Winter 2019 LOCALadk Magazine 45
LOCALadk
arrived at the monument. Since the northbound group was
just stopping for lunch, they could afford to wait while the
driver of the vehicle in question caught up. My southbound
group wanted to get going, so it was my duty to stop along
the trail and ask "Al"—who, I was told, was wearing a rust-col-
ored parka—if he wanted to join the northbound group.
Encountering Al and his rust-colored parka a few hundred
yards down the trail, I received a quick assent to the plan.
Al then reached into his pocket and handed me a key "...to
a black BMW." I then skied away, realizing that I hadn't even
given him my name. I easily found the BMW
in the Upper Works parking area and
began backing out and downhill from where it was parked.
With the car tilted up as it was, stepping on the brakes (pow-
er brakes, unlike the unpowered ones in my more humble
truck) caused much of what was resting on the dashboard to
land in my lap. One item was a pirated copy of my then-cur-
rent ski touring guide, Northern Adirondack Ski Tours . As I re-
turned the key, I suggested that if he could afford a BMW,
he could afford to buy my guide. He then bought me a drink,
which cost him about the same as the royalty I would have
received from that sale. Call it even.
Josh Wilson
