Bait and Switch

Another night that looked bad on paper (read online) turned out better than OK by the time all was said and done.

It's starting to remind me of an LP record skipping...yet another night wherein I go to work already hunkered down as if the Sword of Damocles is freshly honed and zeroing in on my fat, juicy neck!

I woke up to my 10PM alarm and was alarmed to hear the rain blasting my front door like the Big Bad Monsoon was trying to go all Three Little Pigs on my ass. None the less, I got ready for work and headed up the hill at my usual appointed hour.

Sheets of rain and too warm temps greeted me as I dashed up to the driveway. It was warm and wet...big time...I started the Parts Runner, and thought I should run back downstairs and grab my book...I'd probably have time to read it while we wait for the snow level to drop!

Out on the roads, I thought: Not a night fit for man nor beast. Roads were running like rivers and it was way dark. I didn't lock the hubs on the parts runner...after all, the webcams and remote sensors confirmed the high freezing levels.

Well, the webcams and remote sensors weren't 100% correct...I ran into snow on the highway about a half mile from the summit. Pellet-style snow was beating on the windows and sticking to the pavement like so much mini hail. It was slick as can be. I made the last half mile drift-style...very little traction...lots of steering input...a smug smile came upon my face as I crested the summit.

The Groomer's Ready Room was a grim place save for All Star Winch Pilot who was punching out for the last time this season...Vacation Time Baby! It turns out the piste was even worse...somewhere between mashed potatoes and potato soup. Jeweler and I began the slow slog...

Jeweler went high looking for relief, the theory being up top the snow should be colder and drier...not so much it turned out. I went to the bottom of the mountain opting to pound the flats until the snow level fell to the forecast Lake Level. I took a look at the mid-mountain snow stake...less than two inches at 12:45AM, I had to call the Ski Patrol leader at 0400 with the snow total so he could make the Go/No Go Avalanche Control call.

I hunted far and wide for things to do that didn't involve any steeps, so I groomed all our pedestrian paths that were really a mess...all torn up by naked snowcats...I wouldn't want to walk on them. Naked in this context means without tillers...If the forecast delivered, they'd be sweet by morning. Even though the graupel continued to fall, the mercury was taking it's own sweet time to follow suit. Jeweler's CenterX Bison is equipped with an external thermometer which clung maddeningly to 39°F. "C'mon forecast" I rooted!

Around 0300 I drove into our WiFi Cloud and checked my Twitter feed...chain controls were finally up....seems the temps were beginning to go our way...at 0350 my BR350 made a loud BANG! and lost some RPMs and power. The engine temp shot up. I stopped and shut down the tiller...the temp dropped like a stone. I limped the 200 yards to the mid-mountain stake. As I reached for my phone it started ringing. I discussed the night's totals with the Patrol Leader...the stake still showed the same under two inches it had three and a half hours earlier. Even with the robust winds, the call was No Go. I hung up and keyed the mic: "Jeweler, can you come pick me up? I've got a downed cat over here" "On my way" Jeweler came back.

Conditions continued to improve, though the Bison I climbed into had stereo issues that even my iPod and FM transmitter couldn't overcome. My cat's trouble turned out to be a Turbo Boost Hose that came adrift. My cat was back at the shop before we finished the morning re-rolls.

Back at the fuel dock there was a good 4-5 inches on the ground. The final hour or so was weirdly satisfying. Usually re-rolls are just a grind, but this morning, in light of the awful conditions overnight, the last hour was at least a little uplifting. We were all quite chipper once we were out of our cats for the day.

All's well that ends well...there's always tonight...on paper it's looking good!

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!

Sunshine Daydreams

May 2010 Aurora viewed from the International Space Station

What's this? Every day lately, it seems like there's new, confounding news about our Sun. Just this morning I saw a story about the low state of the Aurora Borealis:

"The Northern Lights have petered out during the second half of this decade, becoming rarer than at any other time in more than a century, the Finnish Meteorological Institute said Tuesday."

