by DK | Feb 18, 2019 | .
On Sunday night, with less than 2 weeks to go before the big Sawtooth Ski Festival weekend, trail groomers met around an open fire under the waxing snow moon and tasted the soup kitchen concoctions of Kitty Boy and the pretty girl from the village. All agreed that while the soup was absolutely scrumptious, a bit more curry couldn’t hurt the pot and much merry making and toasting ensued. “Here’s to the pretty girl from the village!” they cried as they guzzled glugg and giggled. Trails at both ski areas had been groomed through the deepest snow drifts and even the trail to Alturas Lake and the terrible hills of North Cabin were once again negotiable, if not yet perfect.
by DK | Feb 17, 2019 | .
After Chad beat down big snow at Alturas Lake on Friday, Davinius touched up all skate lanes to the east of the creek on Saturday. Classic tracks were added to Over the Hill, South Loop, and the Trail to the Lake as far as the bridge junction. On Sunday, Davinius planned to return to the untracked wastes and push on to the lake. He fed his cats a large breakfast and bid them a teary farewell, fearing that the scary deep drifts might swallow him whole. At Park Creek Adam hopes to have all trails open again by Monday.
by DK | Feb 13, 2019 | .
On Tuesday, February 12th, Davinius headed out at the Alturas Lake Ski Area for an afternoon of grooming. He rolled across 2 meadows, up the hill and through the woods to start packing out the hilltop site for the 2019 Ski Festival. He immediately got really, really stuck in the deep untracked snow. After 45 minutes of digging, he rolled back down the hill to his car and drove home where he put on his jammies and pounded down a couple of Arnold Palmers while spinning some platters on his turntable. “I give up”, he said and drifted off to sleep as the music played on.
In Heavy Rotation:
“A Hazy Shade of Winter” – Simon and Garfunkel
“Running Up That Hill” – Kate Bush
“Groovin” – The Young Rascals
“Happy Trails” Quicksilver Messenger Service
“A Momentary Lapse of Reason” – Pink Floyd
“Stuck in the Middle” – Stealer’s Wheel
“Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow” – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“Dig It” – the Beatles
“I’m So Tired” – the Beatles
“Let’s Go” – The Cars
“Take the Long Way Home” – Supertramp
“Home Again” – Carole King
“Put Your Records On” – Corinne Bailey Rae
by DK | Feb 12, 2019 | .
It’s been snowin’ so long, I got a feelin’ called the blues…
On February 11th, 1949, Hank Williams released the Billboard song of the year – “Lovesick Blues”.
70 years later, Park Creek and Alturas lake groomers rolled along in an ongoing attempt to keep up with the falling snow.
I got a feelin’ called the blues, oh lord
I don’t know what I’ll do
All I do is sit and sigh
grooming in the falling snow…
by DK | Feb 11, 2019 | .
On February 10th, the 170th anniversary of the birth of the great Pre-Raphealite painter John William Waterhouse, Davinius rolled all trails to the east of Alturas Lake Creek while the pretty girl from the village waited patiently in the blowing snow.
by DK | Feb 8, 2019 | .
On Friday, February 8th, the 191st birthday of Jules Verne, as Davinius ginzu groomed the trail to Alturas Lake, his thoughts drifted back to long past adventures from “A Winter Amid the Ice”. As Jules described it, as they spent the night on their furs in an icy wasteland around the 76th degree of latitude in Eastern Greenland, an ice-quake suddenly struck. “The movement lasted nearly two minutes, and it was to be feared that the crevice would yawn at the very feet of the unhappy sailors. They anxiously awaited daylight in the midst of continuous shocks, for they could not, without risk of death, move a step, and had to remain stretched out at full length to avoid being engulfed.” Compared to that night, grooming ski trails seemed like a tame walk in the park. At Alturas, with their snowmobile repaired and running well, Davinius and Chad easily groomed all trails for skating. Classic tracks were laid down on South Loop, Over the Hill and the Trail to the Lake. At Park Creek, with that area’s snow machine suddenly sidelined with a broken axle, Adam headed out with good intentions and a back up machine to touch things up there. His story has not yet been told. In any case, old memories, untold tales and new trails are predicted to fade away quickly as heavy snow is expected to fall this weekend.
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