Aside from the resort’s music that normally wakes us up, there were hurricane-force winds this morning that kept me up. – After a few cups of coffee, a few dozen anxious trips from one side of the [small] apartment to the other, and a short walk around town, I decided it was finally time to test out the split board I made (with a Rossignol Jeremy Jones 167, Voile Split Kit, some Spark R&D bindings, and a little bit of patience), even in the wind and meager visibility. – After all, finishing the board was one of my biggest priorities prior to leaving summer in Tahoe, and I needed to practice skinning as well as see if my work paid off. – The original plan was for Mattias and I to skin up to to base of the Marte lift for a little exercise, but I saw a possible photo opportunity (it didn’t end up working out) half way up. – So, after a steep climb and side-hilling on some tricky snow conditions I put my board back together and made my first turns on the thing.- The board worked great, both coming up and going down, and there were some really good wind blown turns as well.- It’s dumping right now, so stay tuned! -Ralph