So, the Solar Minimum has been hanging on for at least two years longer than historical observations suggest it should. Solar watchers are getting encouraged by a slight uptick in sunspot activity, and the associated auroral displays...there's a sweet photo gallery at the link as well.

Darn the luck! I've yet to see the Aurora Borealis with my own two eyes, despite being up all night every Winter these past 30 years! I remember the last time we had a big display of the Northern Lights...

I want to say it was 1997 or 1998. I woke up early, before my alarm went off. I was listening to Art Bell on the radio, and he had callers from across North America calling in relating the awesome show they were seeing.

I live in a densely wooded neighborhood, on the south facing side of a pretty good grade. Before I even got out of bed, I phoned a friend on the Westren Slope of the Sierras, woke him up, and quizzed him about what he was seeing. "Oh...My...God"...was his first response. He said: "The whole sky was red, so bright that the aurora is throwing shadows!"

"Thanks, enjoy yourself, bye!" I replied as I hung up, threw on some clothes and ran up to the street where I could barely make out a dull red tinge to the sky through the forest. It looked like the glow of a far-off forest fire...no movement, no shimmering curtains of color, no aurora overhead in the sliver of sky above my street.

A couple of hours later, I walked into the Groomer's Locker Room, and the Swingshift Crew were lit up like the skies had been earlier. They'd seen quite a show from their perch atop the Sierra Crest! There eyes were a little wider than usual at shift change, and they had a little extra spring in their step. I quipped the next morning that "I was worried that All Star Winch Pilot would trip over his tongue!" That night's Aurora Show was seen as far south as the Baja Peninsula!

These guys aren't Groomers...still, they are driving SnowCats!

I was pretty disappointed that I missed the show, but I was happy for my guys. Hurry up Sun, let's get Solar Cycle fired up! I want to see the show with my own two eyes!

Head Scratching Time

Thursday is the Autumnal Equinox. Our Fall begins Thursday at 8:09PM PDT, and that's when the weathergeeks will begin to stir. What will this winter bring? Another "wet year"? Drought? Deluge? What about La Niña?

It's funny...I got hauled into this discussion Monday. On my way back down the hill in the wake of a weekend of enjoying the Air Racing at Reno's 47th National Championship Air Races, I swung by My Mountain to touch bases and to find out what my "stereophonic compadres" had been up to all Summer.
 
I talked with the Big Boss for about 45 minutes. We both started at My Mountain at about the same time in historical terms. We've seen a lot of things change, and we helped make sure the important intangibles didn't. It was a nice meeting...we both enjoyed the shared memories.

After the laundry list of maintenance and upgrades, our conversation turned to the weather and the early season snowmaking game plan. Thankfully, I can report that the wiser heads are prevailing.

We'll be taking delivery of the Compressor Farm beginning November 15th. I ventured that we'd probably be getting good snowmaking temps early, and asked: "What are we lookin' at...weekends only until Thanksgiving?" The Big Boss said: "I'd like to be open Thanksgiving...we'll play it by ear from there depending on Mother Nature" "Yeah weekends until we can really open"

I heard what I wanted to hear....and we are taking delivery of a new BisonX in mid November. My BR350 is slated to go away after this coming season...I'm going to have to get used to the new cab of the BisonX.

I said: "Thanks and see you when the snow flies", then headed over to the Vehicle Shop to see the Guys.

I was pleasantly surprised to run into All-Star Winch Pilot, who was wrenching on the snowmaking fans. We chatted about many things, and he filled me in on which hard-mounted fans were being relocated before the snow flies. We even talked about CorduroyPlanet and La Niña, and I thanked him for being a regular reader, and for his kind praise for the Blog.

In the shop, I caught up with the Guys...who got married? How's the fishing? We had a good ol' time.

Bidding the Boys adieu, I sought out my Boss, and he related his Summer Program before we got around to the weather thing.

