On Durango Mountain...

03/10/10. Wing. Bright, sunny, glorious day on the mountain. Everyone was longing for sunshine and here it is. It already feels warm and I’m going to have to go up and make a few runs myself.  Spring is here and spring fever can’t be far behind.  What’s up with that anyway? Everyone gets excited and happy about nothing.  Just better go with it. Eddy’s brought his ladder from home so he can change some light bulbs. He’s lost all my ladders under the snow and blamed the guys shoveling the roofs. The ladders are missing all the same.  Steve continues his battle with the ice on the sidewalks and will be gainfully employed doing the same all week. Neal is taking his sweet time cleaning the units which is a big change from all the pressure he was under last week. It gets busy again next week so he’s enjoying the break. Moises is back again today and is busy hitting a ball in the air with a ping pong paddle. I just finished folding a million t shirts and am ready to hit the slopes. 

03/09/10. Wing. Cloudy and colder this morning. The smell of eggs and green chilies permeates the lobby and the breakfast room is full of happy singles eating omelets and planning their day. Sounds like they’re headed to Trimble Hot Springs tonight after skiing. John and June have tromped over from the condos and they’re already on their way up to slopes. Eddy’s manning the shuttle and has headed down to Needles to fill’er up and buy a can of oil. $7 they charge for one quart! Moises stayed home today and his mother took the day off so she could keep an eye on him. School schedules and work schedules don’t mesh too well. It’s pleasant to have him hang out at the Lodge but not too interesting for the 10 year old boy.

03/08/10. Wing. Six inches of champagne powder and there’ll be a line at the chair lift when it opens at 9.  Already at 8 am there’s a gal ready to ride the shuttle and be one of the first to tear it up. Her friend is lagging behind and she can hardly stand the wait. Wait here or wait there, it’s all the same wait. But movement in the direction of your goal is more satisfying if you’re anxious and in a hurry.  At least you get the illusion of progress.  Its winter break for Durango schools and Moises, Eddy’s little boy,  is here this morning and I guess probably all week. He doesn’t really know what to do with himself and wants to play on the office computer, but that toy is strictly off limits to 10 year olds.   Sheldon and his bros have headed back to Dallas but first we managed to have some dinner together last night up in the Sow’s Ear. Food and service we’re excellent but the conversation was lagging a little from the worn out minds and bodies after all the activity of the past few days. ..and nights!

03/07/10. Wing. Snowflakes in the forecast for the entire week and it made a good start last night. Two inches on the ground and still snowing. It’s local’s day today with discounted tickets at the ski resort and boy are the locals going to be happy. Supposed to drive up to Silverton for breakfast at 9 but I’m not sure how that’s going to work out with the snow covered roads. The single’s group is up and already cooking breakfast in the break room. The bacon smells pretty good from here in the office. But it’s coffee I need this morning. Took Sheldon and his buddies to town last night and from the looks of the hot tub this morning they kept the conversation going after we got back. Bruce sent up some kind of weight lifting contraption from Albuquerque and the three of them spent a good while putting it together yesterday afternoon. Guess I’m going to have to get burley.

03/06/10. Wing.  It’s not even 8 and it’s already hopping in the lobby. There’s going to be a wedding up in the restaurant at 11 and the bride and bridesmaids are hauling in dresses and makeup to make themselves pretty enough to go to a wedding.  The Christian Science Singles are up and at it. One guy says he wished he knew I collected old vinyl cause he would have brought his old records for the breakfast room. One guy wants to know if they can start the coffee maker. Yes (they already had). And one guy wants to know if we have any work out equipment. Just the ski hill. Steve has arrived with a half dozen chocolate donuts. I like plain ones. My friends are up from Albuquerque so I’m headed over to their condo see if they have any breakfast burritos to spare. So the day begins at the Silverpick Lodge.

