New Snow = New Attitude

It's always amazing to me how much my attitude can change with just a little bit of fresh snow, especially when it feels like an unexpected Christmas present.

Yesterday morning I woke up to my excited children pleading with my wife and I to get out of bed at 5 a.m. We managed to hold them off for a bit, but relented around 5:30 a.m. Downstairs we went, and while I did make them wait for the coffee to brew, we let them get to the opening of stockings and presents well before the sun rose.

When the sun did rise I could see the remnants of our last storm still clinging to the field behind our house. The remaining snow had fought a valiant battle against the massive amount of rain we had seen the previous week and it just didn't look very Christmas like outside. But then as I began my second cup of coffee I began to notice a few flakes falling from the sky. It made me smile to think that it was starting to snow a bit. Then it started to snow harder, my smile grew even a bit wider.

As we progressed through our Christmas morning routine the snow continued to fall and the pace of the storm increased. Soon it was looking like a real storm, and within a couple of hours we had a couple of inches of fresh snow on the ground. I could feel that familiar itch creep over me, I needed to get over to the mountain and get in some skiing!

By noon time we had three inches of snow and I knew I had to head out into the fun. My wife and girls knew that for me getting out for a skin and ski would be the perfect Christmas gift so they pushed me out of the house. As I drove over the snow continued to fall. I got my skis skinned up and began to climb. By mid mountain we had about four inches of snow and it was sitting on top of the massive amount of snow the snowmaking crew had laid down over the past few days. Since the top of the mountain hadn't opened yet I knew I was going to get a bit of powder on top of manmade velvet that had yet to be pushed around. One of my favorite conditions- manmade whales with a bit of fluff on top. When I got to the top I met up with one of the snowmakers, I thanked him for the efforts they had been putting in, especially on Christmas Day, and then pushed off for my highly anticipated run. The snow was excellent and the best part- it was all mine.

I got to the bottom and thought of packing up and heading home, but descided I'd hike up for just a few more turns, maybe to the top of the first pitch. As I began climbing I became aware of the fact I was doing time calculations in my head about how long it would take to get all the way to the top again and if I had enough time to make it happen. I was feeling good so I just kept saying, "well I'll go up one more pitch and then call it good." That internal conversation went on until I was at the top again. I once again ran into the same snowmaker and this time I gave him a hand as he was moving some guns around. He thought I was nuts to climb up the mountain twice when the lifts would be spinning the next day, but I told him it was worth it- plus I knew what food lay ahead of my at the parents house later in the afternoon so I figured I needed to put in some work!

My second run was just as good as the first and as I loaded my gear into the car I could feel that my attitude had made a significant shift to the good. Just that little bit of snow made everything look wintery and the fact that the mountain was in such good shape put a smile on my face.

Here's to winter, and its snowy goodness!