Grinding One Out

Whew! That was one tough night! Warm temps vanquished the squeaky stuff, and the over the top Work Orders made our world impossible! The Race Department is finishing the season with a Big Bang! We've got races from one end to the other...all over the Mountain. Pro Jumps, Start Bumps, Winner's Circles, early chairs...the lists are endless!

Meanwhile, end of season staff cutbacks have clipped our wings even though we're attracting Mid-Season-Style Crowds! We've done better that 2000 skier visits all mid-week...bountiful snowfall coupled with California's near 20% Unemployment rate have filled our parking lots all week! Hero Snow is for skiers, not just Groomers!

Our front loaded Work Orders kept Swing Shift from doing all the details that they usually take care of...consequently, I nearly lost my hearing this morning with all the radio traffic advising me of all those details that needed my attention.

We did get it all done, and the whole crew was back at the fuel dock by 9AM. I found myself just a little annoyed when all was said and done...then I remembered that the end is just over two weeks away...salmon fishing, followed by Sierra Stream Trout Season, gardening at the Ancestral Digs...who could stay pissed off? Not me!

These are the times that try men's souls, goes the old saw...long, sunny afternoons, coupled with lurid, warm temps make it hard to obey the bedtime regime...and the nightly suffering is so easily forgotten given the wonderful weather...so the sleep-deprived nights become the diabolical norm...not a pretty picture even given the new Lunch Break Rules...wherein I get to catch a 30 minute paid nap when the old eyelids get heavy!

Longing for the squeaky Hero Snow while grinding along at a pace slower that a walk, it all becomes a penance...a strangely quasi-religious duty...owed...to be endured...never enjoyed.

This is the part of the season that we earn it...grinding out the acres one 16ft wide pass at a time...at a pace barely faster than a stroll...it's gonna be a long night...

I'm buoyed by the forecast...another bit of winter weather is on tap for next week! So far, I can count on one hand the bullet-proof nights spent grinding around my Mountain this season...clearly, Mother Nature loves me!

Knock wood!