Standing at the top looking down, not sure if I will have the kahoonies to hit it. We'll see. From this view, looks like you could clear the driveway.
Speaking of grooming, thought I would post a e-mail my friend Mark Morrissey sent me since the grooming stories rarely get told and most of the time about the racers. Mark was chief of grooming for Finnlandia. The rain the week before freaked everyone and lot of people thought it would not be good but Mark and I communicated after I was out doing some test grooming trying to figure out the snow and hit the transition point. All told, the skiing Presidents weekend was quite nice in Northwest MN. I knew Mark would nail it and pull it off. He is the type of guy that would stand on the back of a tracksetter in effort to get more down pressure and set a better track, as he has done in the past.Holy Mack was that a close call -- but things finally froze between 2 am and 6 am . I actually cut a square of snowpack out to show skiers at the finish line, and you could see the 2 inch layer above the next five inches that formed up overnight. It was finally single digits, wind, and stars out. I was back out at 5:30 AM and knew we had it in the bag. Started out grooming around 7am and finished 2am Saturday morning. Unbelieveably slow track setting to get a good set up. I had one guy drive with me with me to set a track on the west trails that could float independant of the ginzu, then I drove east side as it got colder with the ginzu with tracksetters- thats when things got slowww and I was listening to ipod, singing songs, etc to stay awake. That was like a 15 hour sewing project, whew ! The last run was my favorite whipping around with flags and signs dragging it one last time and touching up lines and ruts, finally knowing the skiers would like it. I've skied the whole course 3 times since and I'm going out today with a buddy again. thanks for the help and keeping me psyched that the conditions would turn around -
MM
Mark and I after Chequemegon 2001. Mark and I met at Izaak Walton Inn when Jonell and I worked there when we had Jake and Mark's wife Monica. Mark and I skied some crazy stuff and never forget the time we skied Spot Mountain in Glacier Park on the east side of the continental divide after record winds (93 mph) the day before at the top turned all the open slopes into solid ice. It wasn't pretty but we made it down and became better skiers because of it. Sure wish had a digital camera back then for all the backcountry tele trips we did.Up to Fargo tomorrow for the big Squirt International Tourney. 112 teams. Tomorrow night is squirt Olympics. They get all the skaters on the ice for a photo. 1200 players!! Jonell covering for me so I can catch Friday morning games. Grooming is going to be in the middle of the night again. Full house at the resort. Race at Rainbow Saturday morning?!?
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