Instead of sleeping in on the first day of break, a couple of SRHS seniors will wake up at the crack of dawn to begin their journey up to Tahoe. This marks the first of many trips to Tahoe for this group of boys.

After being unable to go up to Tahoe just two weeks prior due to stress and school, going up will present a real relief to the students.

Being a high school student makes the logistics of taking a get-away trip with friends difficult to orchestrate due to the costs of the trip, and the students’ maturity and independence. However, the fact that this group of boys are seniors in high school makes it so that there is no better time for this trip than now.

“It’s definitely more freedom,” says Jackson Johns when asked if being a senior allows for more freedom. “Now that we can drive and our parents are okay with us being on our own.”

“This year there’s definitely more freedom to go up with my friends,” says Patrick Clark, “I’m older so my parents allow me to go up without them.”

It is not often that highschoolers who live over 3 hours from the snow are afforded the opportunity to travel up to Tahoe together. This is why this trip has extremely high expectations from everyone involved.

With storms expected to continue throughout the next few weeks, it is safe to say that the 3 ½ hour drive from San Rafael to the slopes up north will become a commonality.

The recent snow marks the perfect beginning to the end of finals week. Stress is gone and time is no longer an issue for students.

The slopes should be filled with powder and snowfall appears to be off the charts compared with recent years.

When asked their opinions about the recent snowfall in Tahoe, both Jackson and Patrick were ecstatic.

Jackson Johns says, “Well judging how the snow is now, it should be pretty dope. I know a couple of seasons ago wasn’t the greatest, but this year, the snow’s gonna fall, man.”

In agreement, Patrick Clark says, “So far it’s looking pretty good but I don’t want to jinx it because you never know what’s going to happen. Hopefully it comes through and it’s a good year.”

Having made it to Tahoe, the boys strap on their boots and click into their skis and boards. After arriving ahead of the crowd, they head for the chair lift, envisioning carving the first fresh tracks of the day into the backcountry.

From the top of the mountain, the boys could see for miles. They admired the view for no more than a couple of seconds before they carved their own tracks on the mountain.

Unfortunately, to their surprise, the snow was very icy which made it much harder to navigate down the runs.

“I’m not really trying to die,” said Cody Jackson, a SRHS senior.

Liam Dewey, another SRHS senior who made the trip added, “I wish it snowed before because a lot of the runs were pretty icy, but it was fun being with my friends.”

Even with the harsh conditions, you could easily tell that the boys knew how to maneuver down the mountain. From predicting the best runs to jumping off little jumps, the boys were very comfortable in their surroundings because of their skiing history and experience.

Although the snow conditions were not ideal, that thought quickly became overshadowed by the boys’ excitement of being together on the slopes.

Together, they completed run after run, mixing in a good amount of front and backside runs. Every chairlift ride was filled with chatter and laughter. Every run began with friendly banter of who would make it to the bottom the fastest.

The boys made the most of their time together in their home outside of San Rafael; the mountaintops of Tahoe. Together, they established a new ski culture for themselves as well as for the entire SR community.