The past month has been packed full of work. I am certainly not complaining, I picked it. But sooner or later most people (myself included) need a break. Sitting in the telescope control room on Christmas Day, I realized I was reaching that point. With 4 more days of observing ahead and the travel home, a work-free day would take a bit of time to materialize.
One perk of this particular observatory is that it lies right in the middle of a ski resort. There’s even a lift that goes right to the telescope. In anticipation of some work-free daylight hours, I had hauled my skis across the ocean. But the first half of our observing run was during the day (radio telescopes aren’t limited to nighttime like optical telescopes).
The day after Christmas was also full of observing. We were collecting good data, but I occasionally got to peek out the window at the ski resort.
I was feeling the pull of the snow and the need for a short break. But, the lifts would close just as our our observing session ended at 5pm. So, out of luck?
Fortunately, I had brought my alpine touring gear along (in case the lifts closed due to weather and I had to get back to the telescope!). So I had the equipment to ski down a run and then climb back up it, but would I?
