"Today it snows again, covering the ground. To get the value of the storm, we must be out a long time and travel far in it, so that it may fairly penetrate our skin, and we be, as it were, turned inside out to it, and there be no part in us but is wet or weather-beaten, so that we become storm men instead of fair-weather men."
-From Thoreau's Journal; February 28, 1852.
The roads have been cold and firm all winter, flattened by repeated snowplowing, pressed flat with regular snows. With just the suggestion of March and a Blood moon, the roads gave up their first layers of freeze and the first mud season arrived along with a generous supply of frost heaves. The fate of the world hinges on the flutter of a butterfly’s wings. The fate of the day rests upon the overworked struts of a pickup truck sporting a V-shaped plow as it heads towards me and plunges into a deep frost heave. Speed bumps indicate our inability to respect laws. As a society, we do not impede progress. We do not as a rule, place rocks in our paths. We reward efficiency.
At Sugarbush, I arrive at the Schoolhouse, and the sun is pouring onto the plaza. The temperature is a balmy 30-plus degrees. I pull up a chair, outdoors. All that I have to do is to relax into the morning sun and enjoy this moment.
I am one of those Present Momenters. Maybe you have heard about this tribe. They will not come to your door. The moment is too precious to be wasted for that sort of thing. I needed to get here today. I needed to let loose my soul into gravity. It is so close, right uphill. Just get the boots on and go.
And so, we enter March after a stretch of winter that has been miraculously devoid of the freeze and thaw cycles that have defined our snowpack for decades. Soft, dry snow, every day. It seems like all this life was just a dream. But now we have March…with the sun… and this snowpack! There are forests to surf!
Skiing provides happiness, it gives optimal satisfaction despite the occasionally harsh conditions. Cold, wind and ice (not this year), to many, this is misery. But for the skier, the opportunity, the pay-off is the experience of flow. Whoosh, no friction. The friction-free experience of falling is like skydiving or cliff diving. A good skier “dives” from edge to edge. No other verb is adequate to the task. A skier carves high and early into the turn and then dives into the next turn. Do it repeatedly until you run out of hill, which, around these parts is about two thousand vertical.
There are bigger drops out west and in Europe…three, four, five thousand vertical! No-stop, no fall, top to bottom, just the opportunity to drill the thrill of the hill into the endo-vertical system. The pleasure of flying through cold winter air is other-worldly.
It has been such a pleasure to watch the Olympics during these stressful times. Vermont has excelled in creating superb athletes. Ryan Cochran-Siegle snagged another Silver in Super G, Paula Moltzan, a bronze in combined, Mikaela nailed a slalom gold, Mac Forehand aired out a silver in big air, and Jesse Diggins and Ben Ogden put the USA on the map for Nordic. There must be something in the snow. Aside from skiing, it seemed like the figure skater Ilia Mallinin stole the whole show in Cortina.
There are psychological and anatomical “tells” in skiing. While skiing Ripcord with a group recently, one of the young women was laying over highly inclined turns. She drew crisp arcs in the fall line and accelerated each turn in the baby powder-soft snow. I asked if she had, perhaps, a race background? Yeah, a little bit. Another skier, a guy rolls over a knoll like a Slinky toy descends a staircase. Did he have a telemark history? Yeah, a little bit.
Small coincidences, seemingly random events, things that transpire below the level of conscious awareness. Who do you meet and where? I recently read “Tao of Snow,” by Vermont author Michael Caldwell. He said: “If you think that’s a pure coincidence, I wish you a very dull and boring life.”
If you feel like your head is going to explode from the incessant stream of awful politics, search for the Great Gig in the Sky recording by female vocalist Morgan James…wow
