Morning dawned, and I arose to look outside. My car had become a huge white mound. Not even tires were visible! It had dumped overnight and it was still dumping! On went “telly”. The road to east was closed again. The road to west could close at any time.

Some of lads were leaving coast in “wee” hours, much earlier than usual to give themselves extra time. Would they make it? Would they get through Three Valley Gap and then high Rogers Pass before things shut down? The road was bound to close, it was just a matter of time.

At 2:00PM, shaking off Kicking Horse powder, we headed for airport. The radio advised that all passes were now closed. Had our friends made it?

As we drove up to hanger, we saw all sorts of activity. There was Owen, and Jim was there too. The others from coast had arrived, last cars allowed through. Great relief!

However, as we assembled to count heads; 17,18,19,20….?? We were missing four who were flying to Calgary. They were not to be seen.

A cell phone rang. Chris and Kevin were stopped on Radium road. The Kicking Horse Pass was closed, so they had tried alternate route. No luck, it was closed too. They were there for night. Disaster!

Guests fly to lodge in three flights, one flight of 12 and two flights of 6. If all 20 of us were to fly to lodge that night, stragglers would have an expensive private flight next day.

Merle and her husband Mike came to rescue. A radio call was made to lodge.

“Were there six departing clients willing to stay over and fly out in morning?” Affirmative! No problem! There were many volunteers.

Merle then asked, “Now, are any two people willing to stay tonight in Golden? Then last flight of 6 will fly in morning”

Silence. Glum faces. Hands in pockets. No volunteers!

There was more discussion. “Was anyone willing to snowmobile to lodge tonight?”

Hesitation, then Tony, good old Tony, raised his hand. He would do it. A ninety-km trip on a snowmobile, following a leader at high speed on a cold night with fresh snow on an unplowed road was not anyone’s idea of fun! Tony would have a 90-km blizzard.

Merle explained, “If we sled luggage to lodge tonight, and one person sleds too, then we’ll put an extra person in large ‘bird’ and last flight will go in morning. There will be no extra charges and everyone that’s here will get in tonight.

Perfect! Relief! We would have warm drinks and a meal waiting for Tony.

The flight to Chatter Creek was spectacular, with shafts of late afternoon sunlight striking surrounding peaks. In 20 minutes, back on ground, we stumbling though fresh “powder” to welcoming door of Vertebrae Lodge. Eighteen glum-faced skiers and boarders passed us on way. After a great tour, no one wanted to leave. Six smiling faces greeted us at door. They would get another great meal and an extra night at Vertebrae Lodge, an unexpected bonus.

Two hours later, Tony arrived, a frozen “Michelin Man”. It took a while to thaw him out. Next morning, not long after breakfast, we heard familiar sound of an approaching helicopter. The last four were arriving.

Our group was complete, weather was clear, there was lots of fresh snow and our Chatter Creek tour was launched. It turned out to be best tour yet!

Travel to Golden is not usually difficult. This was an infrequent, but very possible case. The roads from east and west both go over high passes, and can pose a problem. The road from south (Spokane WA) follows valleys and is rarely closed.

For more information on getting to Golden for your cat skiing adventure, look at “Getting to Golden” page on Chatter Creek Web site. Also, Chatter News photo journal (http://powder-skiing.blogspot.com) describes all aspects of of cat skiing and life at Chatter Creek.

That unintentionally profound statement also proved to be kind of wisdom that only comes about when a person doesn’t know enough about a situation to know that something is “impossible.” There were perfectly logical reasons for all smooshing going on out there on field, but that mom didn’t know about any of them—so she came up with a simple solution to problem. I could relate, since I’d experienced a perfect example of that when my friend Digger and I were still in high school.

We had decided that we wanted to write and sell jingles for radio commercials. Filled with youthful enthusiasm, we threw ourselves into our quest and before a month had passed, we’d already sold three. Then one night, during recording session for our third jingle, an advertising executive happened to tell us how amazing it was that two kids could have done impossible by selling jingles—when everyone knew it could only be done by most accomplished, professional musicians. That was last jingle we ever sold.

We’d stopped running in open field and bogged down in tangle of bodies at line of scrimmage—we smooshed. So if you have a dream, hold it up to light, keep your eyes on it at all times, and above all—never let anyone tell you that what you’re trying to do is impossible.

And whenever you find yourself beginning to lose heart—stop, take a deep breath, and repeat these words: “No smooshing!”

© 2004. Gary E. Anderson. All rights reserved.

Gary Anderson is a freelance writer, editor, ghostwriter, and manuscript analyst, living on a small Iowa farm. He’s published more than 500 articles and four books. He’s also ghosted a dozen books, edited more than 30 full-length manuscripts, produced seven newsletters, and has done more than 800 manuscript reviews for various publishers around the nation. If you need writing or editing help, visit Gary’s website at www.abciowa.com.