Staying upbeat

The mornings are coming earlier and the sky was pink with rosy dawn on the bus ride to work. The sun came out brightly during our early safety meeting and my friend Bonnie from New Zealand announced, “Here comes the sun!” I sang and hummed a few lines of the Beatles song by the same name. I was told it snowed last night, and there was sunshine all day today, just as it should be.

Tameca wanted to have me only on check-in today because she said I was nearing overtime. I asked if there was any way I could work today without incurring overtime pay because I really wanted my group of returners (whose parents tip very well) and she checked and said yes, I could be back to first position on Blues again today. She said I’d probably not work tomorrow, which was fine by me. None of my group returned though. I volunteered to move down to second position, but Jonathan, who was there, suggested I just go with the first six kids to be ready and perhaps swap at lunch. It’s a good thing I did that because none of them showed up today, with the exception of Alexis later on.

There were plenty of blue kids so I don’t think I stole anyone’s work this time. I gathered the six bigger ones who looked like they had their stuff more or less together, signed them all in and headed out after I had checked all their boots. Unfortunately the first one there, a 13-year-old by the name of Alexa, had already been standing around so much that her hands were freezing and she was crying from it by the time we got onto the High Meadow chairlift for the very first time. We skied back down and I left her at the shuttle stop for someone to run her back to the rough and let her warm up. While there, I was given a new kid who dropped down from Bonnie’s double-blue group because her technique was not up to that level. Her name was Allie and she had an adorable bunny-ears helmet cover that just about everybody who saw it commented on.

We had another run or two on High Meadow and a couple of them needed to go to the bathroom, and it seemed like most of them were getting cold hands too. It’s always cold in the mornings here. It was only about 10:30 when we collected Alexa and I put them all in the old lunchroom to warm up with some hot chocolate. When I did my periodic “is everyone okay? Nothing’s cold, hurt, or bothering you?” checkup Allie said her toes hurt because they were squeezed too tight in her boots. I asked my friend Matthew, a rookie who was in new hire training with me, to watch my group for five minutes as Allie and I briefly stepped back into the rough. I got her fitted for a new pair of boots, which instantly made everything better. She liked me from that moment on and said she hoped she could get me as her instructor tomorrow. I also helped others in my class with boot trouble: socks bunched up in their boots. That’s a common problem.

Once we got back out and it began to warm up they all seemed to be having a very good time, and none of them had any trouble with the blue runs off Saddleback chair: Snowdancer and Kokopelli. I halfheartedly tried to do a few exercises to get them into better parallel turns, and they tried them, but they enjoyed just skiing around or looking for little tree-paths at the side of the runs.

One kid named Dylan said he had already begun learning pole-plants, and he had a good parallel. He could have been in a double-blue group. I wanted to move him up and found two groups willing to take him, but I’d already promised to find him tree runs and jumps and he was having fun with the other boys, so when we stopped for the hot chocolate he didn’t want to leave. He said he’d rather stay with me until lunchtime, and then at lunch when I tried to move him to another group he was having too much fun in mine and refused to leave me.

Some parents found my class and followed me around today for a little while, like just before we went down to lunch and again towards the end of the day. They didn’t bother us but I still don’t like them hovering around judging me. Doc’s Run was finally opened today; that’s a run that leads all the way down from the top of Short Cut lift, but we didn’t have the time to try it and it still looks poorly covered. We were about 20 minutes late for lunch and they made us wait outside until a table cleared up. The kids were impressed with the fancy banquet hall and it almost balanced out having to ride down the gondola to get there.

After lunch we went to the Sun Peak area. They must have been tired or something because the blue run down to that lift, with its handful of tiny moguls, really scared a couple of them... Especially one boy named Ian. Within that run he regressed to a Red level and made a leaning-back giant wedge to slide straight down the hill. I admonished him for it just about the same time that his parents spotted him at the bottom of Sun Peak chairlift. For the next hour or so that remained he assumed a major sulk, pouting and refusing to speak, and severely lagging the group down. He really looked as if he was falling asleep, and wouldn’t even move fast enough to get on the chairlifts with me. I physically dragged him to get on the Sun Peak chair, and he missed the crowded Saddleback chair altogether and ended up taking the one behind me alone. At the end of the day his parents told me that he had in fact had very little sleep the night before.

