Skiing for Xmas

[Barb T]

We had the most fabulous skiing ever at Purgatory in Colorado. First day looked like the pic below, and our second day, it was snowing so hard we didn't take pics. But the 2' of powder on the pic-less day was fab! Me on the left, our daughter and her husband center and right. Happy holidays, everyone!!

[Rex_Tremende]

Gorgeous scenery. Happy family. Was expecting to see you all in kilts, though.

Best regards,
Rex.

[Panache]

Certainly "a Winter Wonderland"

Happy Holidays to you and your family Barb!

Cheers

Jamie

[Barb T]

Gorgeous scenery. Happy family. Was expecting to see you all in kilts, though.

Best regards,
Rex.

Maybe during spring skiing!!!

[Riverkilt]

When you're tired, hit the local hot springs! Plenty to choose from.

I used to work in the mines up the road at Red Mountain above Silverton. Guessing from the recent weather the roads are a mess.

Welcome to the Rockies!

Ron

[Barb T]

OMG, Ron!! At the Idarado? I've been underground at the Sunnyside up at Gladstone, but I haven't been in any of the mines at Red Mtn. What did you do at the mines?

[runewolf]

I am soooo jealous! One of these years I'm heading for the big mountains. From the weather reports, you've got more snow on the way lol.

[Jock Scot]

I am not jealous, I am really not jealous, I really really am not jealous, well alright I am just a wee tad jealous,Ok to tell the truth, actually I am very very jealous! Still, I am delighted for you all, really!

[Riverkilt]

I was a sample boy and mine engineer's assistant in the Idarado. Think it was in 1963. The place is closed now, and some big environmental contamination clean up...God, I lived in that muck.

Idarado is a huge mine, parts of it go back to the 1800s and were boarded off even 45 years ago. We really did carry candles to check the air. The geology inside is incredible. Fault lines where solid rock was turned to clay by the pressure. Stopes full of crystals or peacock copper...was like being inside a royal treasure room. The high levels were so cold they had ice crystals growing like leaves...but only your eye can see them since a flash picture shoots the light right through them.

Even though we were still 10,000 feet above sea level it still got hot in the depths of the mine, the 2,900 foot level where all the ore ran down to for the trip to Telluride to be crushed. Back then Telluride was only a tiny mill town to process the ore out of the Idarado.

My sample boy duties involved wandering the mine alone. I was probably the only guy in the mine without a partner. Downside was that I got blown up a lot. When the guys working the stopes had a rock too big for the shute they'd stick dynamite under it to bust it up. Since they were so remote they'd not bother to go down to the main shaft and see if any sample boys happened to be about. I know first hand what a bullet feels like.

Upside of the sample boy job was following the new veins as new ground was broken in shafts or a stope. One vein had a thin string of tar in it...now we're 10,000 feet above sea level, but when I brought in the tar in the vein it was just a couple days later that they had petroleum engineers underground and looking at it. The miners were actually afraid that when they drilled their dynamite holes them might tap into some vast underground oil lake and be drowned.

Mine engineer's assistant part of the job meant being the rod man as the engineers surveyed. The miner's were paid by how much ground they broke and the engineers surveyed to figure that out. But the engineers also had free run of the mine and they delighted in taking me to neat places...like old portals that opened to high mountain meadows full of wildflowers in full bloom. Course they also had me hanging off rinky dink ladders nailed together from dynamite boxes holding a plumb bob out over a new shaft...never bothering to tell me I was 1,000 feet above the floor of the shaft at the time.

The Idarado was a beautiful place back in the day. A real treat for an 18 year old engineering student.

Ron

[Barb T]

Wow, Ron. What an amazing story. I'm going to print it out and share it with my students - thank you SO MUCH for sharing it!

I was in the Sunnyside several times in 1970s, long before the accident with Lake Emma, but it was only for a look-around, not any work.

Thinking back to that reminded me that, in the 1970s, it was actually hard to get underground as a woman because it was considered bad luck to have a woman underground. I remember sitting out a trip underground at a zinc mine in northern New York State back in 1973. I've since been in that mine several times, but back then, it was impossible!