On 5/31/05, John Crowley, Jr. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "Courage and moral conviction"
> What sort of boarding school parc is that?

I thought it sounded good.

> You make it sound as if
> you guys were (it being Memorial Day) battling for position on Okinawa
> or something.

Well, it was not quite Okinawa, however we did take heavy casulaties:
20%.  All of us were pitted in the same battle that we lost your
brother to; as A Mysterious Lurker put it, the hardest thing was to
get into the van [in the rain].

> It was a frickin' ski day, at the end of the season, in less than
> ideal conditions.

How is the timing in the season relevant?  What are ideal conditions?
How often do they occur in the East?  It so happens that the ski
conditions were excellent yesterday, as one could predict.  Sure there
were some clouds and, yes, even a brief,  light sprinkle.  Did it make
us miserable or even uncomfortable?  No.  Did it hinder the quality of
the skiing?  No.

> Further, in those conditions, you had a team fully
> prepared and knowledgable - whether or not Jim chose to go.

Indeed we did.  Primarily because A Mysterious Lurker had the courage
and moral conviction to cave into the peer pressure of three others
excited by skiing in a downpour at 5+k'.

> Instead, he had the balls ("courage and moral conviction") to actually
> go and check out the conditions and then make a decision in light of
> the possible repercussions of _not_ going (seen here - mostly, the bs
> from you guys).

My apologies, I did not realize that your brother had already taken
the Auto Road up before the rest of us had arrived to check the
conditions.  In that case, I retract all of my previous comments.

> Obviously, he decided there were other better things
> to do.

Obviously.  Hey, I love to drive as much as the next fellow.

> On many far better days to head out earlier this spring, when Jim and
> many others in this forum were out there, some of you chose to spend
> their time in Reading or Burlington.

Should not that be "some of you chose to spend *your* time...?"  If I
am meant to be included in the "some of you" then I must plead
innocent.  On one of those weekends, I performed with the Burlington
Choral Society and while I did choose to join the Society, it was my
responsibility as a member of its Board and as an invaluable member of
the bass section to not blow off the performance.  That being said, I
did manage to squeeze in some fantastic skiing at MadVail in the few
spare hours that I had.  On another weekend, I chose to be in
Middlebury to hear a long awaited performance by perhaps the world's
finest string quartets.   In between, I chose to join your brother on
a fine, fine ski day in the Presis.  The following day, while Jim
skied, I was comforting and caring for someone who had lost her
grandmother the previous day.  And later, when your brother claimed to
be occupied by work and the conditions were apparently less than ideal
for most skiers, Jonathan and I enjoyed prime skiing on the Rockpile.
Admittedly, in past years I have driven to the Rockpile and not skied,
but only because temperatures were too cold for the snow to safetly
soften.  On those two occasions we hiked (Eisenhower, Chocorua) sans
skis.  Never have I let the rain thwart the chance to carve (or skid
or hop) some turns.

--Matt K.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont.

To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html