Should I stay or should I go…
Sadly, not today - but hopefully soon
Here’s how my planning goes during the six months of ski/snowboard season. Scour the various weather and snow reports to determine when and where I’m most likely to find powder. Cancel all appointments for that day (or days) and make sure I have the needed child care arranged. Put out the general call to any or all that might be interested in coming along. The night before pack up my stuff and get some food together. Everything’s ready but now comes the big variable – the actual snowfall. It’s an easy decision when there’s a big dump somewhere but unlike some of my friends I’m not interested in riding hardpack so when the morning reports show little or no new snow the debate in my head starts. Sure is comfy in this warm bed. Maybe the storm is just late and it’s dumping right now (check more reports/forecasts here). Perhaps tomorrow would be better. Does whomever I was planning to go with still want to go (make phone calls here). Maybe I could poach some old snow. I wonder what shape Berthoud is in? And so it goes till I either get out of bed and go for it or I’ve debated so long it’s now too late to catch rope drop so what’s the point. That’s how it went this morning – no new snow to speak of, no great motivation from my potential riding buddy and the lure of chair 4 at Loveland opening for the season not enough to get me going. Oh well…
But there is light at the end of the tunnel – a very bright light – my annual heli trip to British Columbia is next week. What started out as a once in a lifetime experience during a particularly dry spring in 2002 quickly became a once a year necessity – one trip to the powder triangle and I was hooked for life. Some years it’s been heli, some cat and some both but no matter what every year I make a pilgrimage to what I consider the closest thing to a sure thing – British Columbia and its’ astounding collection of cat and heli operations – there’s a good reason 90% of the world’s heli ops are located there (if you’re interested in more details check out the B.C. page on this site). This year we’re checking out a new place Snowwater – which actually runs both a heli and cat (Valhalla) operation so if you can’t fly due to weather they put you in a cat till it clears (a very useful option and one that few other places offer). Anyway my next several posts should be from there so if you’re interested, check in next week or if you’re jealous skip the next couple of posts or start saving up for next year…
