An Evening With The Ski Patrol

Saturday night was the annual Mt. Hood Ski Patrol awards banquet. I hadn't "suited up" in a while, and Bex hooked me up with a sweet new red tie to go with the white shirt and dark pinstripe suit. I was feeling pretty dapper, and ready to go hang out and have a nice evening with my fellow patrollers.

The usual drill for me at these things is to get a certificate indicating that I put in a bunch of days, and get some kind of recognition for being a sled coach. The peculiar thing about the last couple years had been getting Honorable Mention for the Hill Patroller of the Year award. I know there are few better skiers on the patrol, but plenty of better overall patrollers. To get that at last year's banquet was baffling, as I'd only put in 12 days between coming back off the shoulder surgery and ending my season early with the knee.

All I'd really managed to do this year was stay healthy and coach some more sled-drivers. I kind of felt like I had a shot at Alpine Coach of the Year, since I'd had to 'fly solo' a few times this year and try to get D team ready for their tests with a more challenging training schedule thanks to a few days where we didn't get to really get much training done. Putting in as many days as I did, I figured on getting that certificate again, and figured to get a mention as one of the guys who'd done Senior S&T, both of which happened.

I was slightly disappointed that I didn't get Alpine Coach of the Year, but the guy who did get it was certainly deserving. He was one of the guys that coached me during my apprentice year, and I knew he was an excellent coach. What caught me totally by surprise was winning the Hill Patroller of the Year award.

A little while prior to that, the patrol president had read out a fairly moving story about the guy for whom the Hill Apprentice of the Year award is named. I got to thinking about the company I was in - I am a past recipient - and I have to admit I got a little choked up at the story. So, I was already a little emotional, and then was quite literally stunned to tears when I was announced as the HPotY. I wasn't bawling, but there were tears, and I couldn't compose myself enough to make a speech, even if I'd been asked to. It was all a little much.

I like to think I have a fairly long ski patrol career ahead of me, so it never really entered my mind that I'd be considered for the award in any of my first few years, much less win it in my 4th. I'm sitting here shaking my head as I type this.

Well, since I couldn't regain my composure and coolly dispense some humorous or heartfelt comments at the time, I'll take the time to thank some people here.

First and foremost, my wife. Without her support and understanding, I wouldn't have had the opportunity in the first place. Of course, I thank my parents for getting me into the sport I love so dearly in the first place, for putting me into lessons and joining the ski club and supporting my racing habit. Naturally, all my race coaches (Brian, Deb, Paul, Cas, Sandy, John, Heidi, et al) deserve tons of credit for turning me into a good skier. My friend and co-worker Jeff deserves all the credit for getting me interested in the patrol, and my coaches from my apprentice year for turning me into a competent patroller. And I can't thank my orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist enough for putting my shoulder and knee back together and putting me back on the hill. I want to thank all the patrollers I've worked with since joining - each of you has taught me something, and you all make it a joy to come up to the mountain 20-odd times a season to work and play.

If I forgot anyone, I'm deeply sorry. I also apologize if this is sappy. :)

Equally surprising was being designated a Hill Captain. I had thought that required some shadowing or on-the-job training, and for some reason I thought there was some minimum level of patrolling experience required (5 years?). I'm definitely honored, for that and for being named the runner-up for the Alpine Coach of the Year. Unbelievable evening.

Ski Day 26: May Day @ Timberline

Bruce Campbell's voice rumbled from the Sorento's speakers as I pulled into a parking space in front of the patrol building in Government Camp this morning. I had forgotten all about the audiobook for "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way", until recently, so I'd put it on my iPhone earlier in the week, listening to chunks of it on my commute. Unsatisfied with Saturday morning radio, I'd put the audiobook on, and since I was kind of running on fumes, I'd hoped the interesting part of the story would get me going.

It kind of helped. But the temperature and precipitation weren't what I had expected when I stepped out of the SUV in Govy this morning, so right back into Do-I-Really-Have-To-Do-This mode I went. Clearly, there had been snow overnight, but it was raining. "Ah, hell. Maybe it'll be snowing at Timberline," I muttered to myself, and trudged inside.

I had been expecting maybe one other hill patroller, and had received an e-mail earlier in the week from the APC for Timberline telling me I'd basically be playing Hill Captain today. I wasn't particularly looking forward to being short-handed in the first place, since there had been a decent amount of snow during the week, and that usually means there's lots to do. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the triple-digit-patrol-number types (AKA old-timer), grabbing the 'pouch' for Timberline - this meant we had a 'real' Hill Captain. Things were looking up.

Bruce was talking about being fired from the film he was working on, but I had to cut him off when I parked the Sorento up at Timberline. I was right about the snowing, but it didn't seem like it was cold enough that it would snow all day. I grabbed all my stuff and headed in to boot up and get ready for the day.

One of the A-team apprentices was there, getting a shadow day in (shame on you, D-team - where were you guys?), so at least we had one more guy for sweep and another sled-qualified guy if things got dicey. With a limited number of lifts in operation (it is May, after all), there wasn't as much to do as there is on a typical day at Timberline. With the weather, it was looking like there wouldn't be many guests on the hill, so hopefully that'd mean few (if any) injuries. Of course, the low visibility and flat light seemed fully prepared to conspire against us in that department.

Having checked the forecast Friday, it looked like it was supposed to be between 27 and 29 up there today, so I went with my yellow wax rated for 25-32 degrees when I prepped the skis last night. When it started changing over to a kind of misting rain as we walked out to the Pucci lift, I got to wondering if I'd made a mistake. But once I got the skis on the snow, they felt good. Fast, actually. We finished our opening assignment (Pucci lift wasn't running, but the terrain was open to skiers, so we still had to dust off and adjust tower pads over there), and headed off to the very cruisable terrain over off of Floodo.

The visibility was better lower down, so we could really open 'em up and crank the big turns. The only thing that sucked was that we had to keep stopping to attend to some more opening tasks that appeared to have been left undone by whoever was opening Floodo. Good practice for the rookie anyhow. Plus, the faster we get the opening stuff done, the better. We were on the second bump shift, so we got to go turn and burn until 10:30. The mountain was fairly empty until a little before 10.

The day pretty much passed uneventfully, until the afternoon. With the early closing, we were preparing for sweep at 2:30, and naturally someone gets hurt just as we're getting prepared to sweep. Unfortunately, the liftie who called it in over the phone did a poor job of describing the location of our injured party, so it took longer to locate the person. At least it was something we could do a snowmobile transport for, and it didn't take long before our sweep was in full swing.

Aside from one person slipping past the sweepers somehow (I was standing around up top, since I was "dispatch"), the day ended without further incident. I never did feel 100% "into it" today, but I figure even a week off the hill isn't enough at this stage of the year for me to recharge. It's been a pretty busy season, particularly for a "comeback year". With nothing on my patrol plate between the banquet next Saturday night and the Nuts & Bolts clinics in June, it looks like I'll have the break I'm thinking I'll need.