Opening-Day Jitters

I don't know about you, but every year when I'm heading up the lift for my first run of the season I'm a little bit nervous. Maybe it's a combination of being anxious to take my first run and worrying that over the summer my body somehow forgot how to snowboard. But sure enough, every year when I strap in and get going it all comes back to me and I can breathe a sigh of relief. Muscle memory is an amazing thing. It's funny because I'm usually pretty confident in my abilities, but for that brief few minutes when I'm riding the first chair of the season to the top of the run, I have doubts whether I'll be able to pickup where I left off the previous season.

(No opening-weekend worries here. For this ripper, the rails on Sapphire were a welcome sight after a long off season.)

So all this got me thinking yesterday while I was riding the Sachem chair up to the top for my inaugural run. Do the first-day jitters ever go away? At a certain age and after decades of skiing or snowboarding does the year's first run become no big deal? Maybe after experiencing opening-day anxiety enough times and subsequently overcoming it, you realize that it's not worth harping on. I'm not sure though, because I still get it. Maybe after another decade or two I'll see the other side. It's kind of nice though when you take that first run and after just a few yards down the trail, all your worries wash away -- both the first-day jitters and all the rest too.

Can you believe it?!

This is it...the eve of opening day for the '08-'09 season! Our snowmakers have done an outstanding job of covering the entire mountain in a way that will have us skiing and riding from top to bottom tomorrow. The Northstar Express high-speed quad will be spinning us back up to the peak so we can get in as many runs as possible from open to close. Although this is my first season working at Okemo, it's been said that this may be the best opening day ever (or at least in recent history). The weather couldn't be better right now -- sunny with base temps in the upper 20s. It's expected to be much the same tomorrow and for the weekend, so dress accordingly, and not in your typical opening day shells and lightweight baselayers. In my opinion, temps in the mid 20s are ideal for riding; the conditions stay good all day and you don't overheat at the end of each run.(This was taken today from across the valley. If you look closely (or click the pic to enlarge), you can see snowmaking on the far right side. Also, the cats were already out smoothing the surface for us. )

Give yourselves a pat on the back for making it to this moment. I know, it hasn't been easy. Tonight, skiers and snowboarders everywhere will be putting the final tunes on their equipment and laying out all their gear so it's good to go in the morning. I know I will. Put some coffee in me and a little food for fuel and I am out the door. I look forward to seeing you all out on the slopes tomorrow.

10 Days: It's a love hate thing

It’s funny how excited I am about next week’s weather forecast and it doesn’t even include a hurricane or a major snowstorm. As an avid surfer and snowboarder, the weather has become a regular friend and foe in my daily life and plays a pretty big role in deciding what I’ll be doing with my time. I always tell myself not to trust any weather forecasts beyond four days, but when the Weather Channel’s magical 10-day forecast is exactly what I want to see, as if I am Father Nature myself, I forget all about the numerous letdowns of past forecasts and put complete faith in it. I don’t recommend the Weather Channel as the most accurate weather source, and I’m not saying it’s bad either, but when it comes to providing fantasy forecasts they’re like J.K. Rowling. In my opinion, the 10 day forecast borders on scientific storytelling, but maybe less and less with new technology. When the call was made yesterday to delay our opening day by one week, I cried and cried like a little baby, and then I tuned to weatherchannel.com and it was as if someone had given me a giant lollipop and a sang me a lullaby—all was well in my little snowboard-obsessed world.

The thing is, the extended forecast for next week looks so promising, that even if it's wrong it will still be good. Right now we’re looking at high temperatures in the lower 30s next week, which means mountain temps will be in the high 20s during the daytime. All of this results in snowmaking coming out of our ears during the days leading up to our opening day on November 22. Might I add opening day is expected to be sunny and around 30 degrees, as if things could be any better.

Adding to yesterday’s turn of events, we took a little trip out to the work site of our new SoBe bus. It’s coming along nicely and should be ready to go in a few weeks. The wallride portion of the bus will be covered in clear plastic, so you’ll actually be able to see the look on the bus driver’s face while you do things that would normally get you weeks of detention. Alright, there won’t actually be a bus driver inside, but there may be a DJ. Bottom line, there’s a million and one ways to jib this thing, so start planning your attack now. In between sessions of brain shredding the new SoBe bus, I’ll be looking at the extended forecast a few hundred more times. Have I mentioned it's good?