I love snow. I have always loved snow.  There is just something magical about it that makes the world seem pure and fresh and clean.  Snow muffles all sounds and covers all surfaces so I feel like I am in a fluffy white pillow world.  In honor of the continuous snowfall that we have received over the past week or so, I am compiling a short list of observations regarding snow and one of my favorite activities related to snow, skiing.  So here we go:

1)  There is nothing on this earth that compares to the taste of freshly fallen snow.  I simply can not resist taking handful after handful of fresh, white, fluffy snow and letting it melt on my tongue.  Not only does it taste delicious but the texture is quite pleasing as well.  Sometimes it forms into a hard frozen piece of ice.  Sometimes it simply melts away to water.  Either way, eating snow is one of those simple pleasures that I look forward to every year.

2)  Snow forces life to slow down.  Nothing happens fast in the snow.  It just doesn't happen.  Snow makes us drive slower.  It makes the morning routine take longer, whether it's because we are scraping our windshieds or shoveling snow off the deck.  I know people get irritated with these extra chores.  I look at it as a good thing, especially around this time of year when people are feeling the crunch of the holidays looming near.  I think it is nice to drive slower on the road.  Yes, it is often unsafe to go faster when the roads are covered in ice and snow.  The slower pace also allows me to look around at the lovely scenery, the trees covered in white blankets, the deer and elk roaming through the pastures looking for food.  Yes, shoveling snow can get tedious, but it is great exercise and it is time spent outside.  Any time outside is a good time, regardless of whether the time is spent on chores or pleasure.  Rather than feeling annoyed by being forced to slow down, relish in it and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

3)  Now as snow relates to skiing...there are no friends on a powder day.  Anyone who is a powder hound knows what I am talking about.  I have seen cars slide off the road going up to the ski hill and the cars behind them just keep going.  Don't have your gear on when the lift opens?  Too bad.  See you later!  Need to go in to the lodge for a bathroom break?  Have a good time!  Powder breaks all allegiances in the race to get some fresh tracks in the steep and deep.  And it is always worth it.

4)  Never do I hear the words "freshies," stoked," "pow," "face shot," "epic," and "shred," more than at the ski hill on a powder day.  Whether boarding the chair lift, in the middle of a run, or in the lodge, it is inevitable that these words will drift through the noise of the crowd more than a few times on any given powder day.  And we all know exactly what they mean.

5)  Every skier is envious of the way those dang snowboarders can jauntily maneuver a set of stairs.  Those boarders, with their boots being all flexible and bendy, letting their ankles and knees bend in a way that allows them to walk normally up and down stairs.  Meanwhile us skiers are doing the peg leg waddle down the stairs, hoping and praying that we don't slip or miss a step and cartwheel into a heap at the bottom.  BUT, we get our revenge on the slopes.  When the terrain flattens out on the way over to Chair 4 and the boarders are doing their weird have walk half slide thing with one foot out of the binding and one foot still in, looking like they have dislocated both hips and are trying to dance a jig, we skiers glide by, poling and skating, skating and poling, gracefully and gleefully making our way across the flats, that's when all those awkward peg leg waddles on the staircases pay off. 

Every winter day of snow is a good day in my book.  On that note, I think it's time to go eat some fresh snow.