Roby took control of winch #23, a new PistenBully 600 W Polar. The machine was quite impressive and the cab had lots of space with plenty of visibility. The cockpit was a plethora of lights, touch screens, switches, and even a joystick. The winch can hold up to 4.5 tons. I was in awe.
We headed up the cat track all the way to Sunset Blvd, which took about an hour. Our first job was to winch Wishbone, just after the GMC Race Centre. Time went by fast, before I knew it, the 3am radio call out came. All the groomers verbally checked in with the Supervisor.
Next on our work list was grooming Blue Line. This run is located out on the Horstman Glacier and to get there, we trekked through 7th Heaven. This was probably the most dangerous run Roby has to winch, especially on a night with zero visibility. One false move and her Cat could go rolling down the edge of the steep bowl. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous when we first started, but Roby had total control of her machine.
The moon was shining bright while we were out and the views were amazing. I took a couple of long exposures with my DSLR but I didn't spend too much time outside the Cat as I was pretty cold. Once Horstman was finished, Roby let me drive back out of 7th Heaven. Now that was pretty cool!
The last section to be winched was lower Rock & Roll. By now it started getting a bit brighter and I was getting tired. My goal was to last until 7am as I was hoping to catch a beautiful sunrise. Roby finished Rock & Roll right around this time and she told me it would be okay for me to ride out since the sun had come out. The ride out was just as cool as the grooming. I had the entire place to myself, not to mention, the freshest corduroy one could ever shred. Unfortunately, the sunrise wasn't anything too spectacular as some low clouds had rolled in but the entire experience was amazing. I hope to do it again, maybe next time on a big powder night.
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