Avalanche knocked out power

[Robb]

Every now and again I'm reminded how out in the sticks I really live.

Tried to call Mrs. Robb at work yesterday, but oddly enough all the circuits were busy... turned out the VM was down, like everything else in the valley, because an avalanche from the most recent storm had wiped out the power lines.

They can't even get to the lines to fix them, because of miles of 20-30 foot deep snow and avalanche debris. Power is being routed in from other directions, but it's woefully inadequate. The ski area is running about half of their lifts, just the ones with backup diesels... and they have to stop and refuel in the middle of the day! They opened late (to the distress of everyone drooling over three feet of new powder) because the radio relay was, of course, out. One half of the mountain couldn't talk to the other for a few hours until a generator got hooked up.

Still rolling blackouts in the valley. Amazing, sometimes you just can't fight Mother Nature, eh? :D