03/01/10. Wing. Busy day yesterday but we’re going to slow things down just a little bit today. I hope. We’ve gotten off to an early start. Drove the truck down to the Toyota dealership at 7 this morning. Needs a new clutch. Eddy says they go out at 120,000 miles and I’ve got 180,000 on my rig so I guess I’m one of the lucky ones.  Back at the Lodge Sonny has showed up looking for work after his early morning walk down to the store. We put him on a little tile job in the basement mens room.  He’s having a pretty good time with the demo. I hope it goes back together as smoothly. Mike, who is in the middle of cleaning up the shop, called in to say his wife won’t let him come out and work. She has chores of her for him to do and the best he can do for us is come on up tomorrow.  Well OK then, come up tomorrow.  Dolf Strom has returned for a week of alpine pursuits and is the only guy in the lodge till this weekend when the whole place fills up.

02/28/10. Wing. Ninety percent chance of snow and the ski bike guys are a little worried about the drive back to Denver over the high passes that separates that metropolis from this touch of heaven. I would be too. If I were going anywhere. But I’m not. It’s going to be a good day to stay inside by a warm computer screen and crunch numbers. But first it’s down to the store for some OJ and hot chocolate. The Upholds from Farmington are having some oatmeal and Mr. Uphold has put a Kinks record on the turntable for their listening pleasure. His children had never seen a record before and the young gal danced with delight when she heard the music.   

02/24/10. Wing. A little under the weather here and it’s killing me to sit inside and let all this fresh powder go to waste.  Not waste really because everyone with any ski sense is getting some. Bruce and Greg are heading up from Albuquerque today to grab their share. They’re going snow cat skiing in the backcountry with the San Juan Ski Company and boy have they timed it right. It’s cold and partly cloudy and the powder will remain soft and light for days. By way of contrast, the ice has already started to build up in front of the townhomes and Steve has already been spreading salt at the entrances. Neal got pulled over for speeding on his way to work but got off with just a warning. I think his little red Mercedes may be just a little too much of an attention grabber for Durango. He’s trying to catch up on work so he can have tomorrow off before the weekend comes around. Eddy’s taking the lovely Brigit and her man Jorge up to the mountain and I’m surprised they’re going up it’s so cold. I finished Jorge’s book a couple days ago and from the sounds of it, it got plenty cold in Germany in the 40’s once we started bombing.  So maybe they’re used to it.

02/18/10 Wing. Beautiful sunrise over the low south ridge and the day has begun. The weatherman says a storm is coming in at 11 am but I think he may be premature. Hard to say just yet as our sky views are somewhat limited. It’s supposed to continue through the weekend and then dissipate in time for the Bush/Van Kirk wedding on Sunday. Peter Hurwitz and his son made it in late last night and are all alone in the Lodge until then. A big change from the activity of the last few days. No more chocolate chip cookies, no more shuttle runs back and forth to the mountain all day long, no more snowball fights in the parking lot and no more kids jamming the hallways playing card games at night. At least until Sunday.  Jorge Jensen, who is staying on the mountain for a month with his beautiful wife Brigit, is giving a talk tonight down in Durango about the childhood autobiography he wrote.  He grew up in Germany during the Second World War and was a volunteer for the Hitler Youth. Since then he’s become a mad scientist and has been working at America’s top secret laboratory down at Los Alamos in New Mexico. 

02/16/10. Wing.  What can I say? More cookies after skiing and then gumbo for dinner. Bacon and egg burritos for breakfast. I’m gonna have to go on a diet when these people leave. Hardyharhar. Most everybody is out skiing but a few of the ladies are sitting in the lobby being lazy, looking over brochures and grading papers. The group has rented the tubing hill at 4pm so I guess they're resting up for that. I’ve been taking people up to the mountain, back to the Lodge and back up to the mountain again.  It’s a pretty drive but kind of short. At least the entrance to the resort is steep and curvy.  It’s already 11:15 and I’ve got “miles to go” so I better put on my walking shoes and get after it. Everybody else is busy as well.  With any luck Eddy will finally install the window in #103.  How many times have I written that one down! And poor old Steve’s got acres of ice to chip.  Now that’s a fun job for you. 

