Jeff Ballweg

Yesterday was a long day for Julie and I. We’ve recently joined the Sunday Night shift, and by happenstance, we both also had chair evac training. As a candidate, the candidates would need more instruction than the veteran patrollers, and as an instructor, I figured it’d be fun to work with this years candidate class.

I had worked with them in OEC (the medical portion of the Patrol’s curriculum) so I knew they were a solid group. The down side of the day was that our shift was from 3pm to 9pm, and because lift evac training would start at 8am sharp, we’d be on the hill since before opening, and stay after closing.

Whatever the case the day went well, and Julie got around pretty well considering not being fully recovered from an ankle sprain she suffered at the Blackhawk Ridge Trail Run several weeks ago. This would be her first time coming off the lift in this manner, so  I thought she might be nervous. As it is, I help teach the class and my heart is pounds as I slide off the seat, so I figured that she’d need some coaching or convincing or something to get her to go. As it turns out, she had a huge smile on her face before the chairlift stopped… possibly because it was warm, or maybe because she got to cover a lot of distance without any pain in her ankle, but whatever it was, she was the first one on a rope.

 

For the second load of patrollers it was her turn to rig and belay. As climbers, we’ve tied knots and run ATC’s hundreds of times, so it was fun to set up a rig at the hill. By this point the ski area was open (obviously the run we were standing on was closed) but a few spectators began to show up. I thought that they might be there to see the mighty Ski Patrol in all our action, but in retrospect I bet they were just Eric’s kids looking for money. We actually managed to toss a rope over the cable manually in this section, but everyone likes to run the launcher, so we did that a few more times than necessary.

 

The most exciting part of the day came at the end when it was Julie’s turn to belay. The instructors wanted to demonstrate to the candidates that the system remained safe even when the belayer weighs less than the person being belayed. We did however, want to make them aware that there

was a possibility that they might leave the ground in such a scenario. Now, if you’ve never run a belay, it may scare you the first time it happens, but if you’re someone Julie’s size and you like to go rock climbing, you’ve probably gotten used to finding anchors. Anyway, Jim was the last person off the lift, and by his own admission “probably weighs triple what Julie does.” Eric and I had been pretty excited about this idea since Julie, um, volunteered herself.

 

This part of the day was actually quite beatiful, especially for Wisconsin. It was overcast and about 34°F, which made things more pleasant than usual when you’re fumbling with ropes and knots in winter. The weather would take a sharp turn after 2pm, when it began to rain. I just happened to have two pair of ski pants along, so I could ski while one pair was drying, even if one pair wasn’t quite uniform spec.

Other than the rain, the skiing was good. The snow was the consistency of mashed potatoes, and while a little heavy (and wet) it was fast and fun.

My mom and sisters came out for a few runs as well, and it was nice to see them. Anna, the exchange student from Denmark was there with her new snowboard and matching jacket.

 

At about 7pm the rain stopped, and we rejoiced and ran out for a few runs. Unfortunately the rain was followed by an incredible cold font that dropped the temperature 7 degrees in a half an hour. By the time we swept the hill at 9:10, temperatures were approaching the single digits and winds at the top were gusting at 35mph.

By morning it’d be 0°F in the sunshine, and the wind-chill was making it feel like -11°F. My ski helmet and goggles wouldn’t get a chance to rest just yet, I’d need them to ride my bike to work.