Thank you is an understatement

Eaglecrest staff do it all!

The ski patrol’s removed the “boo”, bamboo poles used to mark hazards in the snow.

The bright orange ski school jackets are headed to the dry cleaners until next year.

The cafeteria is completely out of ketchup.

Dave, the weekend base lift operator who only wears Carhartts shouts, “Four more minutes,” for the last time.

Another season, tucked away, like an Easter bonnet at Eaglecrest Ski Area.

I’ve enjoyed a generation of ski seasons on Douglas Island. But one thing became especially clear this past one. It takes a committed group of people willing to do whatever it takes to keep the lifts spinning, the West Bowl safer from avalanche danger, the conditions report current and the parking lot plowed.

The other weekend I clomped through the base lodge to my locker. Out of the corner of my eye, through the open door of the men’s room, I spotted a blonde woman holding a dripping mop and wearing a bright shiny smile. Next to her was a colleague driving a shop-vac. “Hi Katie, we really do it all around here,” she exclaimed with enthusiasm. It was my boss Erin, the Snowsports School Director, pinch hitting after an apparent flash flood.

The following Slush Cup Saturday, Erin directed traffic to keep vehicles moving on down to the only remaining parking spots along the side of the road. Her other stints included overseeing the rental and retail shops. She’s not the only every where all at once staff member. You’ll find the General Manager bumping lifts one hour and shoveling down a snow berm the next.

In addition to seeing Eaglecrest as no exception to the nationwide staffing shortage, I also noticed the many opportunities for youth to get on the hill.

Weekday afternoons instructors showed middle school students the most fun way down the mountain through the Books2Boards program, thanks to the support of the Eaglecrest Foundation. Fifth graders get a free pass to ski all season, courtesy of a long-standing passport for that age group. For a second year, even more young people were introduced to the beauty of sliding on snow due to the initiative of the Douglas Indian Association and several other organizations.

I found myself throwing snowballs with some kids who signed up for the DIA program with my son, who was helping out that day. I came along and shared a few of the tips I give my ski school students.

A couple weeks prior, I was the caboose as my daughter led a train of seven-year-old Mitey Mites she coached with the Juneau Ski Club’s race program. They resembled a gaggle of Pacmen from an ‘80’s video game as they giggled down fresh fallen powder.

Thank you Eaglecrest staff for helping make happen such full circle moments, repeated a generation after our “kids” were the the same ages of the children they worked with this season.

The EC crew went next level with the season-celebrating first Slush Cup in at least a half dozen years. The prep was all hands on deck; ski patrollers helped pipe in enough water to fill up a small pool dug by the mountain operations department. Easter Weekend Saturday felt like the Fourth of July; the weather systems parted and the sun returned just long enough for the spectacle of costumed characters turning skis into water skis for a matter of seconds. (Those who don’t make it across are assisted by volunteers in dry suits).

Photo Credit: Chris Miller. See full gallery here.

‘Tis the season for thank you notes to the worker bees at our beloved community snow riding area. This wraps up mine. Now onto hiking and post-season touring, when I’ll look up with longing at the stalled chairlifts between raspy breaths, slogging up the corn snow, grateful for another winter.

Until the next one, Ski You Later! -Katie B.