02/10/10. Wing. Beautiful cold mountain morning and the Olson’s are here bright eyed, bushy tailed and ready to hop on the shuttle at 8 am. Can’t blame them. Another couple of inches fell last night and the snow conditions couldn’t be better. There was no one at the Bonsai when I dropped them off and it’s been pretty deserted up there all week. Which means no lift lines and private runs for those who do manage to make it by the ticket office.  Eddy is busy framing out a new window for the living room in #103, Steve’s got plenty of snow to move and Neal’s got plenty of beds to make. They won’t need me for much today. Am thinking about making a few runs myself a little later on.  But first I’ve got to make some oatmeal and read what the Durango Herald has to say about the world.

02/05/10. Wing. Clear skies at the dawn but it has clouded up quickly and everyone is excited about the possibility of new snow. Marty Delgeorgio came up last night with his son and a couple of his son’s buddies. This is the first stop on the boys big ski adventure. They plan to bee bop from ski hill to ski hill and end up at Whistler for the Olympics. But when it comes to ski bumming they’ve got nothing on Charles Huff. Charles is up from Houston for a month and a half sleeping on couches and scamming tickets. He’s a real artist and a hero to those who admire the art.  Made a run with him yesterday and am sorry to report that there’s another flatlander who can beat me down the hill.

02/03/10. Wing. Hazy daze and it could be a lazy one too! Wouldn’t mind taking a few hours to curl up with a book by the fire. Supposed to snow just a little today and a little more tomorrow and it’s hard not to miss the sunshine we got while tromping out a new snowshoe trail yesterday.  Supposed to go back out today and tromp around a little more. But there’s plenty of work to do if you’ve got a mind to do it.  Steve has arrived and is planning to spend lots of time spreading salt and chopping ice. Eddy plans to finish up the tile work in #103.  Neal is back and helping Eddy but I think he may end up down in the laundry folding towels.  We all have our given chores. Given by me, who wants to do nothing but build a fire in the lobby and read about how Iago manages to destroy the pretty world in which he lives.

02/02/10. Wing. Briged and Jorg have returned to the high country for a month of skiing and have come bearing a gift of home made sour cherry jam. Home made with 25% less sugar. Wonder if they just ran out. I’m going to try it on a bagel a little later. It’s always nice to get presents. But I’ve already got everything I need (more or less) and it can be a challenge to figure out what to do with something new. The best presents are those you can give to someone else because you know they want it. That happened to me once when I was bartending. A friend at one end of the bar gave me a ball cap with his company logo on it. His corporation had gone bust in the Savings and Loan debacle and it was his last company hat.  Tom, at the other end of the bar, was a powder man, living on the mountain for the summer. He came up to blow deep holes in the living rock for planting the huge utility poles that follows the highway from Durango to Silverton. As Gene handed me the cap Tom allowed how he admired it.  So I passed it on to him without so much as a pause to see if it fit on my own head. Felt lucky that day.

01/31/10. Wing. The Boike’s have sold their condo and are headed back to the flatlands today. They had a pretty good run of five years or so and seemed to enjoy themselves while they were here. But all good things must end. Hopefully to be replaced by other good things. Such as a walk back from the Schoolhouse under a full moon giving way to downhill skiing on the freshly packed powder giving way to piano jazz at the college in the afternoon. Hopefully, and without unpleasant incident. Steve is here again and will be working on the Guest Directories between shuttle rides and tending the home fire in our “massive stone fireplace”.  He’s got lots of copies to make and people to call but his biggest challenge will be to fix the color copier.  Me, I’m just waiting on my ski buddies to show. I like the way that reads!

01/28/10. Wing. Just about four inches of the fresh covering the van this morning. It’s going to be a great day to be up on the slopes. The weatherperson says that we’re going to get more of the same all day.  Which means it will be a very nice weekend to spend at Durango Mountain Resort.  In fact there’s going to be plenty to do in Durango as well. This weekend the town hosts the annual Snowdown Winter Carnival. The parade is tonight and the weekend is full of every kind of sport and social event imaginable. The theme is “Life’s a Beach” and Hawaiian Shirts are popping out everywhere. You can check it all out at: www.snowdown.org.  Am going to try to stay up here on the mountain. Celebrated Joe Barnes 66 birthday up in the Sow’s Ear last night and am hoping for a short respite before jumping back into the fray.   

