As hard as it was to believe, the middle of December was already here and Shaun and I were on the schedule for patrol. We headed out early in the morning and Carson came with us, and it looked like we’d be in for a good day of skiing and riding at the mountain. It also happened to be our candidate/makeup refresher, so there was a lot on the schedule for the day. After we pulled in, geared up, and had our morning meeting, it was time to head out and get the mountain open.
I opened RTS and enjoyed a good run down from the top, and then swung by the base to pick up Carson and take a couple of runs with him. We skied a few runs off of EPA, and then worked our way over to Twilight for a run before heading back up to the top of EPA. Next, I headed up top to meet up with Ian to help work on some sled checks with a few patrollers. When I arrived, I found him hanging out with Gretchen and Amber, so we snapped a couple of shots before heading out with Michael for some sled work.
Once Michael made his way to the top of EPA, we grabbed a Cascade 100 and headed out. I headed down and snapped a few pictures, and we met at the top of Charlie to run the toboggan loaded down the run. Elise was willing to be ballast in the sled, and Ian was game to be on the tail rope, so we set off.
I headed down ahead of the group and snapped several photos as they skied down to me, and also watched to make sure everything was going properly to make sure the check-off wasn’t just a rubber stamp. Michael was solid in the handles, and halfway down we stopped and he and Ian switched positions and they headed down for the second half of the run.
There were hardly any folks on the run and Odell lake was looking really pretty with the clouds behind it, so I snapped a few more shots as the crew headed down, ending up with quite a few photos, including the two additional shots below…
After our sled work, I headed down for a bite to eat and then Carson and I headed to the lodge to get him a cup of hot cocoa before we made a couple of runs prior to me helping with the chairlift evacuation portion of the makeup refresher. On the way to the lodge, we found several patrollers working on OEC skills using the new vacuum splints the patrol recently purchased.
Shannon and Sarah were overseeing the training, and the folks doing the refreshing were a pretty veteran crew that worked well together.
After our quick trip to the lodge, Carson and I headed back to the patrol room and I loaded my gear and headed out with the crew to practice a unique lower from the chairlift where the chair was stopped on the sheaves.
It had been awhile since we’d practiced lowering someone from a chair stuck on the sheaves, and even though we were only 6-7 feet off the ground it was really good practice to set the special sheaves system up and practice the 1:1 lower rather than our usual 2:1 lower. Plus, I had to snap a few photos of Brian sitting on the chair next to the ladder because it looked so ridiculous :).
After running most folks through the chairlift evacuation procedures and getting everyone a chance to both lower and communicate, I headed up to the top of EPA to help James assist with a search for a missing person (who was eventually found after skiing the West Peak saddle area), and ran into my favorite former patroller, Raleigh Taylor. It was great to catch up with Raleigh, and we both agreed we needed to get out for some turns together sometime this season.
A few moments later, upper mountain sweep began, and I was assigned to sweep RTS. I snapped a quick picture of Michael and Ian at the top before heading out, and then snapped another picture of Shaun at the top of Success before he headed down to close the run.
RTS skied great to end the day, and I paused at the bottom to take a picture from just above Amber’s Way. The view from here is one I always enjoy, and reminds me of all the year’s gone by where I’ve enjoyed making turns on RTS and stopped here to take a picture, not to mention the fall views from the same spot when I’ve been up to cut trees from the run.
After upper mountain sweep, lower mountain sweep went smoothly, and everyone gathered in the patrol room for a quick evening meeting followed by enjoying some chips and salsa and tasty drinks. I’d been waiting for the day to end to enjoy my Pathfinder Hazy IPA from Sunriver Brewing Co., and it was nice and cold after chilling outside in the snow.
We spent the next half hour or so enjoying the company of fellow patrollers before it was time to clean up, lock up and hit the road. All in all, it was another great day at the Pass with good snow and good people, and it was nice to be skiing all runs top to bottom with a great base in mid-December. Here’s a parting shot of Carson skiing Good Time Charlie….
