Covering city council took a backseat last week while Heather and I made a trip up to Leadville to hang out with some snow readers. These are the fearless guys that travel up to avalanche prone areas and test the snowpack levels to estimate how much water Aurora will receive this summer. We shadowed them while they tested the snowpack levels of six sites at Homestake Reservoir. All four of us had our own snowmobiles and we traveled about 33 miles in five hours. This was my first time on a snowmobile and although I took a pretty bad fall (hit a mound of ice/snow and flew over the handle bars) it was such an amazing experience!! We followed Mark Hanratty and Devin Eggleston, two Buena Vista residents and employees of the HomeStake Water Project, through treacherous terrain and over creeks and stones buried under feet of snow. They make the ride look so easy but just the task of maneuvering a snowmobile is a challenge, especially if you're a weakling like me... Just holding the throttle made my hands sore and cramp up. It took Heather and I a few days to recover from the trip and I have a few battle bruises to prove it. But, like Devin said, if you don't fall off your snowmobile or get stuck (which I managed to do twice), you're not riding hard enough. Moral of the story is, I want snowmobiling to become my new hobby (it would be nice if it didn't cost thousands of dollars) and although these guys have the time of their lives zooming up that mountain, they take their jobs very seriously. The snowpack level measured between three and feet in the six test sites - healthy measurements - and the results will go to the Aurora water researchers who will analyze them and make sure residents of Aurora are getting the water they expect this summer. It never ceases to amaze me how much work goes into water, and how many people are behind the scenes making sure that when you turn your faucet/shower head/sprinkler/hose on, water comes out.
Check out the pictures of Heather and I on our snowy excursion and don't forget to read the story when it comes out in Thursday's Aurora Sentinel Home Edition (2/3) and Friday's Aurora Sentinel Weekend Edition (2/4).
P.S. Thanks to Greg Baker, Mark Hanratty, Devin Eggleston and of course, our bosses, for allowing us to cover this story.
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| I love my job |
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| I really liked my helmet. |
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| Heather had her camera stored in her jacket during the ride... Good thing she didn't fall. |
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