Just Willonanza: The Tale of the Killer Lift Operator

Today was Saturday, which means it was also slope day. Slope day is a weekly holiday in which I and some friends (Zimi, Ethan, and Miriam) get to go ski the beautiful mountains of Park City, Utah. We left late today, leaving at 9 instead of the usual 7:30. The drive was typical; we passed the ominous lake of Deer Creek Reservoir and made it there about 45 minutes later. We were very afraid we wouldn't get parking, and things were not looking good. People were scanning the rows trying to find somewhere to park. Park City High School was closed for an event, so we couldn't park there if we needed to. Suddenly, a spot miraculously appeared despite many others searching desperately. We parked and went into the resort. It started hot, but it started to snow and got cold quick. We rode most of the day. Zimi crashed hard and lost her skis, which was so sudden but hilarious. She was alright, by the way. I wouldn't laugh at serious injuries. We also watched a girl drop not one, but both gloves from the lift on accident, and she didn't even notice. We told her we would get them for her on our way down because she wasn't good enough to go that way, and we were going that way anyway. She didn't seem that excited that we were gonna get them for her, and she didn't seem to care much that she had no gloves in the freezing snow. We waited at the bottom, and eventually saw her. Ethan gave her the gloves and she said, "Oh, thank you," in probably the least excited tone I've ever heard. Oh well. Maybe it was her first day.

We also hit the terrain park, which I'd never done. Turns out that jumps go a lot better if you have enough speed to clear them. Learned that through experience. We ran the park for probably an hour or two, at which point we went down to Saddleback and rode that for a while. After Saddleback, we went to Tombstone, whose name is very fitting apparently. Tombstone is a six person lift and has automatic gates to let people through to board the lift. Zimi was slightly behind me, and I was slightly behind Ethan. I expected him to wait, but he didn't and flew through the gate. I barely made it through, but I clipped the wood next to the boarding area. The friction slowed me way down and I fell. This would be no problem, but I glanced up and the lift operator who was probably about 50 years old was staring at me on the ground. He glared at me, but didn't move. As I tried to stand up, I was pushed back down by the lift behind me. I was being crushed by a lift. I didn't really know what to do because the guy was just watching me get smushed so I laid flat on the snow and went under the lift. As soon as it went by, I popped up back on my feet. Then and only then did the lift operator slow the lift. The people getting on the lift asked if I was okay. I was perfectly fine, and stupid lift operator guy looks at me and goes, "Let's do that a bit better next time." Dumb man. Should I have maybe waited another chair instead of trying to go with Ethan before I was ready? Yeah, probably. But lift guy should have hit the button a lot earlier and we wouldn't have had a problem. It was so embarrassing. I think he was jealous of me or something. Probably because I had friends and he didn't. Anyways, with Ethan on the chair in front of me and Zimi on the chair behind, we made it to the top of Tombstone all in one piece. I hate lift man. I hope he had a bad day today. Not bad like his wife (if he has one) died or crashed his car or anything. I hope he had wet socks cause he stepped in a puddle or left his ice scraper in the garage.

Other than attempted murder, the day was great. The slopes were so pretty with the constant snow, and we hit some back runs today and got to put down fresh tracks. We were going to make hamburgers on Zimi's little grill but the meat looked weird so we passed. We made grilled cheese on hamburger buns instead and then promptly went to Costa Vida.