It's Tuesday Morning, we're here at the Love Grotto in Pinetop, and the ski hill sitll isn't open.

Yesterday they were closed because the roads were closed - today they are closed because they've lost power.


             


I've had to readjust my attitude several times this morning - I've been a little ticked with the Sunrise staff. The Apaches there are all pleasant enough (which is a surprise, given that less than a century ago we were still fighting them ('we' the white folks, not 'we' the Cherokees, as obviously the local Indians ran us off to the East a long time ago)) but they also seem to be rather uninvolved in the running of their own ski area.

Usually when we ask 'em a question, the answer is "I don't know" - regardless of what the question is. Obstacles are rarely marked - sometimes even the trails aren't marked. They never seem to be in any hurry; when lift lines are forming, most ski areas start loading up the chairs, putting together singles and doubles and triples to get as many people up the hill as is possible. The White Mountain Apaches just smile and nod, and let folks ride up all by themselves, even if there are a hundred people waiting.

(this would be a real problem if there were any real crowds very often - fortunately, that's not the case)

They seem to have sort of a "manana" attitude - however, I'm developing an "iwanna" attitude, and right now those atttudes are in collision :)

But it does indicate that we are possibly skiing at the wrong area - when you get epic dumpage (6 to 9 feet is what they are calling it) , that is NOT when you don't want to be able to get to the ski hill. And to have it closed for five days after the storm is a good opportunity to repeat the Serenity Prayer - a lot. Out loud. Through gritted teeth. WIth veins standing out on my forehead. And my eyes bulging out.

So it makes it a little more reassuring that we are doing the right thing buying a new, improved Love Grotto - the condo at Cascade Village up at Purgatory (at 8817 feet elevation, surrounded by pines and aspens). Currently we're scheduled to close on the 8th of next month, and we'll be staying there for three days before the close (it was written into the offer).  Right now I'm negotiating to get into it a little earlier, as in "immediately", as I'd rather be there paying and skiing than here not paying and not skiing.

There were people who came up here for the weekend and got hotel rooms and sat in them - I'd already rented this cabin, so it's not as big a deal. (And I had a service commitment that kept me in the Valley, or I'd'a been more irritated than I already am :) But one does have to wonder - what goes through the management's head when they won't even update the web page to tell folks what's going on? There's no way to tell if they are even trying to open today - all the page says is "check back for updates".

Which I've been doing. A lot.

With my teeth gritted. And veins standing out on my forehead : )