Word Count: 729

The Non-Hollywood

White Stuff

In the course of a 10-Day Holiday-Work-Marathon, I found myself shoveling snow on the Town Hall steps early one morning. It had just started getting light (the Butt-Crack of dawn…) and the air temperature matched that of your standard walk-in freezer. An Old-timer came walking up the sidewalk and we exchanged pleasantries, which gave me an opportunity to catch my breath among other things. He asked how I was doing, and I told him pretty well other than the fact that I was hoping Mother Nature would’ve graced us with 2’ of the fluff instead of the 8” we ended up receiving. Upon hearing this, the guy immediately looked at me like I was from another planet. Thinking back on the experience, I’ve got to get better at hiding the fact that I’ve originated from a galaxy far, far away. My somewhat benevolent over-lords, who’ve sent me here to do reconnaissance work related to their over-all plan of establishing global domination could get extremely upset. Everything needs to be kept hush, hush, at this particular time.

This brings up an interesting eccentricity that’s become an integral part of my personality. I LOVE snow, and playing in the stuff is obviously quite evident. This may also sound odd to some of you, but shoveling the white stuff isn’t so bad when you’ve got the reassuring knowledge in the back of your mind that you’ll soon have an opportunity to play in it later that day. “Play” being the operative word in this specific situation. Silverton is the perfect environment for this character trait to play itself out. With that in mind, let’s examine my eccentric character trait.

This snow loving trait first showed itself during my youth. A series of entertainment opportunities such as jumping off roofs into fresh pillows of the stuff, digging tunnels, and the ultimate playing activity, skiing through it, happened on a regular basis. Since Silverton winters usually last anywhere from 5 to 8 months each year, opportunities to do these activities were quite plentiful.

Now that I’ve achieved adulthood (theoretically anyway) unfortunately, I’ve latched onto the snow playing activity at a slower rate. Fortunately, this propensity is still with me. Some things have changed though. Those tunnels that used to get dug on a regular basis? Doesn’t happen anymore. The roof jumping is pretty rare too. This having more to do with the fact that extracting yourself from a 10’ pile of fluff isn’t so easy anymore. Snow withdrawal that used to happen so easily when you were ten-years of age, suddenly takes longer based upon a complex age algorithm.

The skiing thing happens more frequently though, and these days even more so than it used to. It’s no coincidence that fourteen of the sixteen years I lived in Telluride, I had a pass to the local ski resort. Besides deriving a great deal of happiness from watching little people barreling down the slope while working at Kendall, over the years, I’ve also developed this nice habit of hitting the slopes at The Purg. a regular weekday basis.

I’m thoroughly convinced that the marketing people at these ski resorts have a somewhat liberal definition of snow totals. 6” of snow that they receive, suddenly transforms itself into 16”. A low-pressure storm that’s predicted to give the resort 4” miraculously becomes 24”. Funny how those sorts of things happen, isn’t it? Sort of like some guys when they talk about their physical attributes with members of the opposite sex.

Myself and one of my old Peace Corps buddies who possesses a similar love of snow to that of myself, do an annual ski trip to celebrate our respective birthdays in February. Over the years we’ve visited a number of spots, and the trip next year commemorates a special milestone. Both of us having reached the big 65. An age where some folks should probably be hanging it up, while others, like the two of us, prefer to reach out for the brass carousel ring that is the adventurous life. We’re planning the ski trip for Hokkaido, the northern-most island of Japan. Listed as the snowiest place on earth, and site of a record setting snowfall of 72” within a three-day period two years ago. Is it irony that the two of us are going there? I don’t think so…