The Clackamas print., January 26, 2011, Page 6, Image 6

6 The Clackamas Print
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2041_______________ ______________ _______ ____ ___________
-Spord
Students enjoy Meadows trij
Corey Romick Clackai
Students from Clackamas Community College were excited for the first ski trip of the season. Mountain enthusiasts were privileged with a few hours of |
sky before the sun went doiwn. Skiers and snowboarders bundled up and tested their gear out to get ready to hit the slopes.
By Nathan Sturgess
Associate Photo Editor
For those that are new to sking or bo«
getting in one of those treacherous lifl
cruising almost silently up the cliff fal
be a bit intimidating, and with good rl
One skier in the terrain park mention®
The. rain fell hard on the top of
there had been four deaths already at M®
the bus as all the would-be skiers
this season. But that didn’t seem to faz®
and snowboarders got on. Clothing
of the enthusiastic skiers and boarders I
and gear soaked, it was difficult to
mountain that day.
imagine any better luck once the ski
As the sun set, what seemed. like H
bus reached the mountain. Everyone
flood lights began to flicker on all oS
seemed to mutually sense the dramatic
darkening face of the mountain. It is q«
overtones of the gray afternoon.
incredible sight as the snow reflected bl
Actually, this only might have been
into the air. The size of the skiers and bfl
the beginning to the first Clackamas
was exaggerated by the long shadows ;a
Community College ski trip of the
the harsh light.
year. In reality the day fell on some of
By about 8 p.m. most of the CCC g
the better weekend weather seen this
was pretty well finished. Some went anc
January.
in the bus talking about the day and!
The bus driver, Richard Peterson, sat
sat around the loosely populated tablesli
judiciously at the controls of the large,
lodge and played cards.
white RAZ touring bus, tuning out the
That night there was a live musician]
melodramatic music that played over
ing in one part of the lodge. He was in hi
the speakers in sync with the opening
50s and played mostly love ballads or cot
scenes of the new “Karate Kid” show­
recognizable rock tunes. He was a bl
ing overhead.
one-man-band, although his sound equl
Many of the group members wel­
did a lot of the work for him. But his prl
comed the distraction from the monot­
set the mood for the evening as he str«
ony of the whirring engine and cars
his guitar.
passing by. Two girls several rows
At 9 p.m., Peterson had started up t|
back stared intently at the little pro­
Corey Romick Clackamas Print
once more, which he presumably had sal
jection-type television directly over
Clackamas Community College student Nate Wojatch prepares for
evening, watching old television rerun d
them. The guy sitting directly across
iPad. The group once again filled them
the aisle repeatedly made humorous his day at the mountain to pass the time aboard the charter bus
bins with now wet and worn gear. OnccM
comments about the often-unrealistic awaiting their arrival to Mount Hood Meadows.
bus many people fell asleep. The rest \vl
circumstances of the film.
the final half of “Karate Kid.”
I
The students in the group who had season passes
When the bus finally reached the
All the way back to the campus peopH
Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort parking lot, went up the mountain immediately, not wanting to
everyone was ready to go. We arrived around 2 waste the couple hours that were left before the tered back and forth about the sweet run they’«
p.m., an hour before the night lift tickets became sun would set. Most, though, were forced to wait or crazy crash they almost had. The same gujli
usable. No one was in a rush to pull the gear from another hour sitting in the lodge or walking around the aisle kept making jokes about the movial
it had ended, the low murmuring of people«
the large storage spaces underneath the touring bus, outside.
At 3 p.m. the rest of the students filed on to one that remained seemed to suggest the satisfacli^
which was carefully squeezed up against several
I
of the several chair lifts for the first run of the day. an evening well spent.
other identical rigs.
r
^■you'll Want
»»WWW
Wf
viiit ut e
mjo I MOLALLA AVE
OftEGOM CITV, OR
IM
POtMT BV FIVE GUVI
CALI US £ MA4W0
BBBE IL*!
ANYSUCtOF PttZAA AMTT BCK