Waiting

The last couple of weekends have been pretty bleak. Mostly rainy, occasional snow showers but no accumulation, steel grey skies, and the sun looks to be setting around 2pm (okay, maybe not quite 2)... tough to get motivated to do much. The skis have been pulled out of storage thanks to the October snowfall (all long gone now). The November joys like discovering that klister tubes cannot survive summers in the wax box without splitting open and leaving a layer of gooey goodness all over everything have been... ummm, enjoyed. Summer packing wax has been scraped and the skis have been preped and are waiting for snow. It's starting to get old reading about happy skiers in Alaska or the Rockies who have been skiing for weeks. World cup ski races start soon and qualifiers have already begun... and still we wait.

Today I went for a ride in the Park. It poured rain most of yesterday so I didn't get out to do much. Today the precip was to be light flurries but as I drove up there was nothing but a light drizzle. As I rode higher into the Park the flakes were falling but only when I reached Fortune lake did it look like it was sticking... then the grassy shoulders disappeared under a thin coating of snow. Finally as I got up to Huron Lodge the snow was starting to form a blanket (except the road surface of the Parkway). Still, it's a start. The skiers who shuffle in the grassy sludge on the sides of the Parkway may declare a victory but I will continue to wait. I love the bases of my skis too much - even my rock skis. Snowy days are firmly in the long range forecast with consistently cold temperatures. Won't be long now... but in the meantime I'll continue to hang by the fireside.