(from Parker) I was sitting in the Patrol hut, just hoping to make a good first impression, when I saw this small patroller with blonde strands flowing out from her helmet walk in and start taking out the trash. She’s cute! I immediately told myself to calm down — you are here for a job, not a fling with a hottie dressed in red. I kept talking with the other patrollers in the hut when, finally, she came up and asked if I’d like to go for a ski. Yes, please! We scooted our way across the flats to the T-Bar lift — the most romantic lift on the mountain. The height difference between us was noticeable: the bar tucked nicely under her cheeks while it felt like it was trying to decapitate me at the knees. Worth it. The conversation stayed pretty high level — what were you doing before patrol, why are you switching, etc. As we crested the top of the lift, there was finally a breakthrough: “Are you Andrew’s friend Jessie?” One of my best friends had been patrolling for the last two years and always talked about a seasoned vet on his crew named Jessie with so much admiration. I had never met her… until today. “Shall we?” We dropped into Horseshoe Bowl. Don’t fall. Be cool. She is totally checking you out right now (for a potential job, of course). I made it to the bottom first, and she cruised down nonchalantly and stopped next to me. “Should we go back up for Sweep?” she asked. We caught the last chair and began round two up the T-Bar. This time, I didn’t notice the bar pulling at my knees. I was too distracted by the strong “vibes” coming from the cutie smiling next to me, her big pink goggles doing very little to hide her gaze. Then it hit me — last time I heard about Jessie, she was dating someone. Well… shoot. I guess I was totally misreading this, and she was just smiling because she thought I’d make an awesome ski patroller. Not a bad consolation. But as I’ve always said, dating is just a yield sign — never give up! As the day wound down, she invited me to do a final sweep of the mountain with her. When we slid to a stop at the bottom, I scrambled to end the day professionally while also making sure I could see her again. “Would you like to go touring on Thursday?” Boom. Plans were made, and that yield sign was suddenly looking a little less threatening. In classic fashion, I forgot — or more realistically, was too scared — to get her number. So later that evening, I texted my friend Andrew asking for Jessie’s number so I could ‘thank her’ for showing me around. I typed out the text, deleted a few exclamation points to seem less unhinged, and hit send. Buzz buzz. Well hello there… maybe those vibes weren’t just about patrolling! I had never been so nervous preparing for a non-date in my life, but I decided to leave my closer, Denali, at home. The trailhead wasn’t too busy, and we parked right next to each other. Coincidence that we both drive a Tacoma? I think not. We pulled out our skis and started putting on skins. Coincidence that we both ski Backlands? Okay, now it’s just weird. As we climbed through the crisp, thin mountain air, the conversation felt easy — deeper than our rides up the T-Bar. We talked about our families, hometowns, and of course, more adventures. As her cheeks turned rosy red, I was convinced she was blushing… only to later learn that’s pretty much her natural color. I’ll still take it. It was a beautiful day with a beautiful woman, and I was sad to see it coming to an end. We clipped out of our skis and started loading everything back into our trucks. Quick, I thought, say something to keep this going. Little did I know, she was about to do the dirty work for me. “My family is in town — would you want to come over for dinner and games on Sunday?” Alright. I may be naive and a hopeless romantic, but there was just no way she was dating someone else. That yield sign was officially turned into a big, bright green light baby!!