the keyhole

so the other day, really early in the morning, like 3am, i come out of my night shift daze and see that it is puking outside. big ass flakes, a lot of them. snow, thats cool and i think to myself today might be a good one. finish work at 7. proceed to pretty much pass out till 9:45 and am geared up ready to storm ride by about ten. i take the wildcat chair and maybe a lap or two goes by before i notice that the gate to access the keyhole says open. skis are removed and after a short boot pack are returned to my feet. and now it is shred time. i am pretty sure that a rage against the machine song came on right at about drop time and there was so much pow. every turn projected huge amounts of snow into my face and body and i choked, literally, shit got hectic. sluff was everywhere, charging down hill way faster than me and, well, i made it. after a few more deep turns of glory. we reach the road to find only one other waiting for the bus back to the lift. "lets walk." off we go. 100 yards down the road here come the bus, picks everyone else up, but drives by me. "fuck." my buddies won't wait. but wait, a car comes and is feeling the thumb. score. i almost beat them back to the lift and amaze my friends with such lightning speed. another keyhole lap proves to be just as glorious and then they closed that shit. done. 45 minutes was the duration of the opening and i must say that those two laps may have been the deepest of my life.