Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) Entertainment legend and PQFI Inspiration

It with great sadness, that we mourn the passing of Mr. Michael Jackson. The “Moonwalker” was a legend in the entertainment industry. His music, voice and energy will live on forever. Largely unknown and underutilized by the ski community, he became a singular focal point of motivation and inspiration for the Mont-Tremblant, Quebec-based PQFI. Michael’s affiliation with the PQFI had humble beginnings in 2002 in Stamford, CT. It was at the residence of Captain James Valentino where the now-sacred tome, “Moonwalker”, was discovered and brought to life by this tight-knit band of skiers. Captain Tom Albano had stumbled across a copy of this autobiography in a hallway of Mr. Valentino’s apartment building. It was in a box, amongst other books destined for the trash, when Mr. Albano decided to pick it up and peruse its contents. Flipping the pages quickly revealed a treasure chest of motivational quotes, inspiring words and the boundless energy that would go on to characterize the PQFI.

From that moment, future trips were energized and focused through spirited readings from this hallowed text. Through the words of Mr. Jackson, we learned a great deal about ourselves, our team and our lives. He taught us about friendship and love. I’ll never forget standing in a freezing Dunkin Donuts parking lot, reading words of hope and joy as we embarked on another exciting journey north.

Like his words, Michael’s music also served as an invigorating soundtrack to our lives, with the team often humming his melodies or singing his choruses on chair lifts across the globe. Further, the title of one of his songs was used in the context of one of the greatest stories ever told on a PQFI trip, that of the “Smooth Criminal”. Lieutenant Commander Keith Baker’s hilarious story of his college exploits was punctuated by coining that phrase which would soon become a nickname for this energetic young man.

All of us at the PQFI, the aforementioned officers and Captain Pete, would like to express our sadness at his passing.
We shall forever remember his words and his inspiration.

Michael, you gave us your voice, and we give you our love.
May you dance in heaven and shine your light upon us forever.

Thank you,

The PQFI

Shane McConkey 1969 - 2009

Shane McConkey passed away on March 26th, 2009 while ski-base jumping in Italy. He was a hero to the sport and to skiers everywhere and the community has suffered a great loss.

A PQ Ski Team inspirational legend, former Team Volant rider and one of the sickest skiers of all time.

A PQFI salute to Shane. He will be missed:

Operation Salubrious a Success!

This trip was the way Vermont should be done:

 

Quick trip up: Slightly over three hours

Keith buys K2 Apache Recons instead of just gloves

We dominate the mountain from open to close

We dominated soft moguls like freaking pros

It was cheap

Thorpe kept us up snoring (wait, maybe we didn’t like that part)

Inappropriate jokes were made

A quick trip home: Slightly over three hours

 

Yessir… While this may have been the last trip of the season, it worked out quite well.  The question remains if there is anything left for a day trip later in the season or if the teneighties should head into the shop for repair (speaking of which, I cut a nice gouge out near one of the rear bindings).  Looking at the rain and high temperatures, I’d say that’s about it.  However, we certainly shouldn’t rule out an August trip to Tremblant for Golf and Racing.

 

Great skiing on the mountain gentlemen.

 

No skiing today

It poured last night and the ground is still soaked. Guess that's the end of the ski season.

Great skiing on the mountain, gentlemen!

Time to head back to CT. That's the nutmeg state, in case ya didn't know!

Cloudy afternoon...

But it worked out. 6 runs and we dominated a ton of moguls. Double diamond was nothing. The soft moguls made everything easy.

Tomorrow isn't looking so good. Very overcast right now and we expect rain. However, we did enough skiing for two days today.

Now it's time for some apres ski. ...oh, and I finally found out what the diamond position means. Makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. Way more sense than stealing cold cuts.

Wow

I just smoked Becca out of this side of the room.

Solid morning

9 runs. Went all over the mountain. Beautiful conditions and warm. Very crowded. We might have lost Becca. An unbelievably salubrious time. The metric lunch begins.

On the lift

3 1/2 hours till lunch according to Keith - and we all agree that the magic carpet sucks. But the weather is awesome and so are we.

Dominate

6 AM

Came and we're ready to roll @ 7:30 - not too shabby. The weather looks perfect and by lunch we might even be in hoodies.

Keith is drying his hair and Jim has a round in the chamber. And for the record, the chick is ready to go....

Up early

Decent dinner at the pot belly pub. Thorpe dominated many a beer.

Keith bought a pair of Apache Recons and we are ready to dominate them.

Thorpe just gassed is out of bed and we are getting ready to go. Keith's new tattoo notwithstanding...

Das Beast

Is stopping at McDs

We hate

Traffic - damn fools in MA can't drive to save their lives

MVP Baker

Has Captain Pete in Das Beast and is heading north.

ETA - 7:22

Operation ???

Baker's dozen...
March madness...

We'll come up with a name. We won't be live blogging as much this trip, but we'll see what we can do. Becca is running late for the 3 PM kick off. Ready to go here at Kastle Kreppentino. Going to check in with Keith now.

The Tally

I’m no mathematician, but I think we spent over $400 (Canadian) on beer alone on this trip.  Possibly closer to $450.  Not too shabby and a little shocking now that I think about it.