Photos by Rob Varela / Star staff Danny Nieves, above, jumps off of a box rail at Mountain High Ski Resort near Wrightwood on Monday. Nieves, celebrating his feat below, and about 40 other Conejo Valley teens took a day trip to the resort sponsored by the Thousand Oaks Teen Center.

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   Teens spend a day on the slopes at Mountain High.
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Like a knife over cake frosting, the wind sheared over the slopes, spinning plumes of frost over the newly fallen snow.

His cheeks red, his jacket crusted with snow, 13-year-old Timmy Johnson criss-crossed his snowboard down the slope, sending up a shower of powder as he crunched to a stop.

His feet still bound to the board, Timmy dropped to his knees, scooped up a snowball and fired it at his friend Andy Zweiglar, 14.

Timmy and Andy were among 41 teens from the Conejo Valley who left their clement, near-sea-level communities and boarded a bus Monday for a freezing, snowy day at Mountain High ski resort in Wrightwood.

The excursion was one of many organized each year by the Thousand Oaks Teen Center. The Teen Center has organized two annual snowboarding trips for the past several years.

"It's an adventure," said one of the adult chaperones, Peter Martinez, a youth outreach worker with the Conejo Recreation and Park District. "You're not in Thousand Oaks anymore. You're out here in the elements."

The group hoped for snow, but they got a bit more Mother Nature than they had hoped for when high wind and blowing snow closed the mountain Monday morning.

The teens, who had boarded the bus early that morning for the two-hour drive to Wrightwood, waited on board the bus and watched DVDs for three hours in hopes the weather would abate.

"I was bummed when we first got here," said Andy, of Westlake Village. "I didn't think we were going to get in."

Martinez and the other adult chaperone, teen services coordinator Jay Dodwell, knew their attitude would set the tone for the teens, so they stayed sunny under the gray skies.

"If you're going to get upset and down and negative, it's just going to snowball," Martinez said, adding with a grin: "Sorry for the joke."

The wind was still brisk, but the snowfall eased around noon, and a chilly sun finally shone through the clouds. The slopes glistened all afternoon as the snowboarders patterned the slope with powdery contrails until just before sunset.

"It's just so much fun! I think it's the funnest thing EVER," said Anastasia Stevenson, 18, of Newbury Park, who had snowboarded only once before.

Her best friend, Melissa Mueller, 17, of Newbury Park also was having a great time.

"I love the adrenaline and the excitement of going down the hill," Mueller said.

Conejo Valley teens in the seventh through 12th grades are eligible to be members of the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, which was founded in 1989. Membership is free as the center is funded through the city of Thousand Oaks and administered by the Conejo Parks and Recreation District.

The next snowboarding excursion is scheduled for Feb. 15.

For a list of all coming events at the teen center, visit http://www.thousandoaksteencenter.com or call 494-5156.