Tag archives for snow
Posted by Sixty-six below zero. That’s the coldest temperature ever recorded in Yellowstone: -66ºF at Madison, near the park’s west entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana. How cold is that? Cold enough to break the thermometer that made the measurement back in 1933. It was fitting then, that we should stop at this momentous site for a break…
Like people or the movies, snow can be good—or it can be bad.
Bad snow is deceiving: hard and crusty on top yet soft and air-pocked underneath. Bad snow doesn’t hold up under pressure—it breaks apart and shifts and slides. Bad snow causes avalanches.
There’s nothing quite like a snowstorm in June, which is what I encountered as I hiked to the top of Blåfjell (“blue mountain”) high above Geirgangerfjord in western Norway. Though my phone kept reminding me that it was indeed summer, but the snow and wind and near white-out conditions made me think I was wending…
“Press on your right foot when you wanna go left . . . and press on your left foot when you wanna go right.” Such are the basics of skiing as taught to me by Olympic gold medalist Nancy Greene, though she gives proper credit where it’s due. “A six-year-old taught me that principle,” she…
Matt tries to kill me before I’ve even digested my breakfast. Our first run of the day is a pole-gripping black diamond that drops through the trees and into a channel of menacing moguls. I clench a smile and skid my way downhill, tumbling once or twice but still making it alive. “You’ve got good…
The fate of snow lies in front of me. Feathery flakes blow all around us, but where they fall makes all the difference. The snow on my right will one day melt and flow downward, into creeks, streams, rivers, and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. The drops on the left will one day pour into the…
