Cynthia, the Human Sled

TOP: Windmill from directly underneath. Very cool "whoosh-whoosh-whoosh" sound

2nd: Human snow sled Cynthia in her descending position. Note the 10 feet of sliding tracks behind her.

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Today we went to a "green" ski resort at Jiminy Peak < http://www.jiminypeak.com/ >. They installed a windmill last year, and it's already doing 1/4 - 1/3 of their energy needs (lighting, lifts, lodges, facility buildings, etc). A pretty amazing story, it took them weeks to get the turbine up the mountain. They ended up using 2 semi trailers (warping the entire trailer on the first one as it hit the 23% grade on the slope!), and finally daisy-chaining 4 (FOUR) huge bulldozers to the front of the semi to pull the turbine up the hill. A massive effort to say the least. The concrete pad for the windmill is 45 FEET square by 9 FEET deep. That's a heap of concrete.

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Our group (about 40 of us) took the lift to the top of the mountain, and then had about a 1/2 mile hike to the turbine (where we got to go inside, very cool). Then, we were to walk down the mountain back to the lodge.

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Well, ONE LITTLE FACT THEY OMITTED TO TELL US...there was still snow up on the mountain. So we arrive up top, get off the chair lift (in our dress shoes and light jackets as it was in the 60's at the base), and promptly start falling all over the place...and freezing. The snow had all crystalized, and it was basically like walking on a 10 degree ice rink in street shoes. It was hilarious, weebles wobbling and falling down all over the place.

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We started pairing up for traction, and I got human snow-sled Cynthia from Ohio. Cynthia was a jesus person, but he apparently was taking the day off, as she fell about, oh, 70 times on the way down the mountain. We'd take a few steps, and the, whoosh, her legs would go out from under her, and either I'd have to positioning to hold her up (thankfully she was light!), or she'd be on her butt.

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The best fall was when we got about half way down the mountain, and there was a bare patch. Thrilled to get off the ice, we headed towards it. Upon stepping off the ice onto the bare ground, it was basically slicker than the ice. She went down, slid for 10 feet, and had a huge pile of wet mud all the way up her butt and back. This did offset the snowpack on her back nicely though, kind of a fall collage of colors.

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After over an HOUR of descending, the facilities guys took pity on us, and started sending snowmobiles up the mountain to pick us up. Cynthia of course falls getting on the snowmobile. As they're picking me up, I hear them talking on the radio about the "foursome lost on top of the mountain"...that will teach them to let people from Iowa alone on a mountaintop. Apparently they had wandered away from the tour group, and now were off in the forest somewhere.

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We finally made it down the mountain, had a lovely (wet) lunch, and then called it a day. But now I'm even more energized about this alternative energy thing.

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"You can lead Moses to the mountain" Lumpy out