31

Sunday, January 2, 2000

First Tracks

Tim came into our room at 7:30 yesterday morning and started yelling that everyone had to be upstairs by 8 to get Snoasis open.

We were there physically. I felt fine, but others had partied a bit too much last night. Fortunately, Snoasis doesn’t get very busy on January 1 until later in the day. The slopes are like the highways on the first: very empty early in the morning.

Today I awakened to fantastic new snow on the mountain. It’s the first since I arrived before Christmas. I was out the door as soon as the Eskimo Express lift started, so I could make “first tracks.” I rode the Eskimo to Sunspot then skied over to High Lonesome Express and rode it to Lunch Rock. On the High Lonesome my cell phone has five bars of signal strength, stronger than I have gotten anywhere in the Winter Park area, so the cell tower must be near Lunch Rock at 11,200 feet.

I sure enjoyed the skiing today. It’s always great on fresh snow early in the day, but it gets lots of moguls as the day progresses. With the trails groomed overnight, and the moguls gone, the skiing is even better the day after a heavy snow.

I worked the evening shift today as baker. I made mini-loaves, brownies, rice crispy treats, and muffins. Peter complimented me on the muffins, which turned out perfect, I don’t mind saying! Blueberry, lemon poppy seed, and bran.

But the real compliment came from Andy the regular baker, who asked how I got the mini-loaves so golden brown and crusty. I told him my secret. Andy was baking them at 350, but I cranked the convection oven up to 390. The real secret, though, is to spray a mist of water over the loaves after the proofer but before the oven. I used the spray bottle that the grill uses to mist the soft pretzels before they dip them in salt.

There’s more Snoasis pictures up today. Click on the link to the right of this column.

Snoasis Photos - more added today

Yellowstone Park Journal - July, August, September, 1999

Copyright ©1999 Ben Benton -- All Rights Reserved

Ben Benton

124 North San Francisco Street, Suite 100

Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5250

(520) 779-5300

Facsimile (520) 213-8425

e-mail [email protected]

*Winter Park Journal*
	Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Winter Park, Colorado, Ski Resort during Christmas break 1999-2000. I left downtown Flagstaff Wednesday morning, December 22 with my skis, duffle, and laptop computer, and ended up at Snoasis, a lodge midway up the mountain in Winter Park. My journal will continue through the first week of January. You’ll read about Winter Park Ski Resort, Snoasis, Sunspot Lodge, the great people who work here, and anything else I can think of to write about. I’m the author of “National Park Employment Data,” a guide to working in national parks, which is available for purchase on my web site at www.gorp.com/nped/. I’ve been working in national parks and ski areas off and on for over twenty years. Because I want the data in my book to always be fresh, I continually test the concepts, employers, and tips that I provide. I first worked at Winter Park in the late 70s while I was a student at Arizona State University.	Official Mug Shot
Previous Journals 12/22 12/23 12/24 12/25 12/26 12/27 12/29 12/30 12/31	Sunday, January 2, 2000 First Tracks Tim came into our room at 7:30 yesterday morning and started yelling that everyone had to be upstairs by 8 to get Snoasis open. We were there physically. I felt fine, but others had partied a bit too much last night. Fortunately, Snoasis doesn’t get very busy on January 1 until later in the day. The slopes are like the highways on the first: very empty early in the morning. Today I awakened to fantastic new snow on the mountain. It’s the first since I arrived before Christmas. I was out the door as soon as the Eskimo Express lift started, so I could make “first tracks.” I rode the Eskimo to Sunspot then skied over to High Lonesome Express and rode it to Lunch Rock. On the High Lonesome my cell phone has five bars of signal strength, stronger than I have gotten anywhere in the Winter Park area, so the cell tower must be near Lunch Rock at 11,200 feet. I sure enjoyed the skiing today. It’s always great on fresh snow early in the day, but it gets lots of moguls as the day progresses. With the trails groomed overnight, and the moguls gone, the skiing is even better the day after a heavy snow. I worked the evening shift today as baker. I made mini-loaves, brownies, rice crispy treats, and muffins. Peter complimented me on the muffins, which turned out perfect, I don’t mind saying! Blueberry, lemon poppy seed, and bran. But the real compliment came from Andy the regular baker, who asked how I got the mini-loaves so golden brown and crusty. I told him my secret. Andy was baking them at 350, but I cranked the convection oven up to 390. The real secret, though, is to spray a mist of water over the loaves after the proofer but before the oven. I used the spray bottle that the grill uses to mist the soft pretzels before they dip them in salt. There’s more Snoasis pictures up today. Click on the link to the right of this column.	Snoasis Photos - more added today
	Yellowstone Park Journal - July, August, September, 1999
	Copyright ©1999 Ben Benton -- All Rights Reserved Ben Benton 124 North San Francisco Street, Suite 100 Flagstaff, Arizona 86001-5250 (520) 779-5300 Facsimile (520) 213-8425 e-mail [email protected]

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