Decisions

Yesterday I was faced with many multiple decisions. I woke up early as usual. I decided to text Marie to see if she wanted to go skiing. I originally said I was going to go to Ajax; I had not been there in a while and I wanted to stop at the local Surefoot and get some new foot beds. As a thought through the coming day, there is a Surefoot in Snowmass, and I might find some untracked, especially if they opened Hanging Valley.

So Snowmass it was. Driving up the valley to Snowmass I could not decide what skis I would use. I had my Volkls as well as my K2 powda skis. The question was, would Hanging Valley be open? Hanging Valley called for the K2s, anywhere else the Volkls. I parked in the free lot and pulled out my Volkls set them on the side of my car. Then I pulled out the K2s and put the Volkls back, grabbed my pack and hopped on the bus.

I clicked into my K2s and headed for the 6 pack. There was no one around and I rode it by myself as it was still before 9. I wondered if I should head straight for High Alpine and hopefully Hanging Valley or ski a run at Sam’s Knob first. It had snowed 24 hours earlier and I was not sure if it was going to be all skied off on the front side of the mountain or not. As I rode up the lift and looked down at Sam’s Knob I could see it had been lightly tracked out, but filled in with maybe 4 inches of new snow… So I headed for Zugspritze (skiers right of Slot) and was rewarded with light fluffy crud with option turns in untracked… Unbelievable the day after a powda day!!!!!

Another lift ride up and I decide, I am the decider, to move a little slower to Hanging Valley, after all that was great. The question is to take another run on Zugs knowing its great or to head to the Burn and see whats up…. I decide the Burn. But the decision is to ski the Burn or head right to Sheer Bliss (maybe KT’s open). The trouble with the Burn is that its not steep enough with lots of snow. The nice part is that I have so many family memories and I always like to take a run for my Dad and in memory of my Mom. I decide to ski one run on the burn and Whispering Jesse is calling my name. Again I am rewarded with light crud intermixed with fresh tracks… I sure I glad I decided to use the Powda skis.

I decide to cut over the Trestle and ride up the new Sheer Bliss lift. Its a nice new lift that summits high enough to catch the poma up to the Cirque if its open. I decide that its time to ski to High Alpine to see what’s up, by way of Sheer Bliss. Sheer Bliss doesn’t have much pitch… but its one of my favorite runs. I head far skiers right, make a pause in the trees and again get some untracked but slow moving turns. The new lift has opened up more terrain and I decide to cut skiers left down Free Fall into Garret Gulch. This time I get some steepness and I can fly through some day old untracked. (I guess one of the few benefits of the economic crunch is there are not many skiers to track things up).

I again cross the Trestle and ski past the new lift to Alpine Springs. I decide that I need something to eat and Gwyns waits at the top. Or…. I could decide to eat from my pocket stash on the High Alpine lift… It’s a slow two-person lift so there is plenty of time to eat a power bar and drink some energy fluids. I decide to skip Gwyns and head right up and hope that Hanging Valley is open.

Do you ever wonder how Bush made the decision to attack Iraq? I do. In fact I enjoy thinking through why people make the decisions they do.

It’s interesting to hear Bush talk now about his remorse at the bad intelligence that caused him to decide to attack. Cheney on the other hand seems confident that the decision was right and damn if the intelligence was wrong, Saddam was a bad guy after all. Boy I am glad he is the only bad guy out there or else we would be in lots of wars.

These CEO’s that are running the big mortgage companies and financial institutions sure made some dumb decisions… They were also rewarded handsomely for them. It’s too bad that corporate leaders are not rewarded on long-term results, and that long term is not really long term. I guess if you make a decision that makes you rich it’s a good one?

How should we measure the social impact of corporate decisions? In fact, do corporations have social responsibility? Should a executive be rewarded for outsourcing jobs to low wage countries, causing the social turmoil of job loss just to chase the elusive buck? Do we have a social responsibility to employees that transfers to the low wage country? What does it mean in that case anyway?

Anyway… riding up High Alpine I am always straining my eyesight to see if the gate is open to Hanging Valley. On this day its blowing and snowing so much I cant see it until I get to the top. It’s open!!!! I click my skis off, shoulder them and head up. The trouble is that only one person has gone before me so I can’t see the trail, the snow is deep, I keep falling down as I hit snow 3 feet deep. The wind is blowing so hard I can hardly see…. And its cold! When I got home that night I discovered the whole side of my fact, ear, and neck had been frost nipped.

The hike takes 20 minutes, what usually takes 10. I quickly ski off the ridge to Headwall and I am out of the wind and alone! I have Hanging Valley to myself. I decide for skiers right and ski carefully as I can’t really tell the difference between blast marks and rocks… they turn out to be all blast marks so there is lots of snow. Skiing down the Wall, floating in the back of my mind is whether or not to ski the ridge to the left of Lower Ladder or head skiers left through the trees to Cassidys. I find that I don’t need to make a decision; the Ladder is closed so I head into the woods and come out at Cassidys. Cassidys has a good steep pitch, some trees so I am grounded in the flat light and……. POWDA… the final reward for lots of great decisions!!!!!

I don’t always make good decisions. My only hope is that I recognize when I make bad ones, own them and make appropriate changes. I actually think I am pretty good at the ownership part, but I repeat more than I would like.

Everyday we are all faced with multiple decisions. Most are not as frivolous as where to ski. But all bear some examination.