Last Weekend at Bretton Woods (3/23-24)

This past weekend at Bretton Woods I worked with Ski Patrol both days. Since there was only one trail open other than the learning area we had very little to do. On Friday I hung out with a bunch of the guys and they gave me run through's of what they normally did. The work that we did get to involved taking down pads from the snowguns and lift towers on closed trails, as well as collecting "trail closed" signs from parts of the mountain that were no longer accessible. On Saturday we arrived at 7am to help set up for the downhill mountain bike race on the one open trail. Ski Patrol's tasks were to set up bamboo and fencing along the side of the trail where the racers were going to be, and set up mesh fencing at the bottom so that skiers and racers would know where to go. With so little snow left on the mountain the event gave some life to an otherwise depressing amount of terrain for this time of year. I wish I had been able to work with Ski Patrol when there was a larger variety of terrain open to ride, but even though I didn't get to experience any calls I still got a sense of what it's like to be a patrolman, and can definitely understand the value of their knowledge and experience for a mountain. Since Bretton Woods is closed monday-friday for this week last Saturday would seem to be a fitting end to our time there. Everyone who I had the opportunity to work with was more than welcoming, and in addition to learning a lot I had fun and got to know some new people in the process.