Welcome to February.

I got up way early, picked up Aaron, and we drove up to Stowe. We were both doing the AASI "Steeps" clinic, he in the 300-level group, i in the 200-level group. The snow was good, the bumps were good, and my group spent most of the day riding bumps and tree-runs. We all hung out at a bar after the day's riding and had dinner there, then Aaron and i went over to the apartment of one of the local snowbaord instructors, where we spent the night.

While i was away, my roommates Ian and Mike let the dogs out, and Lisa Claire came over in the afternoon to take them for a walk.

We awoke to rain, but as we drove up to the ski area, it turned to snow. It stayed snowing hard for about an hour or so, then turned to sleet, then rain. By that time we were out on a long tree-run called the Bruce Trail, which dumps out onto a cross-country ski trail. It was a loooong skate back to the road and then a short drive back to the base area for lunch. After lunch we all rode through the rain and fog and wore ourselves out.

We drove home, dropped off our gear at the Wernick House (Okemo instructor's building), i dropped Aaron off, then got home to my happy happy dogs.

Back to work. Busy saturday. I taught a 1-hour private lesson.

Another slow Sunday, but it was 44 degrees and the snow was soft and fun. I taught a pivot/bumps clinic in the afternoon, and Aaron joined in at the end and extended the bumps lesson.

Slow icy Monday. I was feeling like not riding at all but then Aaron and i went up to the halfpipe for most of the morning and had a fun time.

Day off. Did lots of little projects. Walked the dogs in Proctor-Piper State Forest.

Another day off. I drove down to Londonderry and had a dog-walk and lunch with Daphne Amory, who i hadn't seen since sophomore year in high school.

While i was out with the dogs this morning, Seera got into a tussle with the neighbor's dog, who got through her fence. The neighbor freaked out and i got there to rescue her tiny dog from Seera. Seemed OK, and i found out a few days later that she was fine.

Ran the same clinic i ran on Sunday with different instructors. Went well.

Third day off in one week!

Not tons of lessons, but only 4 instructors. I taught a morning level-1 group of three adults, grabbed my sandwich and zipped up to the upper meeting area to cover 12:30 privates, then ran the afternoon upper line-up (no lessons). Took a couple runs at the end of the day and got filmed by a TV crew in the halfpipe, then by another TV crew going over the Moe rail (above). The local news was there to interview Okemo people since local gal Hannah Teter (from Belmont, VT) had just won the gold medal in women's halfpipe at the Olympics in Torino.

Took the dogs for a walk along the Clarendon Gorge.

Busy short-staffed day again, but i was able to spend an hour or so in the halfpipe in the morning. In the afternoon i taught a level-2 group of 2 adults.

While i was out running a clinic on switch riding, one of our instructors, Nate, rode by the group on upper Saphire. A couple minutes later, we saw a ski patroller race by us straight down the hill. Nate got into a collision with another skier and broke his collarbone in 2 places. The skier, a 79-year-old man, suffered a heart attack from the collision and died. We saw the ski patrollers transporting him down on a sled with a patroller riding, giving CPR. It put a weird spin on the day.

I taught half-an-hour of a 2-hour private lesson while we were waiting for the instructor to get to the hill (he was unaware that the private had been booked on him). In the afternoon, all the ski supervisors were teaching, leaving just Dan Rowe and i to run the afternoon private line-ups.

Last day off before break week. A huge cold front swept through today. It was warm in the morning, then light rain, then heavy rain and screaming winds, then the temps just dropped. I took the dogs over to Buttermilk Falls after the rain as the temperature was falling.

Whoo. I ran private line-ups all day. Pretty smooth day, considering the number of people there.

Taught a one-hour private in the middle of the day. Busy again. That night was the torchlight parade. I drove up there with Teco and Seera and left them in the supervisors room. There seemed to be less participants than at the torchlight during xmess week, and they seemed to be drunker. Aaron led the parade, but some people passed him and led the parade through hot-dog hill. Not cool, since that's where all the fireworks were set up.

Once the parade was over and the fireworks started, i let Teco and Seera out, but the fireworks were spooking them. The ran down into the parking lot of the base lodge. I called and Teco came back but Seera didn't. After the fireworks were over, i walked around for half-an-hour looking for Seera. No luck. Aaron and i drove around the mountain and Ludlow looking for her, but no luck there either. Finally at about 11:00 i gave up and went to bed.

I went to work and called out for Seera a few times as i got up to the base area. No response. I was in the Wernick House for about 20 minutes when Chris Saylor came in and asked if one of my dogs followed me to work. There was Seera at the front door!! Made my day. Ron lent me his car and i drove her back down to the apartment. Whew!

Ran private line-ups and taught one private for a 5-year old kid who cried during all but about 2 minutes of the lesson. Geez.

Taught two 1-hour privates. Just as i was finishing the second one, we had to clear a path for a ski patrol sled coming in straight for a waiting ambulance. 6-year-old kid had fallen off the Northstar lift into a rocky stream-bed. Ick. I finally got lunch at about 2:00 and then Rob let me go home early, so i went grocery shopping and walked the dogs.

Another day of being horribly short-staffed. I taught a one-hour 2-person private in the afternoon.

Snowed a bunch today, but only about an inch of accumulation.

Snowed ALL day! It was supposed to be just "flurries", but we got over 4 inches, maybe as much as 6 inches on the top of the mountain. I was called at the last minute over to Jackson Gore to teach a 1:30 private and a 2:30 private. I didn't start the last lesson until about 2:50, so i missed the last lift ride back to the base. Dave gave me a ride back over.

I woke up way early with a really sore upper back. I couldn't find a position that was comfortable, so couldn't fall back asleep. My back was hurting all day, but it also snowed all day. Another 4 or 5 inches. Aaron and i took a few tree runs in the afternoon.

800 milligrams of ibuprofin will keep me comfortable enough to sleep until about 5 AM. Ugh. So i got up early, took a beautiful fresh powder run, then alternated between running line-ups and hanging around inside stretching my back.

One dose of NyQuil lasts about exactly the same amount of time as the ibuprofin.

Probably the coldest day of the year today. I took a couple of runs, but not to the top. It was a nice relatively calm day, since the vacation week was done with.

Drove to Rutland in the morning for a dentist appointment. One of the fillings i got in November fell out so it was replaced, no charge. I stopped by the Clarendon Gorge on the way back to let the dogs run around.