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Effective April 1 - 30, 2003 the Forest Service will be implementing and enforcing a Supervisor's Closure on Vail Mountain, which will prohibit unauthorized access to the Minnie's Deck area where the end-of-season BB&B event has occurred. The Forest Service issued a directive to Vail Resorts under the terms of their special use permit to shut down the BB&B event on Vail Mountain. Historically the BB&B event has taken place at Minnie's Deck and the event had evolved into a gathering of as many as 2,000 people. The behavior of participants posed serious risks to public health and safety as well as caused resource damage. The Supervisor's Closure will be in effect to ensure protection of public health and safety.

So, with a stroke of the pen, the US Forest Service ended the infamous end-of-season party on Vail Mountain, ending a 22 year tradition.  Know by many variations, Boobs, Boomers and Beers; Buns, Boobs, and Beers; Boobs, Booze and Brews, etc, (BB&B) was held on the second Tuesday in April as a way for Vail valley residents and employees to blow off some steam at the end of the season.  The event started in 1980 as a small end-of-season birthday party on Minnie's deck. BB&B devolved into an orgy of drinking, snowball fights and raucous behavior. During the last several years, partiers spent days before BB&B building large snow forts, stashing large quantities of alcoholic beverages, and, too often, hauling up more illicit substances.

Historically, the end of season party probably started much earlier with the Great Race.  This season-ender was usually held in Lionshead and People would dress up in all kinds of wild costumes. A photo of Vail local hooligan Packy Walker standing on the winner’s podium wearing nothing but a fig leaf and his gold medal made the front page of the Vail Trail newspaper. After Vail executives and lawyers killed that event people continued to get costumed up and party at Minnie's Deck.  In those days it was called the mountain formal.  Costumes included top hats and suits as well as high school prom dresses, horrible powder-blue tuxedoes and ballerina tutus.  The event grew and was combined with Warren Miller’s Mad Mountain Marathon and the Rubber Legs Slalom.  The race involved 150 or more slalom gates at the bottom of Vail Mountain and the event raised money for local charities.

When I was there in the spring of 2002, my brother Travis, his wife Michelle, Mayela and I went to the BB&B.  We all carried backpacks loaded with beers, booze and buds.  When we arrived at Minnie's deck the atmosphere was relaxed and people were lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the event.  We set up camp on the deck and in one of the nearby snow forts crafted by a group of Beaver Creek's happyshack community.  We took some runs and explored the other various snow forts in the woods.  It was amazing the elaborate complex of forts and the adornments within.  Some had full Ice sculpture bars complete with barstools carved from compacted snow.  Others were complete igloos with only a small portal in the roof for ventilation.  Another was an elaborate maze to thwart cops and security spies.

As the day continued, there were jam sessions on the numerous rails that had been created in the woods.  One was a 50 foot long triple wave that dumped out into the main area opening.  Eventually the traditional snowball fight erupted with the main focus from the snow forts surrounding the opening at Minnie's deck.  Some forts were equipped with water balloon launchers.  A couple of times I snuck out through the woods with my snowboard to take runs down born free.  After riding the gondola back up to the top, I'd come rolling into the woods with my pants down and flipping the crowd off in my black afro.  The trick was to ride fast and get to the fort as quickly as possible.  Poor unfortunate souls that tried to follow in the wake turbulence of my entry would get blasted into oblivion.  I would stand on the wall and yell out obscenities to the enemy forts.  The response was a furious barage of snowballs.  People were getting pissed because we were getting bombed with snow.  One time, standing on the wall, I took a water balloon launcher shot to the chest that blasted me flat on my back.  Heffe came right up like a  medic with the Jaegermeister bottle to nurse me back to insanity.

In the evening when security starts to herd everybody out of there is a Chinese downhill of sorts.  This race to the pub progresses down the mountain. There is one particularly steep pitch where people who are so f*cked up that they just take their skis off and hurl themselves bodily down the face, laughing their drunken asses off.  I came up to the edge and launched the hand bag I was carrying as high in the air as I could--only to find out Mayela had her camera in it.  We all ended up at the bars in Vail village till the weee hours of the morning.  It was amazing.  I'm glad I got to experience the greatest party on earth before it was over.  Good times

As kind of a sick footnote to all of this, the event has been commercialized in a couple of different forms. Never shy about making a buck off the sweat and toil of the locals Vail Resorts promptly christened Siebert's Mad Mountain Marathon and Beaver creek Blues, Brews, and Bar-B-Que. There is no limit to the depth of slime with Vail Management.

Global warming is going to affect winter sports enthusiasts.  Any little bit helps.  This is my little bit.

