Go north or south on Highway 89 from Tahoe City or Truckee to Alpine Meadows Road. Proceed up the road two miles toward the ski area to the west. There is roadside parking at the trail head. And trail signage is good.

He installed Park City's first snowmaking guns and doubled the uphill capacity of the resort. Snowmaking made it possible for Park City to host America's Opening World Cup races in 1986 and for several years thereafter. In 1994, Badami sold his company to Powdr, remaining chairman of the board until 2003.

Ahead of me, Tom Telluride boogied more expertly and enthusiastically, "shaking my assets," he bragged out loud. He had been righteously shaking them since the mid-seventies when we both first moved to Lake Tahoe. It all seems so long ago.

Those were the days before snowboards, cell phones, and SUV's, websites, and the X generation humping on MTV. Back then, Tom and I dated girls who did homework, and we skied a ton. Palisades Tahoe's KT-22, the Headwall, and the Bear Pen bar were our favorite hangs.

While purists may put spring skiing behind the adrenaline rush of deep snow, nothing captures the free fall thrills of snow sports as the exhilaration of corn. Simply speaking, corn snow makes ordinary skiers or snowboarders into gods.

In fact, even the gods agree.

"I'll take corn snow over three feet of the driest powder any day," says Todd Kelly, a former US Ski Team member and veteran World Cup downhiller. "It's like turning on butter. You can ski anything you want."

"We stared in disbelief. Earlier, we had found her boyfriend lifeless only a few feet away." Lanny (Johnson), a fellow patrolman, said into the snow: "Anna, is that you?" She responded, "Yes, it's me."

Finding Anna Conrad alive was a miracle that helped overcome the sense of loss and ruin surrounding one of North America's most fatal ski-area disasters.

Alpine Meadows

The festival wrapped up in its usual style as hundreds of revelers gathered on the snow-covered River Ranch patio to view a vast selection of snow sculptures created that day. The contest pits local teams against each other trying to win the most points, as awarded by an illustrious panel of judges, for their sculpture entry.