Dec 8 2021 The Ridge Opened

Barrman could barely sleep, the night seemed to drag on. He was like a kid at Christmas, the morning couldn’t come soon enough.

Barrman rolled over and looked at the glowing numbers beside his bed, “5:55 ” might as well get up. He felt the warmth of his cat as she snuggled in closer for a bit of loving. He sighed, kitty love was good, but fresh tracks on snow would be better. 

With a deep pull of breath, he rolled off the bed and quietly moved toward the door. He didn’t want to wake his wife. She was being awesome enough to get his kid to school in the morning. He would owe her one…

It was a ski day and Big White was opening the Ridge Rocket express quad chair lift for the first time of the year. Big Boarder was driving and the ski buddies planned on being there for first tracks. 

Big Boarder rolled up at his door only a few minutes late at 7:07 am but then they loaded up and hit this road at 7:15. Only fifteen minutes behind schedule. 

“Dude I need a coffee, I am going to do a drive-by of Timmies if there is no line I need some java,” Big Boarder put the Mazda puddle jumper into gear and drove down the road.

“Nectar of the gods… I get it man but we are already running behind. I don’t know if we can make first chair now.” Barrman looked over at his ski buddy and grinned. 

Ski season had begun again. The two friends headed off to live the powder dreams they were waking up from. Today the Ridge Rocket was opening for the first time. Big White opened ten days earlier but this meant the season was in full swing. It was going to be another strange year in the coronaverse. But any day sliding on snow was bound to be a good one.

Surprisingly, there was no line at Timmie’s drive-through and they cruised right through. Coffeed up, they hit the highway again. It was now 7:30 and the two buddies knew they weren’t making first chair. But they were still on pace to get to the mountain before 9:00 am. There should be lots of tracks left.

Traffic was slow and heavy on Highway 97 and the two adventurers were forced to relax and enjoy the view. The hill would still be there when they got there, maybe not as fresh as they wanted…

“Dude, it’s all part of living the dream buddy.” Big Boarder grinned and negotiated the heavy flow of early morning traffic.

“Too bad the traffic is part of that dream, seems more like the nightmare. Where is everyone coming from?”  Barrman looked through the car window at the line of traffic. “It sure is heavy for this time of the morning.  We should get to the hill by 9:00 I hope,”

Big Boarder shook his head and replied, “we’ll riding by nine.”

The edge of town opened up in front of the friends and they began to breathe easier as they left the heavy traffic of the city in the rear-view mirror.

In a mere thirty-five minutes, they were driving past the bottom of the ridge and saw the line was much smaller than Barrman feared. 

“Dude there is no one here, this is going to be good.” Big Boarder smiled and pushed down the pedal a little bit more, the excitement was building as the car rounded the corners toward Barrman’s mountain home.

Twenty minutes later the two ski buddies slid onto the chair and were lifted toward the heavens. It was 8:49 and the snow-covered world welcomed them. 

Big Boarder looked down at the lifty and smiled, “no masks this year?” 

The lifty shrugged and swept the snow from the chair as the two buddies were swooped up by the quad chair. 

“Whoop-whoop! Looks pretty sweet. I am surprised there aren’t that many people here. Opening day was crazy.” Barrman surveyed the slopes below and felt a rising excitement at the view of fresh lines everywhere. 

“This is why we get out of bed buddy. It’s all part of the dream.” Big Boarder fist-bumped Barman and looked at the panoramic view around them. The sky was cloudy and there was a hint of snow on the horizon. The slopes below called to them.

It was a good start to another season at Big White.

“Let’s hope we have a full season this year.” Barrman smiled up with a hopeful glance at his buddy.

“No matter what buddy we’re here and it’s a beautiful thing.”

Another season of turns on snow has begun.