buzz

When I was a wee youngin’ and learning to ski, my family would always go out to Powder Ridge in Kimbal, Minnesota. The hill was an improbable nub of rock jutting out of an endless sea of farmland. It wasn’t a great ski hill by any means, but if you were a seven-year-old sprite with limited knowledge of gravity and muscles to burn, it was about as close to heaven as you could get.

We always went on weeknights, probably because it was less crowded and less expensive than a weekend jaunt would be. I never saw the place in daylight, but that’s just as well. It enhanced the mystery. Their floodlights worked to keep the darkness of winter at bay. I always hear their buzzing floodlights.

I had some old skis that were made before bindings came rigged with stopping mechanisms, so I had to wear leather straps that snaked around my legs. One time I got tired of carrying those skis and left them at the hill. I insist that I left them behind because I thought my parents would pick them up. My parents insist I left them behind because I hated those skis. We’re probably both right.

When we got cold we would go into the chalet for donuts with sprinkles and hot chocolate. They had two orange boot-warming machines that I found fascinating, but my dad would never give me quarters to try it out. They also had an arcade with Streets of Rage. You got to punch people a lot.

Once I became mildly competent at skiing (and I got some new skis) I would often run off on my own. I liked to ski through the trees and fly off jumps, and my dad liked to disapprove of these antics. Once when going up the chairlift alone I saw someone pull a 360 off a neat jump. When I got off the chair I waddled over to the chute, and after getting my nerves up I burned downhill and shot off the jump. It was after I got some serious air that I realized the jump sat a good ten feet above the landing. I flew about fifteen feet through the air and crumpled face first into the snow, losing my poles and skis to a full-on yard sale. Some kids on the chairlift howled encouragement. I smiled.

When I met back up with my parents they were talking about seeing this one kid bite it off a jump. I said that was me. They looked at me funny. People have looked at my funny ever since.