I found today that the kids are very sensitive to my mood and attitude. As long as I could remain positive and upbeat in tone and gestures, they had a grand time. When I let them see for a moment that I was frustrated or tired of Ian’s sulking, they all quieted down and started to act depressed. I got them back to the Saddleback area they were familiar with and convinced Ian that he’d have more fun skiing with his parents after class if he learned to ski well again and enjoy it. I also made a conscious effort to act excited and funny again as I did in the morning. For the last run we took Kokopelli and joined several other blue groups to go through the “Tunnel of Fun”, a wooded natural half-pipe or gully off that trail with many dips and jumps. The kids had a fantastic last run through there and I delivered on my promises of good tree runs and jumps.

Allie had joined my class with poles and I had her leave them at the shuttle stop because most of them didn’t have any. At the end of the day we passed through there to collect them. We’re asked to return from around the back to the rope-tow and then go to our meeting flags, but the shuttle stop is very near the front entrance to the rough and there was no time to go up for another run and come back around the other side. I didn’t think it was fair to make them hike all the way around. I kind of expected it, but as soon as I brought them through the front there, parents descended on my group like a flock of ravens and tore them to pieces. That’s exactly the reason we’re not supposed to do that. Only two kids made it most of the way to the flag where they’re meant to be picked up. Thankfully, all of the parents were polite enough to come and find me and give me their security tags rather than running off with their children. Probably because they all wanted to hear how they did, and I had to think fast to express what each kid’s strengths and problems were. Nobody gave me any tips though. I didn’t resent it because I actually enjoyed skiing with this group, despite the one or two slower kids.

When I checked out I asked Tameca if I should come in tomorrow and she said yes: I’d be the last position on Blue but they were busy so I might still have work. I saw Maira a couple of times today: at the Saddleback lift line and going down the run. She said she and her family had skied all the way to Dreamcatcher on the far end of the resort. Alexis also cheerfully greeted me whenever I passed her group on the mountain. Jennifer (Alexis’s pretty single mom) and I had planned to have a little skiing date today, but it didn’t pan out. At the check-out zone I saw Alexis but not Jennifer, and she was gone by the time I had my paperwork done. I think this was their last day here. I went up for my one run of the day and took some rather shaky video going down Elk Ridge (or The Pines, people do not agree on what that area is really called.)

I hung out in the rough and later in the locker room for a while talking to other instructors. These people are really fun. When Jeronimo, an Argentinean with a thick beard and moustache, checked out and reported how many he’d have returning for his green class tomorrow, the guy who had Alexis’s class said, “They weren’t going to return, but Jeronimo made them extend their vacation. They said, ‘Who is this swarthy South American Lothario who taught me to ski?’” I thought that was very funny. I guess everyone here is nice if you don’t have to live with them.

Emily, Damien and I discussed going up for a drink at Smokie’s because the cabriolet down to the parking lot was very crowded at that time, but they ended up hanging around the locker room for too long instead. Many of us squeezed into a cabriolet and Emily drove Damien, Stephanie, and me to their place in Powderwood (so Stephanie could pick up her wallet) and to Wal-Mart for a bit of urgent shopping. She wanted to shower at Damien and Stephanie’s place before going out to dinner with some other friends, but she was even kind enough to drive me home so I wouldn’t have to carry all the heavy stuff I’d bought. We are running out of everything in my house and I bought dishwasher detergent and paper towels for the house as well as lots of snacks and cereal for me. I now know for sure that the weirdos here are hoarding their own rolls of toilet paper instead of buying in bulk as would make sense.