On Day three, we headed back to Vail. Partly because the snow is better there than The Beav, but also because I had to work. I talked to Kurt in the morning and we agreed that I would only work in the afternoon, shooting the kids race up at the Thunder Cat Race Course, my usual Thursday gig and a very lucrative hour.

Because I had to shoot this race, we stuck to the front side, skiing mostly Game Creek Bowl and Chair 3. At 12:45 we made our way to the race course to shoot the race that started at one. But when I got there, I could see Oly, one of the other action shooters, already there shooting. I was pissed. I walked up and asked him what he was doing there. He said that Kurt told him that I wasn't working. I really pissed. How the fuck could he do that?

We chilled out at Bailey's Coffee House at Eagle's Nest, but I was s furious I had a tough time relaxing. We went out skiing, but I didn't really enjoy it because I was so angry. I felt like I had been robbed, that money had literally been taken out of my pocket. Last week I sold over a grand in photos from this race and this was a busier week. I was ready to quit.

We skied the remainder of the afternoon, but I didn't really enjoy it much. It was a hot afternoon and the snow was melting badly so we decided to take the gondola down. Almost everyone else on the mountain must have had the same idea because the line was huge, probably a 45 minute wait. I made a command decision to ski down a little further to the Born Free Express and download from there, but I fucked up and took Brian below the top of the lift so we had to ski down and was simply miserable. Bad enough at the beginning of the day with fresh legs, skiing the corn meal snow on the last run with legs screaming is murder. As Brian put it, he was a lactic acid factory. We survived but it was very unpleasant.

In the store I confronted Kurt and he denied telling Oly that I wasn't working. Oly was there uploading photos and he insisted that he wouldn't steal a race from me and that he thought Kurt had told him I was off. Who the fuck was I supposed to believe?

Kurt could see how angry I was and asked I was going to quit over this. I told him probably. He went away and thought about it and then asked me to come outside for a chat. He asked me what he needed to make it better. I said all he needed to do was give me a day off (previously denied) on Friday so I could ski with my brother. He said alright.

I still left the mountain fuming. Brian and I went home and then went out to see Starsky & Hutch, which was so funny, it took my mind off my little problem. It was a perfect antidote to a fairly horrible day.