Dec 14, 2021 20cm Rule

Barrman looked at the clock through the slits of his eyes. Red numbers flashed back at him, “5:15.” It wasn’t time to get up but he knew it would be hard-pressed to go back to sleep. He had a job to do and the day could wait… 

Two hours later Barrman poured himself a cup of delicious life-giving coffee and popped open his laptop. He sipped fresh java and waited for the computer to boot up.

Let’s see what facebook land is doing today.

One scroll of his mouse and he saw a picture that made him smile. The Gavster was posting a shoveled driveway and a message.

“A great day to go skiing.”

Indeed.

Barrman’s hand was on autopilot as he opened up the website of his local mountain. Bigwhite.com had the number he was looking for: 20 CM in 24 hours.

A great day to go skiing indeed.

The skier reached for his phone and called his friend, neighbour, workmate, and ski buddy, “Hey man, did you see the website yet?”

“Ya man,” Big Boarder answered, “looks pretty sweet.”

“20 centimetre rule is in effect!” A grin spread across Barrman’s face. “Let’s go skiing and we can work later.”

“Sure dude, that sounds like a great idea. We can head up for the morning and go get our job done this afternoon.” 

And with that, the course of their day was set. Of course, the likelihood of going to work at all was in doubt.

It would be a great day to go skiing.

Half an hour later Barrman was standing on the side of Highway 97 waiting for Big Boarder. He had an appointment for his truck to get an electrical problem diagnosed. So Barrman went ahead and dropped his truck off and walked across the highway to get picked up. No time to waste – powder would not wait for anyone.

By 9:45 the two buddies were sliding up to the bottom of the Ridge Rocket High-Speed Quad. It was very cool that when they cruised up to the line there stood friends Barrman used to see on the mountain all the time. What made it even more special was that they no longer lived at Big White.

JD gushed at the glory of his morning so far. “We stayed up on the hill last night and I managed to make first chair this morning.”

“Wow that must have been awesome,” Barrman looked around and embraced the glorious view. The world was coated with a thick layer of champagne powder. The sun shone down and warmed their shoulders. The sight of all the untracked snow warmed their souls.

“Well, dude this is what we live for, which way do you want to go?” Barrman looked over at Big Boarder as they crested the final hill to the top of the Ridge.

“Buddy I’m not sure it will matter, but I think we should go up.” Big Boarder laughed at the ironic choice of words.

“Ha man, ya I agree, T-Bar it is.” Barrman glanced over toward the T Bar and beyond. “It looks like the Bullet chair isn’t running yet. We can go to the T-bar but if the Bullet opens that is where we should go.

The two snow riders slid off the top of the chair and felt the smooth snows slide under their boards. Barrman stretched his back and carved a few turns down to the bottom of the alpine T-bar. He looked toward the Bullet chair – it was going nowhere at this point in time.

It was time to go up.

And then back down through the snow next to the T-bar.

It was like floating on butter as creamy turns of light fluffy powder caressed his calves. Pure joy surged through his veins and it all ended too quickly as they met back at the bottom of the T-bar.

It’s pretty cool to be a local to a ski hill. That proved true as they rode to the bottom of the T-bar and there stood their ski buddy Robin and a friend of his.

“Hey Robin, we are headed to our favourite powder bowl right now, care to join us?” Barrman pointed to the distant bowl and they slid into the short lift line.

“Ya, that sounds like a great idea. We’re in.” Robin looked at his buddy, ” This is Bernie, Bernie this is Barrman and Big Boarder,” they fist-bumped and pushed their way forward. “Don’t tell anyone where we are going. We don’t want the secret getting out.”

Riding on the T-bar the two ski buddies giggled like kids, “good call, twenty centimetres might be a stretch but the tracks are fresh and the sky is blue.” they took in the panoramic views as they slid skyward.

“Dude I feel like I am stealing. When I see the untouched powder it’s almost sinful.” Big Boarder looked back and they both laughed.

“I know, I wish we could have fresh lines every run.”

“But that would be greedy,” Big Boarder laughed.

“Yes, and greed is sinful as well.”

“Look at us a couple of sinners.” Laughter rang out as they reached the top of the mountain.

The buddies slid off the T-bar and into the glory of the day. Blue sky stretched in front of them as they traversed to their favourite stash of untouched pow.

Barrman led the way and came over a rise, and a snow snake grabbed his leg.

Down he went.

The friends cruised by and Robin stopped and offered to help. Stupidly Barrman said he was fine. Except the snow was so deep he kept burying his pole and couldn’t push himself up. Robin stood watching from the other side of the slope, both of them wishing Barrman had taken his offer of help. 

After what seemed like an eternity, but was only a few minutes, the stranded skier managed to get back up and push his way forward. He waved and they headed toward powder heaven.

Barrman crested the top of the bowl and found first tracks in light fluffy heaven. It was like floating on a cloud as he descended the steep terrain. Puffs of glory floated into his face and nothing else mattered but the next turn. He howled in delight and they gathered at the bottom to celebrate a powder field of dreams.

“That was awesome!” The ski buddies all said in unison.

Big Boarder looked at his friends and smiled, “it’s all part of living the dream.”

They laughed and carved the rest of the day. And no, the two buddies never did make it to work. But when they look back, they won’t remember the days they worked.

They will remember powder turns on a bluebird day.