The Past Week In Leadville

Last Friday there was an inflateable obstacle course on the lawn in front of the New Discovery building. For the not so lucky, it was a reminder that we were at 10,200 feet, and that we didn't have quite the energy to run through inflateable pillars and climb up walls that we did at home.

Sunday morning, a group of students got up at 3AM to climb Mt. Elbert (the highest peak in Colorado, at 14,433 feet) to watch the sunrise. I did not take part in this climbing expedition, but due to the wonders of Facebook, I was able to get a picture from a friend who did climb it.

Tuesday I had Snowmaking lecture with Jason Gusas, the new Ski Area Operations professor. Since it was the first class period, we were given a general overview of what we would be covering during the semester. Some of the topics we will cover include:
-Snowmaking System Types
-Snowmaking Science
-Climatic Factors
-Snowmaking Components
-Snowmaking Technique
-Snowmaking System Design, Construction, and Maintenance
-Economics of Snowmaking
-Environmental Issues

Tuesday night I had Accounting class, which I am taking as an elective. That night's topic was "Introduction to Accounting". We did a practice problem to help us learn the "Basic Accounting Equation" which is Assets = Liabilities + Owner's Equity + (Revenue - Expenses). Other topics that will be covered include:

-Assets, liabilities, Owner's Equity, Revenue, and Expense Accounts

-T Accounts, Debits and Credits, Trial Balance, and Financial Statements

-Bank Accounts and Cash Funds

-Employee Earnings and Deductions

-Employer Taxes, Payments, and Reports

Later Tuesday night, a bunch of students went to the bowling alley because Tuesday from 8-10pm, shoes are $2 and games are $2 a piece.

Thursday in Snowmaking class we learned a little bit about the history of snowmaking and non-skiing uses of snowmaking. Snowmaking was first used in the 1949-1950 season in Conneticut because of a drought. During the 1980-1981 season, snowmaking was introduced in Colorado. Non-skiing uses of snowmaking inclue agricultural (frost prevention), mining (minimize frost level), and reseach (test de-icing equipment on airplanes) uses.

Today I had Risk Management. While we were going around the room introducing ourselves, one student walked in late and sat down. After the rest of us had finished our introductions, our instructor asked the late student to introduce himself. It turns out that said student was in the wrong class, and therefore had gotten up at 8AM on a Friday for nothing. Perhaps in the future he'll check his schedule (This is a lesson I could also learn, after having not looked at my schedule Tuesday night, so I didn't know where my Accounting class was. I finally discovered that it was being held in a computer lab that I didn't think got used for classes). Our class schedule for Risk Management has not been posted, so I'll let you know about what topics are being covered in that class in my next blog.

Tonight there is a band named Oakhurst performing in the school cafeteria. Their band description is "Take a string band and swap out the mandolin player for a groovy drummer and you’re well on your way to understanding the sound of Oakhurst. The band spikes traditional bluegrass with rock & roll and a kamikaze rhythmic sensibility.".

Tomorrow is the grand opening for the park that they have just finished building in Leadville. This is the same park that the Heavy Equipment class was working on last fall. To read more about it, click here.