We woke to a bright day this morning long befre the kids would wake. Diane and I grabbed tea then took Chai for a walk up to the sand pit.. It was beautiful and quiet  in the woods.. the snow was sparkling and sifting down through the trees.. a perfect winter day.. but  it’s April !  As soon as we got back to the house, Diane went into Richmond to get some bagels..   When she got back, we woke the boys. They cam down and we did our small family Easter celebration. We came together to invite Sam in.. then the kids dug int their candy baskets.. and searched the house for candy filled eggs. It was fun..  

We then sat down to a nice breakfast of smoked salmon and sweet roles.

As soon as breakfast was over, we switched into high gear and  got down to the day’s mission of planning for the Bolton Valley pond skimming.

   Pond skimming if you don’t know, is traditionally held on the last day of the ski / boarding season. Everyone hikes up the hill and comes down on boards, skis, or whatever else.. then tries to make it across the top of  a small pond without getting wet.. Being Easter, today was a particularly good day to try our hand at walking  on water.. and we were not going to be left out.   Last year, Sam and I had dragged our 2 person kayak up there and tried to go down in that.. we did go down.. just not in the direction we intended.. after a few flips we both ended up underwater.. it was a hoot. This year, Gabe had the idea of going down the hill on an old raft that Sam had made out of two inter-tubes, a piece of plywood, a few 2×4’s and a bunch of duct tape..  He’d used the raft to drift down the Winooski last summer.    Max had a secret project for his outfit.. we didn’t see it until right before the event. Over the last couple of days Gabe and I took the old raft and reinforced it with screws, then he Scott and I rigged up a platform that rode under the intertube that had 6 old skis screwed to it.. Last night we lashed the whole thing together with nylon webbing (our only purchase for the project) and built a mast out of PVS. Gabe tied a pirate flag to the top.

his morning we all wrapped ourselves in garbage bags then dressed up as pirates. We made a sign for our ship (“The Spirit of Captain Sam”) and we were ready to go. Around 12 Chris Perren (Plow not Skoobie) came by with his trailer.. we loaded the raft on his trailer and headed up to the mountain. .

   Scott, Nate and I dragged the raft  up the mountain to the starting point for the pond skimming. We’d never tested this thing on snow.. but I can tell you it wasn’t meant to be go up a mountain. 

As soon as we got to the starting spot, Diane brought the bags and we all got into our best Pirate  gear and raised the mast and prepared the ship for skimming. Argggghhh  Matey.

Max showed up with his secret outfit.. he  came as a Ninja.. he’d made a wonderful banner with a picture of Sam as a Ninja.. with the message “Sam Cohn: Beloved friend and Ninja”.. he looked GREAT.

He launched down the hil and made it all the way across.. then fell in the water at the ending ramp.. a nice wet finish. The rest  of us   had to wait for all of the rest of the skimmers to go.. Finally it was our term. First Gabe and Paulo went down as lead pirates.. Gabe did a graceful skim ending with a magnificent face plant in the drink.. He looked great ! As soon as they were clear, Scott lit the smoke bomb on the ‘Spirit of Captain Sam”  Scott, Casey, Matt, and I  jumped aboard, Chris Perron fired a spud gun to send us off and we set sail.. sort of.. It occurred to us as we started to pick up speed that steering would have been a good idea.. maybe next year.. It was terrifying and hilarious as we hurtled down the hill. The crowd started to scatter.. All I remember is seeing about 30 people’s shin bones getting closer and closer to a half ton of us moving down the hill at dangerous speeds.. I was kicking like crazy trying to get us back into the center.. I don’t know if I helped.. but we didn’t hit anyone.. we did however hit the corner of the ramp. I had one of those slow motion  moments imaging us flipping through the  air.. no such luck.. we headed straight into the water. And all of us were thrown  into Davey Jone’s locker.. and a cold locker it was.. no hot was this, Matey.. I think the water was just about 32 degrees..   The nice guy from Colchester Ice Rescue plucked us out of the water… but not before I noticed that the Spirit of Captain Sam was floating proudly in the pond. Our friend Sam Rodgers caught all the pirates in film.. you have to check it out !  (See Sam Rodger’s pond smimming movie)

  We were totally frozen and happy..

Note how happy Diane looks because she’s warm and dry 🙂

With the help of Chris and Scott’s dad, we managed to get the  raft down the hill… I emptied the water out of my boots and headed into the lodge to change and see if I still had  all my fingers and toes. . What a fantastic time  Sam was proud of us I could tell..   I spet about 15 minutes under the hand dryer in the bathroom trying to get feeling back into my fingers.. Once it started to return it was time for the awards.   All of the kids we’re hanging out trying to get warm

We all crowded into the tavern.. We won best float.. (hey we were the only float !)  and won t-shirts for the entire crew.. Max won best tribute for his Ninja Sam .. I was so proud of him. They handed out the rest of the awards.. including ‘Best dressed’ for Ian.. whoo-hooo.. When all of the awards were handed out it marked the official end of the 2006-2007 Bolton Valley season.. the bar emptied and so did the parking lot.. it was a perfect ending for a very fun.. and very difficult and sad season for all of us..

The only downer of the whole day was that in our haste to get down the hill we managed to loose track of two of our three spud guns and a white plastic bag of tools (If anyone has seen them .. please let me know !).. I got home to the Schoolhouse before I realized it.. I quickly got in the car and drove back up to see if I could find them.. I looked through the lodge. No luck.. so I headed up the hill on foot to see if they’d been stuck in the woods somewhere.. I got up there and didn’t see them.. Then I realized that I was in some sort of unofficial way.. the last guy on the hill for the season..   The mountain was empty and the lifts were shut.. it was just me and the snow and the breeze.. So.. I sat down and had a long talk with Sam.. I told him how strongly I could feel him there.. and how much I’d come to love the mountain and the people there this year..   I felt liked he missed us.. but was happy..  .. It felt very pretty peaceful up there.. I toasted him with my last red bull then climbed one of the lift polls and left the can there as a tribute.. (or is that vandalism ? .. not sure)..

It has been a hell of a season my son.. I won’t ever forget it..

Happy Easter everyone.. hug your families today.. it’s time for spring..

-jc