November 8, 2008 (Squamish, BC) – I processed 409 pairs of skis for grinding in the month of October. This means that the skis get entered into the computer. I’ve just finished the heatbox work on the last of those October skis. 409 is not my biggest month ever, but it’s not all that far off. It’s a bit of a surprise to be running such high numbers after such a recent move away from my original home base. The whole time I was in Vermont the percentage of skis that came to me from VT was very high – up around 60% – with the rest of New England pitching in heavily as well. That has obviously changed dramatically. It’s interesting to note just how fast it has changed.

I’m about to start final structure on one final batch of around 100 pairs before I leave in four days. This is mostly a batch of team skis for the Callaghan Valley crew, and Erik and Pat can deal with the follow-up post-grind work and heatbox on these ones. If I take a four-week snapshot to include this batch It’s very possible that it’s the biggest four weeks I’ve ever done. But that’s because it has to be. I left for the second half of November last year, but it wasn’t a high volume year. This is the first high-volume year in which I’ve pulled a disappearing act at the busiest time of the season.

I’ll be back from Europe late in the day December 1st, and will be right back to work. With a large contingent of both US and Canadian skiers arriving in town for the Whistler Nor Ams December 12-14 there will be quite a lot of work to do at that point. After the Whistler Nor Ams I expect things will return to a normal state of chaos and I’ll be able to start training for whichever Whistler Toonie race Amy has the nerve to challenge me in.

Other news. It’s been wet. Typically rainy for this time of year, with a couple of really miserable tough-guy days. I finally finished the rollerboard that I started building this summer because I figured it would be a good thing for the rainy days. So far Gunnar has been the most regular user, and he’s getting incredibly big and strong. Meanwhile the rain down here has been snow up high, and the snow level has come down enough for some decent early season rock skiing up near Callaghan Lake. Unfortunately it’s all currently getting wiped out by a “warm” rain. The only thing warm about the rain is that it’s liquid. Oh well – it’s almost ski season…