire. Our new hut mates, John and Maureen,
greeted us with hardy handshakes. They ignored the fact that Mr. Jones
and I were a bit tipsy and Maureen quickly started up a delightful
conversation, which by the way wouldn't end until we all passed out.
Turns out that John is an expert white water rafting guide, who spends
his winters on ski patrol. Maureen, is a former software developer
turned real estate salesperson. They live in Squaw Valley and own an
outdoor equipment consignment store. Mr. Jones and I were serenaded
with John and Maureen's tales from their 3-month South American
honeymoon. Maureen made the mistake of asking about Lizards after I
made reference to a past winter ski trip. They then had to endure the
Lizard indoctrination, mantra and all. Although very large with very
sharp teeth and big paws, Ed (named after a river eddy by John) was a
soft touch and extremely well behaved, except in the middle of the
night when he decided to plop down on the end of my sleeping bag,
thereby cutting off the circulation to my feet.

The next day was sunny, with a few high clouds. Skiing was excellent
and Mr. Jones and I became very jealous of John and Maureen's expert
alpine skiing abilities. After our rum soaked "power lunch" and Ed
politely manipulating us into feeding him some crackers and cheese,
John, Maureen and Ed bid farewell and headed home. Mr. Jones and I
continued skiing some of the nearby ridges and meadows. Happy hour
started around 5:00 on Friday, and when we stumbled back to the hut, it
was empty and we were forced to make our own crackling fire. Although
we were hoping for a light dusting of snow to make the ski back to the
car the next day easier, we awoke to a bright and sunny day. We stayed
around the hut until about 10:30 before heading back. After hiking the
first part of the trail out on icy and crusty snow, we put on our skis
for the gentle downhill ski out. Half-way down, we encountered a group
of 12 to 15 people, including 2 infants and 3 dogs. They were headed
up to New Bradley Hut - Mr. Jones and I smiled and thanked the Great
Guana for sending us John, Maureen, and Ed instead of the the entire
Truckee Sirra Club membership.

We were back at the car around 1:00 PM , where we were greeted by day
skiers and snowshoers of all types and abilities. We broke up the
drive home by stopping in Fresno area on Saturday, where we had a most
excellent Mexican dinner. Got back home on Sunday in plenty of time
for the Super Bowl and rain! Turns out that we left a day too early
for the snow dusting (Donner Pass got some snow on Sunday) and to maybe
witness a plane crash and thereby fulfill a Lizard fantasy (a small
plane reportedly crashed on Sunday in the same area we were skiing).