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terrain:/c/a/2007/03/15/SPGHLOLCVC1.DTL</div> <div id="omni_article_title" style="display: none;">Article:The slopes after dark: Taming the ski terrain:/c/a/2007/03/15/SPGHLOLCVC1.DTL</div> <div id="omni_obj_article" style="display: none;"></div> <div id="omni_search_term" style="display: none;"></div> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <script language="JavaScript"></script>  <div id="page"><a name="top"></a>   <div id="headernav" class="headernav_leaderboard">   <ul class="media"><li class="first"><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/community/blogs/">Community</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/video/">Video</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/indexn?blogid=5">Podcasts</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/gallery/">Photos</a></li><li><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/data/">Data Center</a></li><li><a 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</script><p><strong>(03-15) 04:00 PDT Squaw Valley</strong> -- As happy customers hit the morning gondolas, trams, lifts and runs, they are excited to find gorgeous corduroy cruisers, plenty of fresh snow and don't even think about avalanches. <p>But behind the scenes, lift mechanics, snow-cat drivers, snow-making teams, the ski and avalanche patrol, dispatchers and others are way ahead, studying reports, worrying about weather, communicating with various departments and working hard so that every customer has a superlative, safe experience. <p>And it's relentless. "A weekend is no more important than a Wednesday,'' said Jimmy King, the mountain manager at Squaw Valley. "The terrain remains the same and must be dealt with." <p>King, whose family came to San Francisco in the 1850s, started as a lift operator at Squaw Valley in 1973, and knows his turf. "It's all about safety and communication,'' said King, whose staff has to stay prepared for quickly changing conditions. "Everything depends on Mother Nature; she controls our world," King said. For instance, a small population of California black bears lives in the woods near the Red Dog lift. Because bears and skiers don't mix, a bear sighting will shut down this portion of the mountain at once. <p>Snow cat <p>British Columbia -- Snow cats are like a cross of a tank, bulldozer and Zamboni, and give new surfaces to ski-resort snow by dragging, tilling, pushing and reshaping. Cat drivers expertly create those beautiful corduroy rows visitors see in the morning, and much more. <p>With 8,171 skiable acres, Whistler/Blackcomb is the largest ski resort in North America. The Whistler snow-cat fleet (about 30) operates two shifts per night on Whistler and Blackcomb Mountain. Depending on conditions, they can cover as many as 1,600 acres a night -- an unbelievable amount of terrain. David Lakey, 44 and from British Columbia, has been a snow-cat operator for more than 25 years. Now the Blackcomb Mountain grooming supervisor, Lakey has the easygoing attitude befitting a former bartender and hockey player. <p>He hops into a red, $250,000 German-built snow cat, a "Piston Bully," and warms up the machine for his 4:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. shift on the hill. More often than not, the cab of the cat is too hot, but the heat helps keep the huge windows defrosted. Each cat is a little different but all have food, drinks and music. Unfortunately, Lakey is trying to pick up a weak radio signal to catch a Canucks game without much success. Some operators blast CDs, iPods or bring Sirius radio systems into their cabs. Some bring a friend or a dog along for company. <p>Generally, the swing shift grooms the heavily trafficked runs, and the graveyard shift, starting at 12:30 a.m., does the peripheral runs. Some snow-cat drivers have specialties such as carving the areas around lifts. "Lifties" -- daytime ski-lift operators -- often request certain groomers to take care of their particular area. <p>Lakey, who answers his radio with "Go for Grooming," goes down some steep terrain, then up and over a lip -- cats usually can make it up or down a 45 degree slope. It isn't actually too dangerous, Lakey says, because the machines are like slow, heavy tanks, and there isn't much to hit. <p>However, without proper training and experience, a driver could get into trouble. "You've got to know the mountain inside and out," Lakey said. A driver has to be able to recognize the signs, barricades and all the little peculiarities and sections of the many runs. "If it's a white-out situation, drivers need to know where they are, and how to get down." Driving off a cliff in a storm is rare, but not impossible. <p>Lakey methodically grooms while planning the crews' moves, coordinating, helping out a driver with a small problem, and organizing the next crew. Coming down Zig Zag, an intermediate run, Lakey's cat crunches and grinds up snow, leaving behind perfectly groomed tracks. "Runs have to be smooth, but also the shape of the run has to be precise. Each driver has his own style." <p>Inside a snow cat for eight to nine hours (with a break or two thrown in) is pretty methodical, meticulous, constant and ... boring. But this type of work can be beautiful and serene, too. Plus, after requisite experience, drivers more or less get to do what they want. Chris Shiner, a Whistler cat driver from Halifax, Nova Scotia, mentioned a common refrain among ski-resort employees: "Basically, how do I ski for free and pay the bills?" Shiner estimates he skies more than 100 days per year. Another Whistler operator, Corey Barlow, said, "The majority of us work others jobs; in the summer, I'm doing a remodel for my wife's tattoo shop." <p>Snow making <p>It's 10:30 p.m., about 25 degrees, the stars are twinkling and Mark Meyer, snow-making manager at Squaw Valley and his assistant, Chad Rheikopf, are digging up, then disassembling snow-making equipment. These guys typically work a 10 p.m.