Reunion of the 13th Class

By John Hoener,
Graduate student (2007)

Hello science school,

The first of hopefully many Class 13 Sundance Film and Snow reunions was last weekend. Anne and Jason, Colleen, HJ, Jay, Jess and Ron, Liz Hoffman, and Mary and I enjoyed a long weekend of film, skiing, and fun.

From my personal perspective highlights included but were not limited to:

During a phone call from Anne, I was directing her to the spare house key because we were away. Anne had to state several times that she could not get to the key because of a moose. It took Anne several repetitions for that to properly registrar with me.

Colleen, of course, came very prepared with movie times and priorities. Liz and Heather were smart enough to stick with the film critic. The three saw several good and not-so-good films.

Heather skied. Initially I helped with a bit of instruction. Later after I went out with Jay, one of the Deer Valley instructors asked Heather if I was her grandfather. However it was Anne’s help that really got Heather pointed downhill.

Jay’s telemark skiing was as graceful and smooth as any I have seen in years. His only disappointment was that Monday’s snowstorm came a day late in giving him an excuse to be stranded and enjoy more powder. Jay also earned my admiration Friday evening when he received a phone call from Josh. Just saying hello to Josh was a thrill for me.

Jess and Ron, very much to their credit, drove through the night Friday enduring all of the typical winter driving conditions of going across Wyoming on I-80. With a few hours sleep in Evanston, they arrived here ready to go Saturday morning before the late moviegoers were out of the sack.

John finally has started to ski without destroying himself. The new alpine skis and AT boots are so very, very different than my old tele gear. “Free the heel, free the mind”, is a myth. To date I have graduated from my magic carpet beginning to dark greens and baby blues.

There were several no-shows from Laramie due to what Jess described as school work.

All of us enjoyed our time together recounting what to everyone was a very special year in our lives.

Hope all is well in Kelly with Class 14.

As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others. NELSON MANDELA

John