No lessons. Took a few runs, then went home. Took the dogs over to Clarendon Gorge.

Taught the same girl i’d had last Sunday. She improved to the point of going to the top of the mountain. Pretty good soft snow all day.

At the end of Saturday i was asked to not come in today, since there were no lessons booked. I stayed home.

No lessons. Rode for a while on fresh heavy sticky snow with Austin, Lucy, Jeremy, and Heather.

I think i taught a morning lesson but i can’t remember.

Finally won a game at winter league, beating the Blue team 40-31.

Turned 59. Got new boot/shoes. Got the first proof of my newest book. I did all the graphics on this one.

Farm.

Flood repair at the Wernick House.

All-day green-level kid who made it to lunch then wanted to leave. Her parents seemed okay with that.

Picked up a private morning lesson from Austin. Very foggy and wet day. The kid wanted me to get video of him going over jumps. At the end of the lesson, the dad booked me for the next day all-day.

Cold and windy. New snow, but only a dusting at the bottom. Once the Solitude lift opened, we found a good 4 to 5 inches on Heaven’s Gate. At about 11:00, one of the lifties got hit by a chair coming around the bullwheel and it swung back, then ran into me, bruising the top of my calf. Still could ride and finished the lesson, but had to have a form filled out at the end of the day.

Leg was bruised and tender, but not debilitating. No lessons. I took a couple runs with Austin then went home and napped.

Won again at winter league, beating the White team 46-34.

Normally my day off, but came in to run a re-hire clinic with Peter and Marvin. It snowed a little bit during the day.

Walk in the woods, then over to the farm.

Full-day kids lesson maybe? I forget.

Got the hardcover proof of The Prey of Freedom today. I went with a stark cover underneath the dust jacket.

Re-hire training clinic. It was a fun day. My three attendees were all women—Christina, Claire, and Ella—and it gave the clinic a good vibe.

Rain rain rain. I went to work, drove over to Jackson Gore, sat inside for twenty minutes or so, then all the instructors got sent home. The mountain was planning on opening at 10:00, then decided not to open at all. I took the opportunity of a day off to get the Mini up on jack stands.

All-day lesson, one kid. Everything opened at 10:00 instead of 9:00, so the lesson went all the way to 4:00. Long day.

Woods, farm.

Woods, farm. Started working on replacing the stairs to the basement, which were pulled out when i had all the basement work done in September.

Morning adult group of one fifteen-year-old who wanted to get more confident on blue trails. Afternoon group of one adult who was a very good rider but was having trouble with the conditions of the day—mostly hard pack and ice.

All-day group of one girl who i’d had the previous spring. She was a tentative green-level to start but improved rapidly and we took a few runs to the top.

First lesson of more than one student. Started with six kids which after about an hour (of very few runs down the carpet), i split with Adaline. She got the turners, i got the ones who could barely slide. Funsy. Wore me out.

Two snowboard kids today, one instructor—me. I’m getting annoyed with the lack of staff. I started with them both, then Austin came to take the one who had to stay on the magic carpet and i took the other one who could ride greens and blues.

I had a challenging class today. One solid blue-level, one high green/low blue, and one low green. It worked out okay but i didn’t feel like i taught them much.

I finished the stairs to the basement but forgot to take a picture. A guy came over to give me an estimate on installing a heat pump, hence the need to have stairs into the basement.

Blue-level class, two boys.

Blue-level class, same two boys plus a third.

First milk-run of the year. Blue-level class, just one of the two boys from the previous two days. Hellacious soft bumps all over the mountain today.

Blue-level class, one girl. Much colder and scrapier today.