Lift Shack

I spend a good bit of winter skiing. I'm a senior ski patroller and a certified professional ski instructor. Since, with our move to Rockford, Michigan, we now live only seven miles from a ski area I thought it might be fun to teach skiing this winter. So in addition to doing ski patrol duty on the weekends, when I teach patrollers to ski and run rescue toboggans, I've been teaching skiing a couple of days a week at the Cannonsburg ski area.

During lunch break I did this quick sketch of Cannonsburg's lift shack where four skiers at a time board the lift and head up the hill.

Skiing Caberfae Peaks

My wife and I spent New Years and the New Years weekend at the Caberfae Peaks Ski Resort, Cadillac, Michigan. Caberfae Peaks is one of the oldest ski areas in the country. The area's history dates back to the late 30s when the Peaks opened for business. I've been skiing at Caberfae since I was in high school...which is getting to be a very long time ago.

For the past 16 years I've been a member of the Caberfae Peaks Ski Patrol. My oldest daughter and her husband are also patrol members. As a patroller I take care of injured skiers and snowboarders. However for the past several years I've been the lead hill trainer for the patrol. As such I spend the majority of my time these days teaching our new patrollers how to ski and how to transport injured patients off the hills via rescue toboggan. I'm also a certified professional ski instructor. So winter is a very busy time for me.

New years eve afternoon I was off shift and had time to grab my sketch book and do a quick sketch of Caberfae's Shelter chair lift. The Shelter lift services the area's beginner and intermediate slopes and is quite busy most of the time.

Because I didn't have to patrol 'till Sunday, we drove up to Cadillac Saturday afternoon. Early arrival and day light give me time to quickly sketch this view of the cross country trails that run behind the hotel where we stayed for the weekend.