Considering that I haven't had any classes, I don't have much to write on that front. I did however find out a couple days ago that I have an online class this semester, which I was completely unaware of. My books arrived in the mail today, which was a complete surprise to me because I thought Martin Luther King Day was a federal holiday. Perhaps UPS does not observe federal holidays.
As far as Martin Luther King Day goes, on my way to work this morning I noticed an American flag. Then I noticed another. And another. Then I started really wondering why every lightpost in Leadville had an American flag attached to it. After a brief moment of thought I decided that it must be Martin Luther King Day, which meant it was a Monday. I've begun to notice a trend of the days all sort of blending together. I go to work, I come home from work, I go to work again the next day. I'm not the only one experiencing this phenomena either... Yesterday at work some people thought it was Saturday and others thought it was Monday. It was in fact Sunday.
Last week at work was not exactly busy. I went from Sunday to Friday without teaching a single lesson. Luckily business picked up a bit over the holiday weekend.
Saturday, the Piney Basin Triple Chair was not functioning, which meant that the entire skiing public was either on the Buckeye Platter which was only operating to midway and therefore servicing only the bottom half of a green run and the bottom half of a blue run, the 10th Mountain Double, or the Printer Boy Platter (aka the beginner hill). To add to the excitement, the Cooper Cup race was taking place, which meant that Black Powder was closed to the public.
Sunday, I taught a mother and daughter who had previously taken a snowboard lesson and were wishing to improve, while Jane, another snowboard instructor, shadowed me since all she had ever taught were "never-ever" lessons. Also on Sunday, some instructors participated in the NASTAR race which took place between the morning and afternoon runs of the Cooper Cup.
Today, when there weren't any students taking lessons at 1:30, a group of us went out for a couple runs. After going down a green run we all ended up following our bold leader down a black and off into a tree run. I don't really do tree runs because I don't trust myself to not slide full-force into a tree. Yes, I have gone on both Powder Keg and Timber Bash this year which could be considered tree runs, but the trees are much farther apart. The skier following me was on skis for his 9th day ever and I'm not sure he appreciated the trail choice much more. It was fun though once I was no longer in the midst of the corkscrew (The trail is named Corkscrew. I believe the main path through it makes a corkscrew pattern, but studying the pattern was not quite at the top of my list of priorities).
In the past couple weeks I have discovered that if I am ever running into the lodge at Ski Cooper to do something real quick, I should not wear my instructor jacket. Sometimes I feel as if guests have a radar that zones in the on busiest employee.
You have 30 seconds before you're supposed to be at line-up and you want to use the restroom first? Someone will want an explanation of how to put their boots on.
There are also the times where a guest asks me a question that just truly amazes me.
"What's the best beer to order in the bar?". I'm 19 and do not even know what alcohol they serve in the bar. Perhaps you should ask the person running the bar.
During Christmas break, two women were at the bottom of the triple (on the backside of Ski Cooper). One woman told the other "We should just take this cat track so that we don't have to wait in line.". The "cat track" they were referring to is Piney Ditch Road, which is over a mile long (I believe it is 1 3/4 miles... Don't quote me on that though.) and not the best way to get to the frontside. They might have had to wait in the lift line for 2 minutes. I'm not sure on the ride time of the triple, but Jane and I made it from the bottom of the triple, to the top of the hill, back down the frontside in 16 minutes.
A few days ago I stopped to help out a skier who couldn't get her boot into the binding because it was still clicked down. After I told her how to get her ski back on she told me "I knew that. I haven't fallen while skiing in over 5 years. It's just these new boots.". In the lodge she told me she couldn't unbuckle her ski boot. Once I unbuckled it for her she informed me that she was going to her car to get her old boots because they didn't make her fall down.
A binding like this is
not going to accept
your boot no matter
how hard you slam
your boot down into
it.
A binding that looks like this is ready for you to put your boot into it.
In other news, the X-Games come to Aspen the last weekend of January.
CMC Rec Nights are in full force. Monday and Wednesday night are open gym. Thursday and Friday are swimming. Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday are ice skating. All activities are free to students presenting a valid ID.
Until next time, that's it. Please hope for snow- Colorado could really use it.
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