I just bought a house in Syracuse. It is my first house and I'm very excited. When I first moved in, the grass was about knee high and angry. It took an old fashion sickle to harvest and it looked like I was haying a field. I use this same tool to keep the weeds down around my cabin. The neighbors probably wondered what the hell I was doing over there. I also had a couple of landscapers offer their services, for a fee of course. My response was "that would take all the fun out of it".

The lawn is actually quite small. The front yard is only about 25'x 25'. The back yard is even smaller. I just couldn't bring myself to purchase a gasoline powered mower. Electric probably would have been better, but still, it seemed like a waste of money. I found an old reel type mower that is human powered. After some tender loving care, the mower was brought back into tune. I sharpened it up and adjusted it so it just rolls along. It is really no more effort than pushing a heavy gas powered smog-belcher. It is definitely quieter. The lawn looks great and I feel great. Partly because I'm limiting pollution (air, noise, waste oil, etc.), and getting a workout. It is a nice quiet walk in the yard.

Now that the dandelions have arrived with spring, I've taken up a crusade against them.  My reel mower can't quite get the tall flower stalks, so, even though the yard is mowed; it still has all the stalks sticking up.  Instead of resorting to poisoning the bastards, I decided to go after them with the little forky thing.  Now an argument could be made for eating the dandelions.  Unfortunately, they are bitter after flowering, plus, I have lettuce in the garden.

One final thing that I do is mulch all my yard waste.  This is an incredibly easy thing to do and creates great mulch for the yard.  The best method available is to create a ring of 4' high sheep fencing.  Make a coil that is triple wrapped about 5 feet in diameter.  Use steel fencing wire to securely wire the three layers together and stiffen the coil.  Then, find a convenient spot and use a pitchfork to fill it.  Put sticks and corn stalks on the bottom, then pile leaves and other partially composted material on top.  Every three months, pull the coil of wire off the pile and move it to the side.  Put new,coarse material in the bottom again and use your pitchfork to move the existing pile into the coil.  You will end up with a pile of soil like mulch left over every time you turn the pile.

It is little things like this that will make all the difference. We should all do a little.

markusfarkus

www.markusfarkus.com

my brother thinks I look like a yetti when I ride because of my fro.

The hair must pass through static atmosphere at maximum velocity at all times.  This theory is especially true while employed in the mobility of wheeled devices.  The mountain yetti (humanus gangaalopus) is noted for its use of sliding motion on crystaline dihydrogen monoxide.  This phenomena occurs in deep deposits in the "Rocky f*cking Mountains" and other high altitude locale.

You know yetti are capable of particularly high speeds.  The fur trips the flow causing turbulance and a much thinner boundary layer.  This holds the boundary layer longer moving the separation point back and resulting in better pressure recovery.  The pressure recovery limits the drag on yetti.
 
As the yetti moves at high speed through a stationary field (air molecules, skiers, small scruffy animals) it creates wake turbulance as it passes.  This pushes aside and scatters the field.  Wake turbulance can be extremely hazardous for a skier following in a yetti wake disturbance.  As the field (air molecules, skiers, small scruffy animals) is radically disturbed in this area, there is a much greater chance of random collisions.
 
In the case of air molecules, this is drag
 
In the case of scruffy animals and other skiers this is a violent deadly event and that is a drag man.
 
Dr. farkus (PhD, mba, klmnop)

Binterong

My friend Gregg Verbeck had gone over to Deara's house to pick up a wood stove for me.  She is an exotic pet chick.  Over the years, she has had things like ferrets, monkeys, a bear, a tiger.  Lately, a binterong has joined the family.  About the size of a small dog, it is a cross between a cat and a monkey. Gregg is sitting Indian style on the floor in her living room and the binterong comes over and climbs up on him.  It’s kind of climbing around checking him out and goes down his arm, sniffs his wrist, then sinks his teeth in and gashes it open.  I asked him what did you do?  “Well first I said f*ck about fifty times!” 

They load Gregg up in the truck and haul him to the hospital.  Once he gets to the emergency room they wheel him into a room and unbandage the wound.  “How did you do that?”  “I was bit by a binterong.”  Instantly the room clears out as everybody runs of to google what the hell is a binterong.  Gregg is sitting there with Deara wondering “where the hell did everybody go?, Hay, I’m wounded here!”  About 10 minutes later they all come back into the room.  “Hay, do you know what a binterong is?”  “Ya, it bit me on the f*cking arm, I'm familiar with what a binterong is.  Would you please sew me up.”

A week later the DEC calls him up.  “hay, were over here at this chick’s house to investigate.  Is it OK if we kill this thing for a brain sample to test for rabies?”  I’m so proud of him.  He told them no and had to endure rabies shots.  I don’t know what you have heard about rabies shots, but they inject the first series right into the wound, and one your arm.  There are three series of injections and it cost $900 that he is probably going to get stuck with.

Sure went a long way for that wood stove.

www.gladesoutpost.org/Binterong.htm