Shredding The Gnar With Sadie & Nate!
Four glorious weeks on the ski slopes at Lake Tahoe and Park City.
February 22 - March 21, 2026
Truckee/North Lake Tahoe, CA; South Lake Tahoe, CA/NV; Park City, UT
"In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him." — Psalm 95:4
Over the High Sierra
When Peyton started planning the details of our road trip itinerary in 2024, she asked me if I had any particular places that I wanted to go or things that I wanted to do. I had two requests: spend a lot of time in the western part of the country, and go skiing as much as possible in the winter.
We’ve been west of the Mississippi River since late July, 2025 - ✅. Skiing was slated for four weeks in February and March, and we procured military/veteran Epic season passes for the family.
Around six months on the road, the kids were both expressing some homesickness for their friends. Peyton arranged two trips to get them back to Virginia Beach during portions of our ski month. Sadie flew back from the SF Bay Area with Peyton’s parents and spent a week in VB.
Peyton, Nate, and I departed the Bay Area and headed east on I-80 over Donner Pass towards Truckee and North Lake Tahoe, CA. The Sierra had a large snow storm a few days before we made the trip, and we were closely watching the weather and road conditions. Fortunately, a few days of clear weather allowed Caltrans to fully clear the roads so we didn’t have to pull out the snow chains for the truck and trailer.
Nate & the rig on I-80 Donner Pass next to a massive snow bank
We arrived at our very snowy campground, and Nate quickly went about exploring. This included building a snow fort out of the picnic table and doing a polar plunge in just a bathing suit.
The site was plowed but we had to shovel a pathway for the door stairs
Northstar
We picked up a few pieces of ski gear at a local resale shop and then headed to Northstar ski resort to kick off our season. This was Nate’s first time on skis (except for one day when he was 3 that he doesn’t remember), so we scheduled him for an all-day group lesson. This turned out the be money very well spent because there was only one other kid in his group. Both kids progressed very quickly, and the instructor was sending us videos of Nate shooting down the resort’s main beginner run after only a few hours.
Nate after his first full day of skiing while waiting for me to get the truck 🤣
The three of us spent the next several days, including Peyton’s birthday, skiing at Northstar. Nate continued to progress at an impressive rate and skied his first blue (intermediate) run on his third day.
On our last full day in North Tahoe, my friend and Stanford classmate, Andrew made the trek up from San Francisco to ski together, which was a blast!
And our Guam friends Jen and Scott brought their boys over to ski at Northstar, while Peyton and Jen spent the day catching up, reliving the glory days of their travels across Asia.
As a bonus, Nate showing off his skills at the Northstar skating rink…
South Lake Tahoe - Heavenly & Kirkwood
After a week in Virginia Beach, Sadie flew by herself to Reno, NV, and we picked her up at the airport. We moved to South Lake Tahoe the next day and spent the week skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood. This was Sadie’s first time back on skis since she was six — half her lifetime ago. She picked it up very quickly and moved up to skiing blues on the second day back.
When you live in a trailer and ski for a month, the spare bunk becomes a boot drying rack, and the campsite’s grill can be transformed into a stand for a hot wax station.
Inspired by recently watching the Milan-Cortina Olympics, both kids (and one big kid) took a few laps through the small terrain parks to get some air. Nate also skied his first groomed Black Diamond (advanced) run.
Park City, UT
We wrapped up our second week in the Tahoe area and spent two days driving east to get to Park City, UT. After one day of family skiing, it was Peyton and Nate’s turn to head back to Virginia Beach.
At this point, Sadie was completely into skiing, and her driven personality took over. At her insistence (and my acquiescence), we skied the next 7 days from when the lifts opened to close. Knee braces were purchased from Walmart…
She quickly progressed to skiing Black Diamonds, and then moguls, and finally a few double Black Diamonds (expert). She also wanted to exercise her independence, so I brokered a compromise. We would ski together in the mornings for an hour or so, then she would break off on her own. We would then meet up for lunch, ski together for a little bit, and she would go off on her own before meeting up for a final run or two down to the bottom of the mountain.
Our mileage and vertical descent were increasing every day. One night in the trailer, Sadie asked me how much she thought we could ski in a single day. I told her there was only one way to find out! Of course, she didn’t want to ski with me for the whole day, so we decided to split up and see what we were capable of. Sadie racked up 45 miles and over 33K feet of vertical on 21 runs. Taking no breaks and eating on the lifts, I hit 54 miles and 49K’ vertical. To celebrate, I grilled us a big steak dinner that evening!
Peyton and Nate returned from Virginia and we had a few more days in Park City to ski as a family. The kids continued to improve and fly down stuff that they hadn’t been capable of skiing a few days earlier.
While everyone’s skiing abilities were improving, the snow conditions were rapidly deteriorating. This winter was an extreme snow drought for the west and the second-warmest winter on record for the contiguous United States. Park City had their lowest recorded snowfall in over 40 years. During our second week, the resort was closing dozens of ski runs by the day, and we were shedding layers left and right. On the last run of our final day, Nate was skiing in just a pair of shorts!
Despite a month of skiing without a single powder day, we had an amazing time. I couldn’t be prouder of how everyone improved!
Roberts on the Road
For those just finding us, hello! Inspired by the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25, our family is on a yearlong RV road trip in 2025-2026 to celebrate my husband’s retirement after 20 years in Naval Special Warfare, as well as our 24 years together during the ups and downs of it all.
With our 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son in tow, this trip to explore America’s national parks and beautiful places is intended to help our family reflect and reset as civilian life begins.
Sign up below to receive updates about the trip, along with stories, photos, and reflections from 24 years of military service. We look forward to keeping in touch on this epic adventure.
To join the Road Trip email list, please fill out this short form. We promise no spam and an AI-free zone. Any typos and mistakes are my own :)
For background info on who we are and where we’re traveling, we’d love for you to read the intro post. The full list of road trip blog posts can be found here. Thanks for stopping by!
