I went skiing the other day with Tom, Shelley, Jetty and Jim, and had three interesting things happen.

Number one: As I was following Tom down Moose Drop a young deer came running out of the woods and thread the needle between Tom and myself. Judging by the deers sudden burst of speed I'd guess we were equally freaked out.
www.lutsen.com/winter/mountain_info/vmaps/

Number two: While skiing Upper Cascade I decided to cut thru some powder and go down Upper Caribou. As I hit the powder it crossed my right ski over my left and I went ass over tea kettle, landing hard on my right side and smacking my head on the packed snow. Lucky for me I had just bought a new ski helmet the week before so my new brain bucket took the brunt of the blow. Like an idiot I'd been waiting for the prices on ski helmets to come down for the last three years so I could save 50 bucks. Needless to say the Big Guy Upstairs even looks out for guys like me.

Number three: As I was riding the chairlift I looked down and there was a young girl (maybe nine or ten) who was skiing the deep powder under the lift line and she crashed face first into a soft drift. As I was going by, she looked up at me and said, "Uffda!" It just warms my heart hearing a young person still speaking the language.

PS. Sometimes I run the razors edge between being a thrifty Swede and a stubborn Norwegian so don't be a fool like me and wait for the price of ski helmets to come down any further. Go get one.