"Anticipation is a fickle feeling, a jittery mix of adrenaline and hope. Early winter used to make me excited, no matter where I lived in the West. I'd track storms coming in from the Pacific, waiting for Colorado's high alpine ski resorts to battle to be the first to open or watching the snowline creep lower in the Pacific Northwest."
"But lately that anticipation has been subsumed by dread. Now, the forecast hits me with the wrong kind of adrenaline. I get a cramp in my stomach when storms don't come. Skiing has made me a barometer for winter, and the recent seasons have gone awry as they become increasingly warm and dry. In the past, I was purely excited about winter storms because I envisioned storm-day skiing and soft turns. Now I worry what the lack of snow means for the future."
A predicted November storm at 7,000 feet arrived as rain, with initial forecasts of up to six feet repeatedly downgraded to a few inches in high places. Anticipation of winter storms previously produced excitement: tracking Pacific systems, watching ski resorts race to open, and observing the snowline drop in the Pacific Northwest. That anticipation has shifted into dread as recent seasons grow warmer and drier, turning forecast-driven excitement into anxiety about the lack of snow and its implications for the future. Skiing has become a personal barometer of winter; happiness depends on weather systems beyond control. Skiers adopt rituals and superstitions—preseason bonfires and washing cars—to encourage snow.
Read at High Country News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]