A Skier's Lament

    As  an avid geezer skier I always look forward to the start of a ski season and hope for an extended period of good snow and cold weather.   This year has to be one of the most vexing delays to the start of the season that I can remember in over 20 years of logging the characteristics of the season.  The latest start for me in the past was December 22, 2001 for the 2001-2002 season.   Even so, I was able to get in 8 days of skiing before the first of January.   Greek Peak predicts and December 22 opening day this year.  Based on the rain today and the warm weather predicted for next week, I surely doubt that we will get any skiing before January!   Oh that I will be wrong!   I can only hope for a miracle that Greek can make enough snow this weekend with the predicted brief cold spell.
      However unsettling the delay of the season is for me, it is devastating for the people who rely on the ski season for employment.  I know that many of the lift attendants count on shifting from their summer employment to the jobs at the ski area.   And no doubt the ski instructor staff, wait staff and others suffer from the snow drought as well.  Their pain is much more critical than mine.
      Meanwhile, the only alternative I have is to be distracted by other projects or transport myself to some place there is snow.  Oh how I envy son Colin and his family departure for Utah later this week!  The Wasatch is getting a dump of snow and Alta and Snowbird will be swimming in powder.   Although traveling to a snow area is an alternative, I have reached an age where the rigors of airline travel severely discourage the effort.
    So while my skis languish in my locker and my boots and ski clothing remain in storage, I find myself into the decluttering mode.   Over many years of various construction and remodeling projects, I have accumulated odds and ends of tools, nails, screws and a miscellany of hardware.   With my extra time I will trash, sort and give away this debris.
       Thankfully I have 20 years of ski logs to relive those past great days on the slopes.