Discover More from This Category: Columns
Crosscurrents
December 11, 2024
Grief is the price you pay for love. War is the price you pay for peace. Discipline is the price you pay for freedom. Nothing in life is free. Few people are willing to pay the price for what they want. Do they even know what they want? People think they know what they want,…
‘Emilia Pérez’ aims high but doesn’t quite reach the top
December 11, 2024
Jacques Audiard’s musical thriller can’t achieve its lofty ambitions but still offers more than most films Acclaimed French film director Jacques Audiard delivered one of the best crime films of the past 20 years in 2009’s “A Prophet.” Audiard returns to the crime world once more, but this time, he travels from the French prison…
Keeping winter coats clean
December 4, 2024
Standing on the berm of a small pond, I watch the resident beaver leave its lodge, a silhouetted nose moving through the water. It disappears briefly and returns with a branch in tow. The beaver clambers over the edge of its dam along a muddy path, a branch bouncing along behind. Despite the muddy trail,…
Celebrating the final month of the year
December 4, 2024
“December is a month of enormous potential. It’s a time we can all give and receive. A time when the spirit of humanity shines the brightest,” said Michael Josephson. Thanksgiving weekend 2024 was one we will not forget. At least 18 inches of snow, along with the excitement of World Cup will create stories for…
Every turn, a trip down memory lane
December 4, 2024
We floated along Upper Royal Flush, enjoying the fresh, all-natural snow beneath our feet. It feels so good, this marvelous gift of nature. Soft, rotary turns as we kept our skis flat on the snow. Using lateral ankle flexion, we can adjust our edge angle to the terrain, letting our bases float over the snow.…
The light of my life
December 4, 2024
I have a friend who lives just outside of a major city in the South. He’s done well for himself; he drives a nice car, has a lovely wife and kids, has carved out a successful career in the insurance world, and lives in a beautiful home. Recently, we had a conversation about getting older…
Upgrades and chairlift improvements
December 4, 2024
One of our employees wrecked our panel truck. The truck was totaled, but we were able to salvage the engine and transmission. We decided to mount them atop the lift house as auxiliary power for the new Snowshed #3 lift. We connected the engine to the main drive shaft with a chain link connector. A…
Who needs soapboxes?
December 4, 2024
Some things can’t be hidden, such as the Moon, the Sun, and the stars. Try as it might, the truth also cannot be hidden, at least not forever. This is very much about this new era. As the systems and structures embedded in society’s fabric increasingly reveal their irrelevance, we will all handle this period…
‘Conclave’: The peculiar and political process of picking a pope
December 4, 2024
By James Kent Catholicism and its many mysteries and secret rituals are on full display in “Conclave” (in theaters and on-demand.) The pope is dead. And the process of transferring the powers of God from one human vessel to another begins. Depending on one’s faith and knowledge of the subject, that process, the subject of…
Remembering past holiday seasons
November 27, 2024
The holiday season is upon us. Thanksgiving through New Year’s is a busy time for most people. Was it like that back in the ‘50s? Let’s take a look! Preparing Thanksgiving dinner took a lot more time and effort back then. There were no microwave ovens to heat the various components of the meal. Usually…
Chairlift games
November 27, 2024
We’ve been riding the same chairlift up the same trail looking at the same trees for weeks now. We all talk about whether or not to choose Trail A or Trail B and then our minds are blown when Trail C opens up! It’s a snowmaking miracle, giving credit to the combination of Mother Nature and…
‘Gladiator II’: Fighting against the grain
November 27, 2024
When I graduated from college, very few people had a personal computer. Instead, we had campus computer labs that required students to reserve space at designated workstations. At your allotted time, you would enter the lab with a dozen other people and then reference your assignments from 5.25” floppy disks. Then, only a handful of…
The Gray
November 27, 2024
I’ve been checking in with myself on a concept I like to call The Gray. I am focusing on the gray as a way to meet situations I encounter in an open, honest and wholesome way. Paired with extreme ownership and radical acceptance, I am feeling more in control over things I previously felt discouraged…
How to engineer a snowmaking solution in 1965
November 27, 2024
Killington’s Spartan office was a concrete block structure above the maintenance area. I had a tiny office adjacent to the lower maintenance area. Preston Smith’s cousin, Barry Leete, was assigned to me, and he shared my small office with no other place to put him. At his request, I gave him the task of redesigning…
How skunks prepare for winter
November 27, 2024
Several weeks and many baths ago, my dog discovered a black-and-white stranger crossing our lawn. Wagging vigorously and ignoring my frantic shouts, she ran up and offered her canine greeting: a nose-to-tail sniff. The encounter ended predictably, with the skunk waddling off into the dark, the dog staggering in circles, and me searching desperately through…