{"id":2897,"date":"2021-02-23T04:57:26","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T04:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2021-02-23T05:06:35","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T05:06:35","slug":"things-i-put-in-my-thermos-by-michael-sullivan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/2021\/02\/23\/things-i-put-in-my-thermos-by-michael-sullivan\/","title":{"rendered":"Things I Put in My Thermos, by Michael Sullivan"},"content":{"rendered":"

This just in from Michael Sullivan, Assistant Patrol Leader, Rabbit Hill Snow Resort.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The author is not just in touch with his inner Viking, but can also produce edited News Blast copy! Wow! Your News Blast editor is gobsmacked!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things I Put in My Thermos, with Application to Ski Patrollers and Other Mountain Snow Rats<\/h4>\n

With COVID, we can\u2019t hang out in the patrol huts. Gone are the halcyon days of drinking vast quantities of bad ski hill coffee, laced with overly-sweet \u201cFrench Latte Vanilla Toffee\u201d flavoured hot chocolate. I\u2019ve already lost 5 pounds, will probably avoid tooth decay, and likely live longer, too. Geez\u2026how to halt this shocking decline?!<\/p>\n

One strategy; sit on the edge of a ski run during my 10-2\u2019s (radio speak for Patroller\u2019s tea-time \/ pee-time break) and sip exotic brews from my collection of battered Thermoses! This opens a plethora of options; what is hot, flavourful, provides energy and jazz, yet is legal and fits into a Thermos? My list of experimentations is thusly provided.<\/p>\n

Vietnamese Coffee<\/h4>\n

My go-to for hard mountaineering days. I luv the little instant packets filled with sugar, some-sort-of-chemical-cream-dust, and dried coffee. You can get them at all decent Asian groceries, in the wonderfully vast sea-of-tea aisles. Two packets in a 500 ml Thermos energizes me for hours of climbing, dragging sleds, and hauling packs. Perfect for a busy ski patrol day on the bendy-knee skis; \u201cHalf-the-binding, twice-the-fun!\u201d, \u201cFree the heels, free the mind\u201d, \u201cYour girlfriend cares that I telemark\u201d, and so on.<\/p>\n

I think the SE Asian coffee makers envisioned these coffee packets as iced Vietnamese Coffee, which does eventually happen in my battered Thermos after 5 hours. Highly unlikely that these were ever intended as a hot drink for skiers, and why would they even try? Vietnam does have real mountains, the Annamite Range along the border with Laos. Made famous as the mat\u00e9riel transport corridor for the Viet Cong during the American War. But definitely not a ski destination, and hence will remain as least common bumper sticker on Thule Roof-Rack Boxes; \u201cI skied the Ho Chi Minh Trail\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spicy Chai<\/h4>\n

My COVID-era favorite. I\u2019ve made Chai with regular chai tea bags, double spicy tea bags, double strength double spicy tea bags, and even \u201cEverest Brand Tea Masala\u201d, which appears to be crushed hot pepper, cardamom, and gunpowder. Add a pile of sugar and heavy cream, and await the calorie buzz.<\/p>\n

The biggest find in my ongoing Chai exploration front was Instant Spicy Chai; little packets of sugar, petroleum-oily-cream powder and amazing spice mixes. Only to be found in those awesome East Indian grocery stores where weird vegetables spill from broken cardboard boxes, and the smell of 238 different spices mixes with some spooky hair product chemicals. Smells like Heaven! I could wander those aisles all day. \u201cCardamom Spicy Chai\u201d is my latest crush. But, really, any chai-related product with the words \u201cHimalaya\u201d, \u201cNepal\u201d, or pictures of anything remotely resembling Annapurna or K2 is, obviously, impossible to resist. My cupboard is full of dusty, tasteless, gross tea drinks with absolutely awesome graphics on their labels.<\/p>\n

The mountain-linked romance of Chai, for me, is simple. There I was, sitting entranced in the front row of a community lecture hall, as Laurie Skreslet, Canada\u2019s first mountaineer to summit Everest, recounted his tale of frozen high-altitude pointless glory. At a break, he reached for his Thermos, a battered and brightly-painted Nepalese enameled-tin cheapo. He smiled at me and said something inane like \u201cThirsty work, talking\u201d. As he poured, the smell of chai drifted across\u202630 years later, I still dream of cherishing my very own cheap Nepalese thermos. As Buddha teaches, \u201cThe secret to happiness is low expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horlics (Malty Goodness!)<\/h4>\n

This is a new one for me. Kinda like Milo (you know, the wildly popular national drink of The Republic of Tonga), but not as chocolaty. Or as sweet. But, if you don\u2019t know Milo, the preceding sentences are pointless. Call it hot chocolate without the chocolate, and let it go at that.<\/p>\n

The two main selling features of Horlicks, for me, are; (1) the fact that it\u2019s made in Dublin and is therefore somehow related to my ancestors x 5-generations removed, and (2) the label that states; \u201c\u2026since 1876, Horlicks has supported explorers on the way to both Poles, nourished soldiers through two World Wars, and fortified athletes in the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Geez! I read that label in the store and \u2026\u201cSold! To the romantic arm-chair mountaineer dreaming about younger days and tales of high adventure!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an odd drink. Hot, not too sweet, not very flavourful, but filling. Makes you think you\u2019re drinking weak milk pudding, especially if you add Nido (my favorite Mexican high-fat milk powder, now illegal in Canada!). Sounds gross. Is not gross. I\u2019ll keep experimenting, maybe add Spicy Chai\u2026<\/p>\n

Cautionary Note<\/h4>\n

These drinks have even less of a caffeine jolt than weak ski chalet coffee. Nap time is a serious potential consequence of idly sipping sweet Chai under a tree on the margin of a ski run. Oldest ski patroller hack in the book; always turn your avalanche beacon to \u201cSEARCH\u201d when starting a work-time nap. Any other patroller skiing within 50m will cause your beacon to starting beeping and hopefully wake you in time to seem alert when they arrive. If still bleary-eyed and covered in pine needles from lying under a tree, just stand up, dust yourself off, look them straight in the eye and say, forcefully and disgustedly, \u201cSnowboarders!\u201d No further explanation or elaboration is necessary. If they still look faintly askance or confused, simply say it again, but with emphasis, \u201cDamn snowboarders!\u201d Any patroller with a few years of experience will then nod in wise agreement, and reply, \u201cYup, ain\u2019t that the truth!\u201d<\/p>\n

Enjoy the miracle of your Thermos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This just in from Michael Sullivan, Assistant Patrol Leader, Rabbit Hill Snow Resort. Things I Put in My Thermos, with Application to Ski Patrollers and Other Mountain Snow Rats With COVID, we can\u2019t hang out in the patrol huts. Gone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":792,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-member-news","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/792"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2903,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/edmonton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}