Well...since we last spoke not a lot has happened but since Christmas quite a lot has changed.
The two minute version of Christmas and New Year is simple.
Christmas dinner went off without a hitch, we enjoyed a full turkey and ham and all the trimmings. We exchanged gifts in a token secret Santa that saw three people give the same or substantially the same gift (it's a small hill with only four shops) and we ate drank and behaved badly.
New Years Eve was a big party night with fireworks in the village centre at 8pm for the kids and again at midnight for the bigger kids. The pub kindly charged a cover for entry and jacked the price of drinks causing everyone who actually lives on the hill to party at each others houses while the tourists poured out their wallets. I worked on the night of NYE and whilst a little disappointed to be missing out at 11pm on 31/12 I was more than happy with my choice at 8am on 01/01 as people came to work looking like hell and I walked out the door fresh as a button with 10 cents on the ground. The hill was empty and I was the first man down two runs.
It snowed consistently throughout late December, the mountain enjoyed two weeks at full capacity over the Christmas/New Year period and the second half of the mountain (Gem Lake) was opened up. For the first time we endured lift lines which at their worst caused a five minute delay and occasionally caused me to go home early. I don't do queues.
Everything seemed perfect and from all the evidence contained in the myriad of press releases this place puts out everyday it was. But then a few cracks began to show in the armour and the mountain has endured a very testing first two weeks in January.
Unfortunately our little hill, as protected as it is from so many of the world's problems, has suffered at hands of the world's economy. We are a little down on occupancy. Numbers of day and weekend trippers are also down and those who are here are in general just spending a little less. The effect has rolled through the village. It started with a number of house keepers and condo inspectors (no idea what the latter do...) being laid off (obviously not vitally important to the lifts turning). Then they cancelled the fireworks every Thursday and Saturday night, binned the family fun races and canned the family movie night. Our perfect winter wonderland had a few scratches in the duco.
The feeling around the hill has been lack lustre to say the least.
Then just when we thought it could not possible get ANY worse...the sun has come out, the temperature is up and the base is melting.
It is not the end of the world...but the alpine forecast is for temperatures above zero for the rest of the week and obviously no snow. The same thing happened last January when the mountain had 10 days of unseasonal high temps. What happened last year after the hot spell was two weeks of intense snow and a huge jump in the base for a Stella February and a solid second half of the year. We are hoping history repeats.
A little more concerning is the affect the odd temperatures have on the snow base. Apart from the obvious - when it snows it grows and when its hot it melts - the base has a personality of its own. The heavy pre-season falls, followed by a warm spell, a rain event in early December, heavy falls in late December and now the melt means the base has a number of layers to it each with their own characteristics. The end result is an unstable base where the layers are more inclined to slide on each other.
We are not alone in this, across British Columbia there have been 13 deaths from avalanches this winter. Twelve of these occurred in one 16 day period. It's been mayhem on the hill as a result. The Cliff is being heavily monitored as it was the site of a fatal avalanche on January 6 2008 and everyone is urging that only the most experienced riders and skiers venture out of bounds or into the back country.
To be honest it is not really affecting me and here is my rationale....
My job is reasonably recession proof. Four nights out of five I work the graveyard shift. I'm the only man working at a desk that operates 24/7 and everyone is scared of the hours. The mountain offers shuttles up and down the hill 24 hours a day (with bookings till the season ends) and someone has to be here to greet a weary Australian lawyer at 4am after 30 hours on a plane - sure he is fine but his wife who has sat at the back of the plane with three kids for 30 hours is just a little shirty. Then when the world wakes and the real people come to work to deal with the guests I walk out the door, strap in and ride. Sure there is a little less snow than usual but there are also less people riding it and I get out there everyday. As far as I am concerned the less people the better.
So for me it is a simple case of out of sight...out of mind. All I need to do is complete my list of nightly tasks, add a little extra for good measure, kick back and wait for the sun to rise. And with no clouds in the sky and no one around I am amassing a great number of photos of me on the mountain with no other tracks in the snow and not another living thing in sight.
And as for the Cliff...I've already ridden it so I have ticked that box...I'll throw together a few photos when I get home.
