First Chair

Not even 6 am, still night dark, and my son is out the door with his ski equipment to get first chair. It is opening day at the mountain--what snow they have to ski on I don't know!--and it seems like the last time I wrote the snow had just melted. I guess I'll have to fill in that pretty big blank so you all don't think the summer really is just the "bad ski season."

First chair. My son went early last year and rode the first lift chair, thus "first chair," to carry skiers up the mountain for the season. He goes up, changes in the empty lodge, and sits out on the snow by the lift to ride that first chair. The mountain opens at 9. A cold, long wait, but he'll have the lifty to talk to after 7. There is at least one challenger, a person who said he'd be there before my son this year. We'll see if he gets there.

At the end of the season there is of course, last chair, which he also got last year. He waited in the lift line to get the last chair along with a couple of people who always get last chair. When the time came the last chair regulars had to accept him onto the chair, he said. A small and funny sort of a club. Really small since the lift only takes 4 people per chair.

In between there are daily last and first chairs, none of those worth waiting for unless there is great new snow and then it is first chair and first tracks! He doesn't strive for those, but they are great if they happen.

So, let's hope it is a great first chair, first tracks and overall great ski season. If there is snow I might go later in the day. First chair after lunch?