BooksBarbecue
Back The Deal Goes Down
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Titles
  3. Dedication
  4. CHAPTER ONE
  5. CHAPTER TWO
  6. CHAPTER THREE
  7. CHAPTER FOUR
  8. CHAPTER FIVE
  9. CHAPTER SIX
  10. CHAPTER SEVEN
  11. CHAPTER EIGHT
  12. CHAPTER NINE
  13. CHAPTER TEN
  14. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  15. CHAPTER TWELVE
  16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  22. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  43. CHAPTER FORTY
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  53. CHAPTER FIFTY
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  55. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Lech was once a tiny, rural huddle in the high mountains in the western tip of Austria, inaccessible in winter, barely accessible even in the mild seasons, and a family with seven cows were the rich folks. A river runs through it. The church was built in 1390, as a best guess. It is now a luxury ski resort. It’s still small. Population, about 1,700. It has retained its “character” as these things go. All the buildings are wood and stone. They all have pitched roofs. There are no high-rises. The tallest is five and a half stories high, the half being the space under the inverted V of the roof. It’s in a region called the Vorarlberg, which means in front of the Arlberg. There is no border, no distinction, absolutely no way to discern a difference between the two regions unless you’re a native and your ancestry goes back several centuries. It’s part of a giant ski region that crosses back and forth over that indecipherable border and connects to seven other towns, Oberlech, Zürs, Warth, Schröcken, Stuben, and St. Christoph, with populations between forty and a few hundred, and St. Anton, the biggest and best known of the lot, with a population of 2,700.

It is an unusual night.

Even in the coldest months, January and February, the temperature in the region stays between a very comfortable 35° and 26° Fahrenheit. In this age of excitable weather, a strange freezing finger had come down from the Arctic. It was about 5° below zero. Minus 20.5 Celsius.

Snow is falling. The colder it is, the lighter and finer the flakes. This is fine stuff indeed. Baccarat crystal. Comparable to the best of high Rocky Mountains powder. The flakes are invisible in the dark, but when they’re touched by light, it’s a slow falling glitter of white incandescence.

It is a promise that tomorrow’s skiing will be as good as it can get.

Of course, from time to time, not very often, but it does happen, depending on how much new snow there is, how it binds with what’s beneath it, how steep the slope is, even on whether a skier or snow-boarder enters into a section and how they do so, it breaks and slides and if the people caught in it are unlucky, the snow kills. From time to time. Not very often.

It is as perfect a night, as perfect a moment, as anyone could wish for.