As hard as it was to believe, the last day of 2022 was already here, and I was heading up to the Pass with Shaun for a day of patrolling. I was excited to be patrolling with Patrol 3 since I was covering for Toby, and there was a dusting of fresh snow when we pulled into the parking lot. After the morning meeting, we headed out to get on the hill. Unfortunately, the weather the night before had rained and then froze, and then finished with a little snow, which meant EPA was pretty iced up. It took several of us pushing chairs through the base of the lift for about an hour to get it going, but soon we were in business.
After we got EPA open, I headed over to Peak 2 to take a few laps and help open runs. The skiing was pretty nice, even though the snow conditions weren’t optimal. I ended up getting busy fairly quickly with incidents, and took part in three during the next few hours, either through toboggan transport or assistance in the aid room. When I finally got back out on the hill, it was time for my bump up top. I managed to catch a picture of Tyler at the top of EPA, and then headed down to the bump shack to hang out.
Once my bump was over it was time for Peak 2 sweep. I headed over and we closed the back without incident. Once back at the top, we made the hike up to EPA and the lighting was really nice. I pulled out the camera and took multiple pictures while we waited for last chair. I even managed to have one of the patrollers get a picture of me and Shaun!
The month of December is a great time to get some really good light at the Pass, especially around sweep, and I was happy to pull my camera out and take some more shots as the minutes ticked by. The two shots below of Ian and Sarah and the starburst with Sarah are a couple of my favorite from the day…
A few minutes later, we had last chair, and it was time to begin sweep. Normally I like to sweep RTS, but I chose to head down Good Time with Shaun since I had been so busy all day it was our first chance to ski together.
We worked our way down the Toothpaste Tube and then onto Charlie. The softer snow from earlier in the day was beginning to refreeze, but Shaun managed to negotiate it without too much trouble.
We swept the run clean and met up with the other patrollers from KP and Eagles once lower mountain sweep began. I snapped the below photo of various patrollers and SPY sweeping KP, and it reminded me of the previous year before Shaun was on Patrol when he was really excited to get to sweep with us.
At the base, everyone shuffled into the patrol room, and we had a quick evening meeting. It was nice to relax after a long but fun day on the hill, and I enjoyed a tasty Pilot Rock Porter from Caldera Brewing.
And just like that, 2022 was in the books. I’d have to say it was a pretty great year, and I’m hoping 2023 is even better!
