2017 has started and I realized that my new journey of several months ago didn’t really get much coverage. Probably a good many reasons for that — none of which bear any significant scrutiny. But today, as I rode on a ski-lift in rather sub-normal skiing conditions for my favourite mountain [-20C at Apex Mountain Resort], I thought it was worth a try to begin to write again.

This is going to be an interesting year. If all goes well, my mother, later this month, will turn 100. We had the big party last year when she turned 99 and then began her 100th year. Her health is okay — not as good as last year, by quite a bit — and she still watches curling with a degree of seriousness that only Russ Howard can match. So I think she has a good chance of making it all the way to 22/01/17…

Otherwise there are many exciting things to look forward to as this year unfolds… here are just a few…
* we have about three months of skiing left and while I only got in five runs today I am sure that a minimum of 100 is easily within reach
*** the book I’m authoring that finally got into high gear over the past year, is now in Draft III and a new editor has come on board to help hone the considerable advice I received from the Review Panel (they worked all summer) and the two inaugural members of my editing team
** I still get to teach ethics for Concordia University of Edmonton (this will be my seventeenth year working with students in environmental and public health)
* I am going to attend the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC) in June, not as a delegate, but as an interested observer because I think the church is going to make some decisions that very well may lead to its implosion and I want to hear/see why
** the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE) meets in Dallas this winter, and while there I also hope to visit with colleagues at the University of Texas in Austin related to their work in ethics — this trip should spawn some interesting editorial thoughts
* the Grey Cup will be in Ottawa in November and that will be a hoot… while my teams did not fare well this year (either in the CFL or the Canadian college ranks) I am much more hopeful that in Ottawa one of my teams will prevail and the team I cheer for that weekend in the Vanier Cup in Hamilton will also win…
** although he will be the Past-Moderator of the PCC by the time he arrives in Penticton this summer, his visit (along with his wife) will be one of significance to the local Presbyterian congregation (St. Andrew’s) and also to the many people and institutions he will meet while in the Okanagan
** the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum (SEAC) also meets later in the year — I hope to have the penultimate draft of my book available by then, and if so, will introduce it in a novel way during one of the presentations
*** visits with Grandkids will continue to highlight life…and even provide some interesting moments to share in this Epistle…

But what about the year to date?
While yesterday was the start — and it was a good day, complete with turkey and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and brussels sprouts — the real starting point of the year begins with the first day on the slopes.
Today, for some strange reason, three of us decided to jump in the SUV and head up, even though we knew that the temperature would be at best -20C. What possessed us to make that journey could be an interesting study for any doctoral student in psychiatric analysis. The big high-speed quad chair was itself frozen shut — it didn’t open until after 11:00 a.m. As a compensation, the T-bar was started but while the runs available as options are okay for night skiing, they are of little interest to some of us unless we are coming down from the top of the mountain. So it was over to the Triple Chair — that chair of minimal padding and steel frame that absorbs the cold in the same way an Amana Deep Freeze would.
Now I never bother to get my skiis tuned until I’ve had a few runs, sometimes over a few days… so today I decided to start off on my pontoons (Dynastar Cham 108’s, for those who really care about such momenclature) — they had last been done during spring skiing when the wax would help address conditions with a mean temperate of about +5C or better. Are you beginning to sense a disconnect here? Not only are the skis big, they are fast — but that is only helpful if they can glide over the snow in more or less the same speed and in the same general direction. Today was not such a day. The 25C variation in the wax made for some unique turns, often with only one ski responding at any one time… while I did not fall, I did come perilously close to tearing my legs from my torso on several occasions. So after the second run I went in and changed into my regular Elans…
It would be great to be able to report that the earlier problems were completely solved…but these too had last been tuned in the above noted spring skiing of March/April (2016) — however they were easier to manouver and I managed another three runs without incident — well, not quite without incident. The triple chair runs at about 2 km/h so I was exposed to the above mentioned -20C for a fairly lengthy period of time each ride up. As a result, my fingers began to freeze along with my thumbs — this made the descent a bit more trickery since those appendages are required to hold onto the ski poles, which in turn, help guide my entire body through the numerous turns I attempt to make while attacking any particular run. Less control leads to more speed — at least that got me down the hill more quickly and got the blood flowing, however it also meant that my face then began to freeze…
After five runs, hypothermia not withstanding, it seemed wisest to ski towards the ski shop — leave my skis so they could be re-tuned to deal with this polar vortex that seems to defy all my scientific friends predictions that global warming would make skiing an historical event by now. From the ski shop, up the stairs to the condo we share, and into the scotch (even though I had forgotten to put water in the ice-cube tray). A great chili lunch, coupled with the glass of Old Pulteney did wonders for the body…and the drive down was aided by the heated steering wheel and seats.
And that concluded the bizarre decision to launch the ski season in prairie like conditions…
As an aside, it was somewhat funny to watch me try to take off my ski boots given that during the recent move to our new Craftsman-Style Cottage-by-the-Creek I injured my right Achilles Tendon — while I walk funny, once in the ski book it was fine — however, trying to extricate the foot from the boot was a different matter…only took about ten minutes, aided by language unable to be utilized herein, in the event of proper people reading it (like Grandkids).

Oh well, at least I have launched the New Year… tomorrow, due to the temperature maintaining its Antarctic tendencies, I will NOT be going skiing…but I’m sure something interesting will happen — because this is going to be a very interesting year… I’ll be back in twenty-four hours or so to bring you further up-to-date

g.w.