xtcian

3/6/03 Brooklyn, NY Alone, the

3/6/03 Brooklyn, NY

Alone, the mighty hunter awaits.

Who, pray tell, will be tonight's prey? He scans the skyline as his forefathers have done since time was invented. Bold, courageous, filled with the mysterious inner knowledge of the world's soul. Who comes this way to vanquish the...

Hey, that's Tessa! (wag wag wag wag wag drool drool drool)

***

Anyway, all of us (including the mighty hunter) were set to go back to work in the city today, but God opened up a can of snow whoop-ass on the Berkshires today, dumping about half a foot on us by noon. Even the Taconic State Parkway closed. So I thought it would be a bright idea to go skiing at Catamount for an hour, right? We have these free passes and all, and nobody would be there.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain, I began to think it wasn't such a hot idea. The visibility was about twenty feet, and the wind was blowing so hard that if you smiled, your mouth would freeze open. And can somebody tell me what's so cool about "fresh powder"? I know there are skiers who get choppered onto the tops of mountains in British Columbia and Chile in order to break fresh powder, but to me, it was a goddamn nightmare. I busted my ass four times on one easy slope alone. You can't turn, you can't stop, and you can't go very fast.

Tessa said it had something to do with the giant layer of ice right under the powder, but whatever. I looked like the "agony of defeat" skier they used to show at the beginning of the Wild World of Sports.

The ride home was icy, harrowing, and no fun, but was saved by the appearance of an incredible sunset, poking out from under the storm, shimmering like the aurora borealis, reminding us that perhaps spring will actually bother coming someday.