My Dad and I would drive up on Friday nights from Seattle and spend the weekend at Meany Ski Hut. Getting to the lodge itself was an adventure. Once you pulled into the parking lot off I-90 (if you made it past the chains-required zone), you put on your backpack which was packed with your clothes and sleeping bag and clicked into your skis.

A snowcat would pull into the parking lot and drop two ropes. Each of these ropes had probably 10 loops on them. You chose a free loop and held on (for dear life as an 8-year old) while the snowcat pulled you up the access road to the lodge. The trip to the lodge was an undertaking itself. When someone caught an edge or the anchorman/woman at the end didn’t do their job bringing the rear of the line around, a pile of skis, backpacks and profanity would occur.

Once you arrived at the lodge, you dropped your backpack on your preferred bunk and went downstairs to help prepare dinner. Everyone helped in the lodge. Whether it was cooking meals or setting the tables and washing the dishes, everyone had a role. After dinner, a brass band would play and people stayed up late into the night sharing their stories.

When the sun came up and breakfast had been packed away, it was time to battle the ‘Mach’. The Mach is a rope tow. Not just any rope tow. The ‘Mach’ sent skiers up the hill at 21 miles per hour. Some skiers never hit 21 mph going downhill. Going from a stationary position to 21 mph with skis strapped to your feet required finesse.

First you don heavy leather mitts that fit over your ski gloves. You place your pole straps over your left wrist. Then you approach the rope from the right, make a few promises about what you’ll do with the rest of your life if you survive, and place your right hand near the uphill portion of the rope with your left hand near your hip. You then slowly close your right hand around the rope and just before your right arm is ripped free from your shoulder, you close your left hand and HOLD on. I forgot to mention that your skis better be parallel and pointed exactly the same direction as the rope. If these steps are not followed to a “T”, then you’ll be watching yourself the following year on a Warren Miller blooper reel.

Now, if you’ve done everything exactly right, you’re traveling uphill at twenty one miles per hour. Things are just beginning. You’re fast approaching mid-mountain and thinking about how easy this is when the hill gets steep and you’re thrown towards the tips of your skis. A split-second decision is required. You either bail and ski the lower half of the mountain or you lean back and hope you make it all the way. If you’re lucky enough to reach the top, you are catapulted towards the rope tow wheel and anyone that hasn’t moved out of the way yet.

Now you get to ski.

Learning to ski at Meany Ski Hut is one of my fondest memories. Thanks, Dad.