Après Feature

By Al Wallace

Picture yourself carving perfect ‘S’ turns down Look Ma late on a Saturday afternoon in January. Suddenly you hear a strange loud sound coming from the clubhouse – sounds like bagpipes. Then it hits you – it must be the Robbie Burns après-ski! Ever since you joined Alpine, the memories of many fabulous après events come back to you, like oysters by Rodney’s, the Dummy Downhill, Retro Day, and for the last ten years or so, the tribute to the great Scottish Poet Robbie Burns on January 25.

The original and present organizers, Brian and Leslie McManus, recruited me to pipe in the haggis at the first event as they had seen me perform at a fundraiser for my pipe band, the Beinn Gorm Highlanders of Collingwood (Beinn Gorm is Gaelic for Blue Mountain). It was such a success that they hired the whole band for the years following. A highlight for me was Tim reciting the “Ode to the Haggis” with no need for a microphone, accompanied by the waving of a large, wicked-looking knife. Needless to say, the kids were mesmerized and the adults were stunned into silence at the performance (the free single malt samples might have been a factor).

Barb and I got in a few days of skiing last year, mainly mid-week, but of course, due to the pandemic, there were no après-skis last season. We missed seeing our old friends on the slopes and look forward to making up for it this coming season. My two grandsons are signed up for racing again so maybe the Snow Gods and Bill Williams willing, we’ll put the pandemic behind us and look forward to another day of deep (Ontario) powder and sunny days on the slopes.

And a word of caution – do not ski in a kilt – especially down ‘Downdraft.’