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Eagle high schoolers Alec Carson and Brandon Martinez synched the buckles on their snowboards, Wednesday night, and prepared to do something for which they’d waited all day, through classes, tests and school.

“Ride,” Alec said.

“Shred,” Brandon said.

That was actually two things, but they’re sort of synonyms. “Snowboarding” and “darkness” aren’t antonyms, but they do seem like a bad combination. Keeping Alec and Brandon’s mothers at least somewhat at ease, was Don Baker – Bogus Basin’s keeper of the lights.

“The mountain’s going to be rocking,” he said of the resort’s first evening of night skiing all season.

And like any good rock show, this one required some serious lighting. Don and his team control all that is bright and decent on the hill.

“Been checking [the lights] for the last week,” Don said. “We turned them all on last night as most of the people in the valley did see.”

As Wednesday night loomed, Don made sure his more than 220 lights also illuminated. He didn’t know how many runs would open - “oh you would ask me that,” he said (it's 16) - but like any good businessman, Don could tell you exactly who his customers were and why the came.

“Snowboarding,” Alec said.

“Snowboarding,” Brandon said.

And so as the sun set and darkness fell on the valley, the lifts at Bogus – finally – kept running. That thanks to Don letting there be light on the mountain, while shredders like Alec and Brandon could only hope to bask in his glow.