Be Safe Out There

There is an old saying that goes “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” While I’ve never conducted a scientific study to confirm or deny this notion, I think there should be at least one more certainty added to this short list. No matter where you go, whatever country or state or political subdivision, all ski slopes will conduct safety meetings. I’m not referring to an actual meeting to discuss matters of safety but more the colloquialism that these two words represent. If you don’t know what I’m talking about than the rest of this entry might seem a bit crazy.

It’s not a big secret that these meetings occur. They are almost as much a part of mountain culture as the skis, snowboards, or après that are associated with snorkeling your way out of the white room. In some cases there are specific shelters designated to carry out these meetings. After all, it’s important to be comfortable when you’re trying to be safe.

Safety meetings are conducted for various reasons. Sometimes they are done for the social context. Other times a safety meeting is held to ensure everyone in the group is on the same page before embarking into the gnarr. Usually however, the meetings are performed to help the day flow smoothly. Whatever the reason though, these meetings are important and a necessary activity at any respectable mountain because safety should be everyone’s number one priority.

Odd Jobs

As those of you that have been regular visitors to this blog you’re aware that I’ve recently bought a house. Since I’ve finally unpacked all my stuff and recycled the boxes I guess it’s fair to say that I plan to stay in it for a little while. In an attempt to make my little slice of real estate more comfortable I’ve been doing some work. A few of these improvements I’ve been able to do myself but there are others that I have no business doing, therefore I’ve called on professionals.

Editorial Note: I think it’s important to point out that I’m perpetually late for everything so I have very little room to write the next few paragraphs but I’m going to anyway.

I haven’t had a whole lot of work done by professionals but I’ve noticed a pattern. Contractors, in my experience, fall into one of two categories: those that are early and those that are late. The process starts with me calling a contractor to come by and give me an estimate on a specific job. After some general discussion on the nature of the work we decide on a day and time for said contractor to come to my house to look at the situation specifically. Every contractor I’ve had to my house has either shown up early or they’ve been late.

It’s important to point out that I’m not being such a dillhole that I’m not willing to give a grace period for discrepancies in clocks or traffic congestion (after all, the SC is a Metropolitan Area). When I say they’re early or late I’m talking in the neighborhood of fifteen to twenty minutes. That seems like a bit more than should be acceptable.

In the end, however, I’m willing to overlook these slight annoyances. These are hard working people who do work that quite frankly I don’t want to do and, in most cases, cannot do. They work long hours doing back breaking work. Also, at the end of the day, without their expertise I’d spend a lot more time sitting around in a cold, dark house with no hot water so thanks contractors of the world, and take all the time you need.

Road Trips

Every now and then it’s good to get out of town and this weekend was no different. With the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday I had Monday off work so Brian and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and head north. Granted, there wasn’t any snow that we were chasing so this trip was going to be more about getting out of town than slaying deep pow. Just to make things interesting I took Friday off so it was four days of driving, snowboarding, and visits with old friends.

We left Thursday night from the SC bound for Lake Placid. We planned to ski Whiteface on Friday, make our way into the Northern Kingdom of Vermont for some Jay Peak action on Saturday, head to Plainfield to visit with my friends Lisa & Amos in central Vermont Saturday night, and then possibly shred a southern mountain before rolling back to Pennsylvania on Sunday night or Monday morning. It was a solid plan but the forecast wasn’t calling for snow so we weren’t sure what kind of conditions were waiting for us, but like I said, it was more about getting out of town than chasing the white stuff.

At this point I could drone on about each day with full detail and four part harmony but I don’t think that’s necessary. I can sum up most of the trip quite succinctly and save you some time reading. Here’s the long and short of it. We did some sliding around on snow. The conditions weren’t spectacular, but they were adequate. The groomers were bony and scraped off while the trees were thin at best. The peaks were socked in with fog and freezing mist so visibility was near zero and the wind was ripping.

Overall it was not the most ideal trip for skiing or snowboarding. It was typical east coast conditions except we drove ten hours to get it. We did a lot of driving, got very little sleep, and ended the trip a day early so we could get back home. Getting to see my friends was definitely a highlight and made the drive worthwhile but the snow conditions were not anywhere close to bonzer. The funny thing is I’d definitely do it again because sometimes the trip is more fun than the destination.

The Cold Shoulder…

…and feet and hands and legs and arms and ears and nose. I think it’s safe to say that here in the SC it’s been cold. I don’t mean just a bit chilly but bone chilling cold, and you know what - that’s a good thing if you ask me. For the last several weeks we’ve been bombarded by cold and windy days that have lead to frigid and windy nights. While this weather isn’t ideal for much, it’s spectacular for snow.

There hasn’t been a massive puking of the white stuff but there has been enough to bring out my uninvited alarm clock to plow the roads at five in the morning and wake me up. It’s also allowed the local ski hill to make a lot of snow to add to their base. This combination has lead to some pretty stellar conditions by Central Pennsylvania standards. This weekend was no different.

I was lucky enough to be on shift patrolling during the evenings over the past weekend. The weather was ridiculous. While it wasn’t as windy as anticipated it was still blustery. Saturday and Sunday were both bluebird days with abundant sunshine but that also equated to clear and cold nights. On Saturday the temperature at the top of the mountain was a solid nine while Sunday was slightly warmer at twelve. Coincidentally enough, the conditions were also around a twelve (on a ten scale of course).

Sure there wasn’t any fresh powder but it was so cold the snow held up magnificently. The arctic temperatures made it difficult to stay out and ride but the conditions were so nice I didn’t mind. Plus Dave was there (but who’s really surprised by that?) so I didn’t need much motivation to keep at it. By the end of the weekend my legs were thoroughly worked, I had icicles on my beard, and I was very happy to be wearing wool socks.

Tick Tock

Unless you were just born within the last few days you should have noticed a new year started on Friday. In fact, an entire new decade is beginning. It seems like just yesterday we were all worried about computers taking over the world due to that whole Y2K thing (or at least that’s how I remember it). Now, I’d be more than happy to let a computer take over some of the mundane tasks of my day, but I’ll save that for another post.

I’ve already spent the majority of 2010 trying to figure out what to write for the first post of the year. As usual, I want to start this new calendar off with some stoic wisdom or insight. It’s all part of my plan to show that I’m trying to grow as a person over the next 365 days. In fact, that’s basically what I wrote about last year so maybe I should go with a different topic since I think that plan only got me to about day 82.

Of course, a new stream of thought-provoking consciousness is not always easy to concoct for interweb viewing (as I’ve alluded to in the past). While the majority of this post is just filler, I will keep with some degree of the New Year’s resolution thing. I’m not actually going to make any resolutions (at least none that I’m offering here) but I will do my best to keep the (future) posts interesting. There are no guarantees, but at least I’ll get another 52 weeks to give it a try.

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to 2010!