-to-8 a.m. shift four nights a week. The snow-making season is over, but the work is not. <p>Here in mid-March, with temperatures up and enough snow on the mountain, it's time to reverse the process and remove snow-making equipment and store it until the fall. The pair is laboring on the Mountain Run, the most heavily trafficked trail at Squaw Valley. Meyer says, "I'd feel terrible if somebody ran into the equipment." He uses his snow cat, equipped with a backhoe for digging out pipes buried 7 to 12 feet down. Each gun, basically a big sprinkler head, has two hoses, one for air, one for water. The exposed heads look like little toadstools. Rheikopf jumps into the freshly excavated hole and starts pulling out lines and other parts of the gun. He grunts as he tosses out tubes and pipes, then climbs out to load the parts on his snowmobile waiting nearby. <p>When everything is disassembled, Meyer fills the hole, which will be properly smoothed over by groomers later that night. While watching his boss finish, Rheikopf, from Grand Rapids, Mich., says, "It's great here. We can ski every day of the week, and get to see the coolest sunrises." He takes off on his snowmobile to return the equipment to the maintenance shed while Meyer confers with others on the radio, turning away from a particularly fierce gust of wind. This crew has to take apart 20 snow guns on this run this evening. <p>Avalanche control <p>Utah <p>"The snow changes pretty quickly,'' said Colin Wilkinson, avalanche control supervisor at Park City Mountain Resort. "Guys have to be mathematicians, engineers, meteorologists, physicists, and earth scientists." <p>"We got 40 inches of snow (in four days) but only at 1 percent humidity, which equals 4 inches of water,'' said Dave Weiss, a member of Park City's avalanche team. "This might mean 200,000 pounds of water in a bowl." <p>Because avalanches can race down a mountain at 80 mph, they obviously present some serious risks. "Our primary mission is to ensure that our guests have a safe experience. We patrol every morning for snow safety, and watch for all sorts of hazards," team member Mark Saurer said. These experts work with the other department and, around 2 p.m., begin charting the day to come. The Avalanche Patrol starts in the early morning to monitor the situation. If needed, at first light, the patrol members will blast charges to dislodge precarious snowpack. "It's about creating failure in the snowpack," Saurer said. "It's always about strength versus stress." <p>Blast charges look like coffee cans with a 90-second fuse. They cost about $15 per charge, and 15 to 20 might be used in a typical day. These types of explosives work well because they can be placed or thrown to the desired spot. "Big guns and howitzer types aren't used much anymore; they're unpredictable and inaccurate, thus making them more dangerous," said Wilkinson, who moved to Park City from San Jose more than 20 years ago. Charges aren't the only method for making the mountain safe. Skiing itself is a great way of reducing snowpack stress as is cornice kicking -- knocking out dangerous ledges with skis. <p>Teamwork <p>"The early mornings are the key. Everyone is connected via radio, computer and telephone," King said. He confers with many people concerning temperature, wind speed and direction, storms, humidity, mechanical difficulties and other factors. King finds out how the night's grooming went, and any areas that have problems. "We use every resource we've got." <p>Then dispatch takes charge. At Squaw Valley, dispatch starts at 6 a.m., disseminating important information to all members of the team. Dispatch communicates with grooming, snow making, ski patrol, avalanche control, marketing, public relations, the Web site, media and the public. This goes on all day, every day of the season. <p>Certain people are well suited to work crazy, lonely hours in general, and on a snowy mountain in particular. They must be hardy, enjoy solitude, care about customers and love to ski. As a major perk, just about every ski-resort employee gets a season pass. Those working at night get to ski as much as they like during the day. They might not end up sleeping much, and it can be tough on relationships, but they do ski ... a lot. <p>Though unseen to the general public, there is a tremendous amount of conscientiousness in the people undertaking these jobs. They often work long hours for modest pay and must deal with various unpredictable circumstances, but most are ski fanatics living out their dreams. <p>Not a bad trade-off at all. <hr/> Squaw Valley snow-making <p>-- Snow can be made only when temperature is 28 degrees or lower, but when weather is very bad, snowmaking is difficult <p>-- 250 snow-making guns on Squaw Valley <p>-- Guns generally operate until Presidents Day <p>-- Water is piped approximately 2 miles up the mountain from lakes and ponds at the base of the valley <p>-- 30 million gallons of water used in 2006/2007 season <p>-- Water in snow is recycled, with snow melt returning to local aquifer <p>-- Water must be clean to not clog the snow-making equipment <p>-- Bob Ecker </span> </div> <p id="pageno">This article appeared on page <strong>D - 8</strong> of the San Francisco Chronicle</p> <div class="articletools"><div class="toolset"> <div class="print"><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/15/SPGHLOLCVC1.DTL&type=printable">Printable Version</a></div> <div class="email"><a href="/web/20080409135537/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/15/SPGHLOLCVC1.DTL&type=friend&emailcolor=%23AAE860&origin=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff%3D%2Fc%2Fa%2F2007%2F03%2F15%2FSPGHLOLCVC1.DTL">Email This Article</a></div> <div class="shareprefs"> <div id="sharepop2mask" onmouseover=" document.getElementById('sharepop2').style.display='none'; 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