Ride the magic…whatever it is

Don’t panic. I’m not talking about the local band…I am talking about the weather conditions. After last winter’s odd pattern of dry, warm weather, everyone is understandably a bit skittish right now as the temperatures hang in the 40s and the sky stays blue. While I enjoyed the anomaly of being able to ride my mountain bike at Hartman Rocks last January, I want that experience to stay an anomaly.
As several people have pointed out, many of the recent ski seasons have started in similarly warm fashion. And then the skies have opened and we get the big dump sometime in early December. In fact, during the epic winter four seasons ago, it was dry until about December 7 and then after that one weekend, there was six feet of the white stuff to play in. And it just kept coming. It was wonderful.
We can’t promise that will happen again. A brief look online at the Farmer’s Almanac shows that the Rocky Mountains should expect milder than normal temperatures with average precipitation—whatever that means. It does say we can expect a Christmas Day gift of snow.
One thing I am sure of is that the snowmakers on the hill are earning their money. Thank you for toiling in the dark and the cold. The hope is to actually get the Paradise Lift runs open this weekend. As someone commented after hearing the news, “That sounds like magic.”
Indeed it does. And we can use whatever magic comes our way. The Lupine Trail north of Crested Butte was dry and very rideable for mountain bikes last weekend. That was magic. If Paradise Bowl is rideable for skis on Saturday, that too, will be magic.
Hey, don’t forget, we live in a magic place. It’s just not always the magic you wish for. So get out and take what the place offers you. Like it or not, it appears that whatever you do in the near future should include a layer of sunscreen. Enjoy the magic.