Win Some...

...Lose Some.

The end of my week was an exercise in contrasts.

Friday night nearly killed us...Saturday night...We Killed!

Friday night I left the DaveCave early...the better to catch the fireworks at midnight. The roads were good, I drove up the hill in 2WD. Everyone was in a festive mood, and the snow held off until 2AM. A nice fireworks show...as every year.

I reflected on the Y2K celebration ten years ago...whatta blowout that was! This year, My Mountain's celebration was a low-key affair. There was no alcohol on the hill this year for the Torchlight Parade. Amazingly, I witnessed zero Stupid Human Tricks.

After the show, after the snow started, my fleet began to fall apart...

All Star Winch Pilot's winchcat developed a huge fuel leak...he radioed that fuel was pouring out the side of his cat. I radioed: "Have you got a fire extinguisher handy?" "I hope it's empty" came his reply.

Back in the Ready Room, everyone cracked up...the best radio line of the year...belly laughs all around.

An hour into the snow, my front wipers died...I soldiered on without them until I was done with the trails I was working on.

One of our new CenterX cats lost electric over hydraulic controls over the tiller. No Dumbo Ears, no steering the tiller...at least he could lift and launch it...

I swapped my crippled old war horse for a Bison...It has a miss all shift...

I really started dumping about 0430...Whiteout City...

The dominoes continued to fall all morning...our asses were thoroughly kicked...I drove home with my tail between my legs and slept 10 hours...I couldn't write CorduroyPlanet...too negative...

Saturday Night
What a difference a day makes! At shift change, everybody was up. Hero Snow wall to wall, and the digging is mostly behind us for now.

All Star Winch Pilot had another dramatic shift...while building a big Start Bump at the top of the Race Course, the weld on the eye of the winch anchor tower failed and the heavy plate steel eye flew through the cat's windshield. The plexiglass safety shield protected him from the flying shards of safety glass.

He got in the other winchcat and finished his shift...from stern stock that All Star is...

The rest of the fleet ran like a top. Climbing was good, and the forecast snow was taking forever to arrive. When the snow did start, it didn't really accumulate, further greasing our skids.

We had the mountain wrapped at 8:25, a full 20 minutes before opening...sweet!

Like I said, We Killed...there's just no better way to start a weekend...

Truckee has been "draining" all day. Holiday visitors are on their way home. The webcams have been showing heavy westbound traffic...peace and quiet are on the horizon...I'm up for that!