serendipity snow

I just happened to be in Canaan, WV for a couple of days when the first snowfall happened. Chipper does a betting pool for the first frost and the first snow. TB won the date of the first snow. I bet he had no idea that it was going to be 8 inches for the first snowfall!

Canaan is so beautiful and so fun when it snows. Morgan and his college buddies got first turns down the slope at midnight and then woke up early and skied with me and Chipper, TB, and CB. That was great fun. Plus it is amazing to see these kids master the Tele turn. My advice to people who are trying to learn to tele is "ski like a kid" ...preferably a kid who grew up in Canaan Valley, though.

Yes, I did go cross country skiing. But very gingerly! Uphill skiing, like biking, is the best. Downhill skiing is a bit sketchy especially in the thicker stuff. I felt a like more of a beginner...stiff, bent over at the waist, and generally timid. But you can believe that I was going to ski good and not eat any wood, nor do any damage to my little green bones.

But it was a good, friendly snow, not too fast, not too slow. As it warmed up in the sun on Thursday, our skis stuck a little, but actually it was amazing october conditions. Like Chippy said, "It would of been in the top ten of last year's skiing conditions"

On the way up to Canaan I went up Scherr mountain and to my surprise they have put windmills up there. Its pretty freaky when you don't know the windmills are there, then suddenly these huge white blades are going by. I don't want to see windmills everywhere, especially on public lands, but they seem better than dirty coal. It would be wonderful if towns could put up windmills and keep the power local.