Sea to Ski

The absolute finish date for this project is Dec. 15th.

I just changed my return date with the airline from Nov. 2nd. to Dec. 17th. I'll go straight from sea to ski. It should be quite the radical transition.

I get a bit more tan everyday here and I am pretending that my hair is streaking blond. It's like eighty degrees everyday. High humidity. I'm sitting here with no shirt on in the cafe and it's normal. It's taking awhile to get used to the fact that I can go in most places wearing nothing more than wet shorts and slippers (flip-flops) or just shorts.

Plus, and maybe most importantly, I'm at sea level and I live at 8000 feet in Aspen and will immediately be going up to 12,000 feet at patrol.

It will be with a bunch of crusty, greyhaired ski patrollers. I am quite sure at least two of them in particular will refuse to accept that I have been working my butt off over here, often six days a week. They will just remember that I was in Hawaii while they set up the mountain.

So, they will have a bigger chip on their shoulders than usual. I completely expect to be loaded up with heavy stuff to carry up the ridge as soon as I get back. I'll be cold and tired and more than happy to do it.

My patrol director (boss) is cool and understands what I'm doing over here and has told me to expect getting shit from the guys all winter. It's mostly just in fun but . . .