A fun weekend (I almost died).

What’s up everyone.

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A little life update for you guys who might be wondering what I’ve been up to.

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This will be my first blog entry of the year, and I kind of spent the first month slacking off by not posting, but I basically spent it just getting some things in order and set up for the near future.

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Most of this time was spent trying to get my side business up and running. Trying to get a profitable freelance side hustle sounds really fun in theory, but it actually has turned out to be quite difficult.

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The hardest part is doing marketing to drum up all of your own business. Even if you have the skills and are sure you will deliver quality work, the challenge comes with getting in front of the right clients in order to actually do business. Essentially creating your network from scratch.

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Being self employed can be prosperous because there is no limit to how much money you can make, but it also brings the challenge of having to drum up your own business and making a name for yourself. On the contrast of having a full time job where the work is already provided to you but you make a fixed amount every month.

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The complexities and challenges of having your own business are things I’ve never faced before, maybe it’s something that I can dive into later on. But right now it’s something that I’ve become very interested in learning and getting better at.

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But anyways.

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This past weekend…

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I went on a four day snowboarding trip with three friends down in Mammoth, California.

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It was a great trip with a fun group of friends that once it was all over and we were back home, I wished we could be back in the cabin getting ready to board again the next morning.

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It was probably one of the best snowboarding trips I’ve ever had to this day.

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There was a storm that hit the day we arrived, so all of the snow was powdery and the runs were open and wide enough to not get run into by a a six year old on skis for the first time.

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Overall, it was great. And I can’t wait to do it next year.

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Along with all the good times, it seems that my friends and I always manage to get ourselves into some ridiculous situations.

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For one, on a run when I was feeling good about myself I tried to go through a powdery section next to the trees. After about a few seconds of pure bliss, I found myself flipped over and face down in three feet of snow.

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When I met everyone else down at the lift I realized my pocket was full of snow instead of my phone.

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We managed to go back to the exact spot I fell and found it after a few minutes of trying to search for it.

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Saturday

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Then on the last day, Saturday, after waiting all weekend to be able to go to one of the highest lifts in the mountain after being closed due to wind, they finally opened it.

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So we speed off after lunch to get to this one part of the mountain we had been looking at all day.

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It turns out, every trail that leads to the lift we needed to get to had been ungroomed. Basically meaning that it was all fresh snow that once you went through it, if you weren’t careful, you sink right into it.

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Unluckily for us, right at the bend it seemed everybody had fallen on their asses so we lost all our speed.

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So essentially, we got stuck and had to hike through some of these trails.

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And if you’ve ever hiked through fresh snow, it’s like walking on a beach wearing about 20 pounds of gear and every step you take you sink about two feet and also it’s freezing outside. And also for whatever reason you can’t breathe.

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But after all that, we finally make it to the top of the mountain where we wanted to be.

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By the time we do get there, the entire side of the mountain was also covered in ungroomed fresh snow. Meaning that we were all basically FUCKED.

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The time was currently about 4 PM, which is the time where the mountain basically is closed. And the lodge we needed to get through is on the complete opposite side of the mountain.

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After getting yelled at by ski patrol and being told to essentially get the fuck out as soon as possible, my friend Aaron and I bust our asses through trails, trees, and basically the whole mountain to make it back to our lodge.

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It really felt like a do or die situation. It was getting dark and cold fast.

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My back, quads, ankles, feet, basically everything was on fire as we traverse through and do whatever it takes to get to our destination. Eventually our other two friends met us down at the bottom, as we nervously awaited their return as well.

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After that close call, we all celebrate the survival of our near death experience with some beers and house music they played at the lodge.

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Sunday

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Then to make matters worse, my friend and I had to drive all the way back to Sacramento through an “atmospheric river” in his moms little Honda mini SUV.

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While we were already in Mammoth, there was word of a huge storm that was going to be sweeping through California that was going to be starting the same day we were set to leave back home to Sacramento.

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Oh boy.

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Omer and I made the decision to take our chances and get home as soon as we can before the storm gets any worse.

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This was a terrible decision. And this was by far one of the scariest drives I’ve ever done in my life.

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We trekked through a straight blizzard for about 80% of the whole drive. So bad that at some points, we couldn’t even see the road right in front of us. To the point where it felt like I was just driving straight into the white abyss because I couldn’t see a single part of the actual road.

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Those were the scariest moments by far.

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When it wasn’t a complete whiteout, we could actually see tracks in the road left by tires of cars that drove there before us. But any small diversion off of those tracks would cause our car to lose traction and we would start sliding around the street with no control over our car.

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That was also insane.

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It required complete 100% focus for an over 7.5 hour drive all the way up California.

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But we didn’t die, so that’s good (even though it felt like we definitely could at any moment).

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Along the way we saw cars drive directly into snow banks, slide across the road, slide down the road, and for most of the time it felt like we were the only ones out there because you just couldn’t see anything.

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Which made me wonder if we were the only ones actually dumb enough to be driving right now.

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Like are we driving straight into our deaths?

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But we made it home just fine and barely alive.

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In the future, I would never recommend anybody go through that, it’s just not worth it. If anybody is considering driving home during a snowstorm, just don’t do it.

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You’re better off just staying for a few extra days while the storm dies out.

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But overall, it was a great weekend. I only wish it was longer.

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And also, I’d like to share my appreciation for the people who operate snow plows. You guys are the real heroes. Thank you for your service 🫡