Cataloochee by Day
I took Friday off to go up to Cataloochee with Joe. Cataloochee is a ski hill up in Maggie Valley NC, and it’s where I learned to ski perhaps just two years ago. We couldn’t've asked for better conditions on Friday: sunny and crystal clear, 50 degrees when we arrived at 1pm. At one point Joe was wearing a t-shirt and a vest.
I took my new skis out (previously I had rented) and they performed beautifully. I’ve only skied two places in the world: here and Snowshoe (in West Virginia), and it was obvious to me that in the week spent at Snowshoe my skills improved dramatically. I managed to fall zero times in 5 hours of skiing.
Oddly enough this was the first time I had skied Cataloochee by daylight - all of our previous trips had been for the night session - but by the time the sun was falling (and the temperature with it) we were pretty worn out and the course losing its features. In the pre-dusk light all I could see was a blue-white featureless trail before me. (One likes to know what you’re about to ski over) We made it home around 9pm (night skiing keeps us out on the road until 2am) and topped the evening off with a viewing of Predator. Dillon. You son-of-a-bitch! Now I know where that comes from.