Like a kid on Christmas - A tale from the deep

[FreakofSnow]

I’m not sure which day is more of a tease, Christmas morning or the thought of a deep powder day on a cool crisp morning. Fortunately, I was recently challenged by both these days almost back to back. Christmas morning was fruitful, we sat in front of the tree with family, sipping coffee spiked with Kaluha and munching on whiskey cake. White swirls of cold smoke caught my eye out the window.

The day after Christmas, it started snowing and seemed that it would not break. The skies were whiter than I had ever seen them. Fat flakes flew sideways. With the parents in tow, the wife and I rallied out of the house quite timely, getting to the hill before 10.

My parents had obviously become fair weather skiers in their enlightened years and were not as thrilled as I with the dollar sized flakes that pelted their faces. The weather was perfect, snowing a couple inches an hour. My dad woefully coined it “relentless”. Ahh, relentless, a word that can be associated with negativity, but not for this guy. Funny how perspectives work, glass half empty, glass half full. It smelt like winter. The wispy flakes tickled my nose. The beard began to frost over and I wondered if the snow would let up.

Back at the driveway, I sized up the deep fluff. I labored gloriously under the 14 inches that had settled in my driveway. Berms stacked high. Perfect angles. Deep walkways, pure beauty. There is something to be said about seeing a freshly shoveled driveway. I tend to admire peoples neatly buffed drives. You can tell the people that love snow, their driveways are shoveled high and tight.

I couldn’t help myself on the way to the video store that night. I snaked fresh turns on the Bozeman streets in the LandCruiser. Fluff billowed up over the hood and windows. I probably looked like a madman in the glow from the dash lighting up my laughing face. I careened off into the fresh. Busting through banks, I cackled. I hit that gas and pitched the Cruiser sideways and slid into my parking space. Was this a foreshadow of turns to come?

The TV flickered as I wrenched my neck towards the yellow streetlight for the 50th time that night. It was still snowing. The onslaught continued. The flakes pelting the window and began to stack up on the sill. The driveway that I had just shoveled an hour ago was once white again. News at 10 proved just as exciting. Mark Henka flashed a huge smile as he spilled forth descriptions of the “major winter storm”.

One to three feet expected tonight. It echoed through my hollow head. I’ll believe it when I wake up. We had heard it one too many times. I was cautiously optimistic. Only time would tell. Too bad the time was so damned slow. It was like a kid’s Christmas all over again. You know the felling, like when you got to open the Transformer on Christmas Eve and played with it all night, waiting for the morning to come. Was it not for the alcohol induced buzz; I probably would have barely slept a wink.

Several times through the night I awoke, not to a clatter, but to the gentle flakes that continued to stack up outside my window. It was still relentless.

At 5 am, I sat up in my bed with anticipation. Creeping to the phone, I called the report. Something to the effect of 5 feet had dropped on the slopes of Bridger Bowl that night while I slept. My head spun as I lay back down. Tossing and turning, I realized there was no way I was going back to sleep. I tapped my wife on the shoulder, tap, tap, tap.

“5 feet of new snow.”

“What?” she gasped.

I got out of bed, time to get busy. Up and out to the drive, shoveling the nervous energy away. Luckily during the newscast, my parents had seen the glimmer in my eye. They saw that greedy powder eye cast in the shadows of the TV’s glow. They were to leave this morning. I had the go ahead for full powder pass. There would be no long winded good byes, I meant business and they understood my addiction.

The fury of flakes continued on the drive up. We were like pent up kids on a long road trip. Warm coffee slid down our throats as we giggled at the uncertainty of the day ahead. The road up the canyon was a true mess. The down bound lane was not plowed, only a few souls had made there way down. A truck passed me and 10 other cars like a bat out of hell, risking his life and ours for the sake of powder.

In the lot the plows were busy. Berms had stacked double overnight. Relentless.

Joining the ever growing line, it was 8:00. Ranks of buddies lined up, inching their way forward. Heavy speculation hummed about. Would the open? Sure they would. There were neigh Sayers.

I looked up, the sign on the lift shack read -- 59” in 24 hours. Five feet at Bridger Bowl in one day, absolutely retarded. That kind of thing does not happen. We jockeyed into about 6th chair. Sam got the coveted 1st chair after someone had dropped out of line. The snow continued to come in sideways at a pace 3-4” an hour.

The liftees said it would be a few hours at least. We were still hopeful that they could pull it off. Inside we warmed up. Every 10 minutes or so, the overhead speaker crackled to life giving you a glimpse of hope, “May I have your attention”….yeah you have my full attention, “due to the massive snowfall, we will be experiencing delays; we will keep you posted as we make progress.”

Back outside it was starting to look bad. Even some of the hardcore loc’s had dropped out of line. People did jumping jacks to keep warm. Leg kicks of nervousness flew about.

They had to open something today.

No they didn’t………Bridger would not open today. But tomorrow would be bring forth great yields. Deep harvests would come.

*****more to come

[Flash]

Nice report. There is something about the anticipation, isn't there? Its almost as good as the real thing...

Looking forward to part II.

[Odin]

Bump for annnnticipation.

[truth]

Really good stuff there man. Can't wait for the rest...

[CantDog]

I cant wait to read the rest, bring it!

[Samwich]

Holy shit... that was one of the coolest things i've ever read. Seriously. I could feel the anticipation, and it finally registered that places got fucking 7 FEET of snow. That's unheard of.

Really cool, guys, i wish i had been there.

[FreakofSnow]

bumping...found this thing and realized I never finished the story. For the ending, go here > http://tetongravity.com/forums/showt...&threadid=4378

More over here > http://tetongravity.com/forums/showt...&threadid=4506

[powstash]

Originally posted by FreakofSnow
It smelt like winter....

Back at the driveway, I sized up the deep fluff. I labored gloriously under the 14 inches that had settled in my driveway. Berms stacked high. Perfect angles. Deep walkways, pure beauty. There is something to be said about seeing a freshly shoveled driveway. I tend to admire peoples neatly buffed drives. You can tell the people that love snow, their driveways are shoveled high and tight.

Yo Freak, I don't know how I ever missed this thread back in Jan, but oh did it hit the spot today. I'm jonesin' for snow, and it's fackin' July!!

There's no need to finish that. Perhaps it's the build up, the anticipation, the rituals that get us to that first deep turn that have a deeper meaning. Don't get me wrong, pow rules. It's just that I dig what you've written so much cause I can fill in the ending with one of my deepest days ever and have an idea of what the ending was like.

On the topic of shoveling snow, I hear ya brother Freak, I hear ya loud and clear.