I am skiing down one of the trails on Black Mountain in Jackson. The trail is is fairly steep and lined with big sugar maple trees. Conditions are perfect, powder perhaps. I make a long series of tight turns down the fall line in a style which used to be known as "wedeln" then as I approach the base of the mountain I ride down a narrow ridge of snow maybe a foot or two tall left by the grooming machines, just for the challenge of it, before skiing over to the base of the chairlift.

As I move into position and wait for the next chair I feel a bit nervous. The action of grabbing onto the approaching chair and sitting down on the seat is one that I have done so often that it is almost automatic but I am worried that my arms might be too weak to do it. My concern proves unfounded as I sit easily down on the chair and start up the mountain.

About halfway up the mountain the chairlift line surmounts a rise then spans a small valley so that the chairs first approach fairly close to the ground and then ride high above it. Several people with some equipment have been conducting an exercise to practice rescuing people from the chairlift in case of an accident but they are on lunch break now. One of the men is eating a raspberry turnover. As my chair starts out over the valley the line begins to swing up and down the way it sometimes does when the lift stops suddenly. I am afraid that I may not be able to hold onto the chair securely enough to keep from falling out. The motion of the chair becomes more violent, careening from side to side as well as up and down. At one point my knee almost hits the man with the raspberry turnover in the chest but he and the other people do not seem to notice. At that point I assume some control of the dream and cause the chair to wrap around me so that I won't fall out. Ahead of me it appears that the chair will need to pass through a low opening at the base of a wooden fence and I don't know if I will be able to fit through it.