I put on the Vintage Country CD from Starbucks the other day and have been listening to Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson and getting the best deja-vu for days. It was on contant repeat at Paskapoo in 71 and I don't even have to close my eyes to see all my friends that we hung out with at Paskapoo. Racing gates, eating fries and paying pinball and getting yelled at by Joe. There was a posse of about 20 of us kids that were there every night. My brothers and I would get dropped off by my mom who ran the Nancy Greene Racing Program at 5 after a quick supper and then picked up at 10 when the lifts closed. "Look for my lights" She'd pull up and flash the headlights and we'd pile in. To this day I never count how many days I ride because when we were kids we rode every day. Week nights at Paskapoo and then weekends at the mountains. Best day care ever. Met friends I still have and got super good at hardpack. I still can't ski powder to save my life. Thanks god I snowboard. The Deja-vu was amazing. I could see the lodge, the snow, the lift lines, the fries, the World Pro Ski Racing, I could almost feel the -30' THWAP of the old plastic race gates from before breakaways. It's amazing how many good memories I have from 850 vertical feet.
Raise a toast to Joe Couillard who was the Paskapoo Ski Area Owner back
in the 70's when we were growing up. He died last year and I think of
him from time to time when I look around Powder Mountain and think back to
being a little Paskapoo Rat with my brothers, Karl, Chris and Dave. Here's
to you Joe, one day we'll have a ski area vibe and fries as good as
yours. You were the snowmaking genius before anyone even knew what it was. I can't believe we have our own ski area. Thanks for the
inspiration. It's ten times as fun as I ever imagined.
