On Friday, the trails at Alturas Lake were in excellent shape as new groomer Chad displayed an uncanny knack for laying down corduroy after only a few days of tutelage under aging expert groomer Davinius. Davinius had mixed feelings about not being in total control of the ski grooves himself but was still proud of his young acolyte’s excellent progress. He and the pretty girl from the village took advantage of his semiretirement from grooming to ski the trails to the Alturas Lake shore on the 4th, the birthday of Marsden Hartley, the American Modernist painter, where they harvested ice cubes from “The Ice Hole” for their evening cocktails. They were accompanied by their faithful cat “Kitty Boy”. At Park Creek, praise was also due second year groomer Adam who touched up all the trails for the enjoyment of this weekend’s anticipated ski enthusiasts.