ground hog day

 the morning sun making its way through the trees next to the pipe

 the beast the largest snow cat on planet earth with the wings open on the blade it is 20 feet wide weighs 15 tons uses a cat motor  (c13) and costs 500,000 in the us 1,000,000 in new zealand,  there are 4 free groomers and 2 winch cats of this type  the winch cats are too heavy to do what they are doing with them and have had problems but the free groomers are ok.  i have taken over number 18 from kate nimmo who i trained to groom in nz 2004  since it seams to be a good cat and all.   we were sharing it on different shifts but now were are both on days and now it seams that i drive it every day.  only has 344 hours on the dial,  it doesnt seam to big once in it but seeing it come at you doing 12 miles an hour it seams real big. 

 the pipe yesterday after chainsawing the coping and startin to step it out

 i rode on sunday from the top 4 xs  and once from the middle of the mountain  almost 20.000 feet of vert and was tired after the first run,  the last run i went to cross the crek at the bottom the snow bridge had been sketchy so i tried a few feet down ...  i went for a swim  feet in the air  my ass in the water and trying to get my board off  was pretty wet  by the time i got out but was stoked on how refreshing it was to be atleast on the last run just a few from the bottom.  i had to groom the run out the day after i rode which was funny to actually know where i was so thought i would take a pic

the pipe this morn at sunrise   ground hog day like the movie  every day is the same push from the top and go to the bottom drive to the top and push to the bottom its like the indy 500 but clockwise and im the only car on  the track .