Torches and Chili

It was an eventful weekend up at Sunlight Mountain Resort. The Ski Spree Festival always comes through as one of the busiest days all season.
In the morning, there was a Need For Speed competition, in which anyone could join. Basically, we groomed out Joslin so that it was as slick as ice and then encouraged people to tuck all the way down. A ski patroller stood at the bottom with a radar gun to clock the speeds. The fastest time this year came in at 70 mph...I'm sure that if I hadn't been working, I could have beat that!
In the afternoon, the long-awaited Chili Cook-off commenced. Approximately twenty cooks competed to have the best chili. More than half of those competitors were professional restaurants. The individuals seemed to all have recipes that were passed from generation to generation. I never knew there were so many options for chili. My stomach hated me afterwards. I had chicken and tomato chili, your basic bean and spice chili, steak tips and pancetta chili, elk chili, and what I could have sworn was just chili out of a can. Of course, there were several options for cornbread on top of that. The only option for soothing my burning tongue was beer...alas, so sad. I am happy to say that the winner went to Sunlight Mountain Inn for their classic take with beef and beans. The Pullman Restaurant was a close second with their extremely spicy concoction including a peach garnish. Finally, third place went to Hotel Colorado for their fancy steak tip and pancetta chili with aged cheddar and scallions. I loved all three!
After the chili, when I could barely move, I participated in the torchlight parade. Several ski areas across the country do this. Usually, only ski patrol is involved, but Sunlight allows other employees to join if they're comfortable with skiing in the dark. We loaded the lifts at sunset and headed up into the cold. The views are incredible at this time of day; as we rode up the lift, the ski turned a beautiful golden pink and the stars started to twinkle on. A few of the rental guys started to howl to the half-moon. Within seconds, all fifty participants were howling on the lifts (my dogs would have loved it). At the top, we all got flares attached to bamboo sticks about 3 feet long. After lining up and setting our flares alight, we started down the mountain. The slow wind down the mountain was a bit unnerving. I usually complain about not being able to see the snow well in the shade; it's definitely worse in the pitch black. With only the flare light to guide you, you have no choice but to go slow and hope for the best. Of course, halfway down, my torch went out, so I had to rely on the lights ahead to guide me. Looking back up the mountain, it was beautiful to see all the bright red lights coming down through the dark. If it wasn't for those damn snowboarders having a hard time keeping up, we would have looked pretty uniform. As soon as we lined up at the bottom, a fireworks show banged into life behind us. After the fireworks, an oldies band played into the darkest parts of the night. Ski Spree is a long day to work, but I made sure to reap all the benefits. From a full belly to skiing in the dark, it was a pretty good weekend!