Hot Doggin'

Thursday evening I was back at Chimney Corner. But with Yury (the other porter who has now recovered from his damaged ankle) helping me out, the entire shift was great fun- it's so much better to share your gripes and your jokes with someone who's doing the same thing as you. Most of the food had been expedited by 8:00, so from then on we took turns running the food and cleaning and clearing, and as a result everything was done by 9:30 and we left the building 15 minutes before the kitchen had been closed! If only there were 2 porters on every busy evening...

Friday, I didn't have much of a lie-in. But that's because there'd been some fresh snow (ok, 1cm but I was looking for an excuse...), and I was in the mood to practice the bumps and the steeps of the double-blacks on Goat's Eye Mountain. There was also a race for 11-12 year old skiers taking place which I took interest in, too (but didn't get the chance to actually watch). I did find myself in the middle of a practice lap, though, on one of the runs which hadn't been cordoned off... The light wasn't very good for piccies with a fair few clouds, but plenty good enough for me to enjoy myself with as I skied the South Side Chutes for the first time. After lunch, I met up with Steve for a couple of laps of Lookout Mountain, but when his foot started to ache I headed back to the village to ski with some instructors who'd not been given lessons for the afternoon. As a 4, we seeked some challenging bumps to try. Skiing on my own in the morning, it's easy to trick yourself into thinking that you look good, but when I joined the 'people who get paid to ski' in the afternoon it was fairly obvious that I didn't look like I knew what I was doing at all... But hey, I kept up, and they were encouraging and gave me things to think about.

At 2:30 I'd arranged to meet on of my serving-friends from Chimney Corner for a bit of a ski, I was tired and he was hungover so we agreed to keep it simple and take a 1-hour stroll. I showed him one of my favourite runs when there is fresh powder, and even a few days after the last proper fall there was soft snow to play in there. With various parts of the mountain now getting snowed on, (think April Showers, but snow, in March, in the Rockies), it was a matter of chasing the sunlight so we did a couple of laps on Standish before admitting defeat (and exhaustion/headache).

However, the main event of Friday was the long-awaited Hot Dog* party, the annual 80s themed party for Ski School. I'd already seen a selection of instructors 'hot-dogging' in the afternoon, sporting brightly coloured all-in-one ski-suits, 2.10m straight skis and rear-entry boots, aviator glasses and a psychedelic earwarmer as the only headgear. The main party was beginning at 5:00, but they managed to get rid of me and a couple of others for half an hour as we searched for the non-existent Amp And Speakers Belonging To Trapper's. I'd signed up to help run the evening, so after hunting all over the village for the elusive audio equipment it was my turn manning the barbecue (cooking, of course, hot dogs).

But before long everyone who wanted food had done so and the party really began. One of the more interesting things I saw was one of our instructors, strapped into his rear-entries and 2.10m straight skis, being lifted above everyone else by the skis and trying to down a jug of beer. Of course, he failed, but it was still certainly rather amusing. There were shots, there was retro music, there was a costume competition and of course there was Stevely (head of security) manning the ever-popular bar. While cooking the sausages I'd rigged a hands-free drinking system for the bottle in my front pouch but at least when I'd finished that, I could concentrate on enjoying the party.



One thing in particular I remember was a very long, in-depth conversation with Corrie (a Kids Kampus instructor) about global warming, environmentally friendly sports, alternative energy sources and generally most things environmental. I don't know what it might have sounded like to a sober on-looker but it was certainly very deep and thought provoking at the time... But the rest of the evening seemed to dissolve into loud cheesy music and lots of colourful jackets and at least I ended up in bed from my own steam...

*In case you're wondering, it's based on this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087425/