I grew up snowboarding Roundtop and it&#x27;s sister Ski Liberty without having truly experienced real powder. As a kid, it was easy to believe that snow-making was just a part of all ski resorts, and it didn&#x27;t occur to me that bigger mountains don&#x27;t need them. Then I went out to Lake Tahoe, and it was nothing short of magical. The night I arrived, the skies blanketed the mountains with two feet of fresh powder. Cruising through the trees that next morning in the real snow is something I&#x27;ll never forget.<p>Still, there was something about riding a slow chairlift up my small, local mountains with the freezing wind whipping your numb face, and then getting blasted with icy man-made snow as your chair glides through the path of a snowblower.