I ventured that we'd have cold temps early, but that I have no idea when or if Mother Nature will bring us genuine precipitation. I related my reservations about the NWS Forecast Models...they were developed during the past 30 years of the warm side of the PDO...I said that La Niña years always gave the forecasters fits, and they never seem to get the precipitation right when La Niña reigns.

Everybody was fat and happy up there, though the operation was clearly running on the "Lean&Mean" side. Several folks remarked how "relaxed and happy" I seemed. Well, duh...I'd just spent three days watching the Unlimiteds race!

Best thing...honestly? Hearing the Sound Of Freedom in the Valley Of Speed...oh, and knowing the grownups have a hold of the snowmaking plan!

Mutiny!

I made my way to work a few minutes early last night. I wanted to see if my BR350's tiller problems were finally resolved.

I parked and walked up to the shop, noticing the frozen meltwater everywhere. (Uh-oh I thought, Spring Conditions were here!)

Entering the Crew Room, I was greeted by a bunch of formerly happy, way pissed-off groomers.

WTF? I thought...Hero Snow and everybody's up in arms...what gives?

I grabbed the Work Orders and looked at the Remarks at the bottom of the page. There was a sentence that said there was a new sheriff in town and his new rules said: 30 Minute Lunch Breaks and Two 10 Minute Breaks were MANDATORY...and please record you lunch breaks here:...

Oh man, tempers flared...my guys were ready to Storm The Castle with Pitchforks and Torches! Damnit! This is costing me $250 a paycheck howled my All-Star Winch Pilot. "I work six days a week, and this is how they treat me?!"

Everyone had their opinion...their personal gripes, and their push-back solution...I'm old, OK?...57 years in the tank...I know enough to wait and see...

As I suspected, this new edict didn't come from Our Brass, but from our brass reacting to the latest edict from Sacramento...

Look, our consensual governments are overstepping their bounds from Sacramento to Washington DC. Our Public Servants are harassing us now in their misguided attempts to provide us with their mythical Utopia. This plan comes from Sacramento's desire to protect our "Migrant Workers" from the Evil Agribusiness Capitalist Robber Barons... so,it would seem Illegal Immigrants now have more rights than American Citizens, at least in the eyes of our Pols.

Given that our Public Servants are out of control today, and not listening to their constituents...I thought a refresher on the Declaration of Independence is in order.

Wikipedia notes on the Declaration of Independence...ours was the first, and has inspired more to date...there's 71 Declarations of Independence around the world now...

I'm pretty sure our government schools don't teach the Declaration today, so here's the relevant text:

"When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

Today's Abuses and Usurpations come from our own "Public Servants" not a far off Imperial Ruler by Birth!
Our ruling elites are Over the Rainbow now...good intentions have become the latest incarnation of Tyranny... and if we are to stay free, we must remove these despots from our midst, and shrink our bureaucracies to benevolent levels.

I've been hearing "Keep the government out of the bedroom" from libertines for decades...apparently, the government is welcome in our dining rooms and kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and everywhere else from our highways to byways, schools, businesses and hospitals.

Our Grooming Fleet now wears the "Mark of the Beast" as I refer to it. These are red numbered stickers that show that our cats' diesel engines comply with the California Air Resources Board's latest edicts to ensure that California's diesel engines don't offend the en vogue Environmental Fashions of the day. Many millions of dollars have been spent by business to earn the right to wear the red stickers...alas, many more millions-worth of business has fled California for less imperious climes.

You know I've always been a "Glass Half Full" Guy. This latest intrusion into my business is uncomfortable to be sure, but I see it as another arrow in my quiver with which to convince my Mountain's Brass to stop buying Grooming Equipment and Lease it instead.

There's no upside to owning an expensive diesel machine with a capricious government agency looking for even more to regulate or outlaw!

Look again at the Declaration:
"That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed"

Have you given your Consent lately? I didn't think so...