0 On patrolling

Remember that post when I told you I was done patrolling at Meadows?  Yeah, well, now I am doubly done patrolling at Meadows.  On Sunday, I was at SkiBowl.  Usually, Barkernews and I share a shift at the Bowl, but he was on call this weekend and so I went as a solo gig while he stayed home with The Hizz.  The snow was terrible, but the day was awesome.  As I drove up on Sunday morning, I was secretly disappointed to be patrolling, due to a complete lack of new snow and too much recent rain.  By mid-morning, I was so happy to be there, to be outside, to be hanging out with cool people, that I was thrilled.

Here's my gratuitous self-portrait of my feelings on Sunday:

Part of what made Sunday great, besides taking the time to ski my ass off on crappy snow (and still have a good time doing it), was the hanging out.  There was a lot of hanging out, given that the amount of patrollers probably outnumbered the amount of paying guests on the hill.  Also, there were a total of two cases.  And 500 patrollers.  I'll let you do the math.

We also hunted for avalanche beacons.  I found one with chocolate.  Do you think that if I ever find an avalanche victim, he or she will come prepared with chocolate to thank the rescuers?  I sure hope so.  Jessica does too:

A representation of the large number of patrollers on the hill.  About 2/3 of them were apprentices doing "area orientation" (and none of them were women.  WTF??) who kind of had nothing to do since there wasn't much open area to orient on.

And a last picture of the mountain.  I never tire of looking at Mt. Hood.  Ever.