01/26/10. Wing. Supposed to cloud up and snow today but yesterday was a lovely day and all of the homeowners who made it out and up onto the slopes came back happy and chatty.  Saw Barney in the parking lot this morning when I dropped of the first shuttle load of guests but I bet he and Sharon are the only homeowners who make it up today.  Eddy’s already hard at it over in #103 working on the tile after nearly a week’s hiatus to deal with the storm. Neal’s come back to work to give him a hand and hopefully they’ll make some good progress this week. The housekeepers are here as well and they are going to be very disappointed to learn that Steve is taking my truck to town to patch a leak in one of the bobcat tires. He’s had a devil of a time with the machine this go round and he’s not the only one. Seems like all the snow removal equipment is made to break down when you need it the most. I hope this is the last issue with the bobcat this year. Fat chance!

01/20/10. Wing. And Snowing! The ski area is reporting 18 inches in the last 24 hours and it’s still coming.  Terry is out in his loader clearing the roads. He looks as happy as a clam (I guess that’s before you eat ‘em) perched high above the accumulated fun in his glass cab.  It’s a heated and he sits in the middle of the storm in his shirtsleeves listening to music and watching the flakes swirl around him as he goes about his appointed task. With any luck I’ll get a chance to watch the flakes swirl as I whirl through the fresh powder down the blue runs. Supposed to make a few runs with Joe Barnes and Vince Lipani, at least that was the plan at dinner last night. They may decide they need a day to acclamate to the altitude after they see what it looks like outside. And what do you know. Here comes Joe wanting to use the computer for some urgent business. Maybe we'll get out tomorrow.

01/10/10. Wing. Why yes, it is another beautiful mountain morning. Very quiet in the lobby except for one little old lady looking for her boots.  No one else is thinking about boots quite yet. It was a very nice wedding and a heck of a reception.  Now the guests will make the trek back from whence they came, some a long ways and some a short ways. All moving away from this precious moment in the lives of Steve and Lauren. It will be quiet at the Lodge for a while and the next big thing is the homeowners meeting on the 23^rd.  Can’t have a crisis every year so there’s not too much interest. There’s still lots plan and talk about.  So the few will decide for the many.

01/07/10. Wing. No snow yesterday but it’s partly cloudy this morning. Weatherman says don’t get your hopes up.  OK, I won’t.  Too much to do anyway. The Aggies seem to be enjoying themselves and are making full use of all the facilities in the Lodge which is gratifying. Eddy says they must be showering before they get in the hot tubs because they are much cleaner than usual. Chock one up for reading ability and comprehension. For some reason most folks ignore the “Please shower before entering hot tub” sign. Now they are starting to gather out front for the quick trip up to the lifts.  June’s the only other rider today so there’ll be plenty of time left over for paperwork, my favorite thing. NOT. 

01/01/10. Wing. Yes it is VERY quiet in the Lobby and I can’t even believe I’m here.  The restaurant was busy until well past midnight and had their biggest night ever. The food was outstanding and the service was pretty good as well. Our small group sat down at 10 and Richard honored us with his custom brand of service though  we left before we had a chance to hear him sing anything. We of course did our part to liven up the dining room with a chorus of “Lucky Me” and were rewarded with a modest round of applause. Afterwards we hung out around the bonfire and Mitch set off the fireworks Pete and Bruce had sent up from New Mexico.  A most excellent display and great way to draw a line between the old and the new.  But now it's back to the daily routine, running the shuttle back and forth to the ski area then down to Needles to fill it up with gas, cleaning rooms and fixing whatever breaks. Today it's a hot water heater in #308 and a toilet in #103. How will 2010 be any different than 2009? God only knows.