Ryan's Word Riots

Ahh, it’s about time for winter to start properly. Been a rough couple months scratching through crystalline drizzles and muggy afternoons.

The skiers and snowboarders pray for it like a surfer prays for swell, a businessman prays for leverage, a doctor prays for a cure and a lothario prays for a bachelorette party.

But the farmers pray for it too. It means there will be plenty of water during the summer. Same for the anglers. The hunters know it means that when that season comes around, the game will be healthy thanks to all the forage, and well-hydrated.

Though they may not necessarily appreciate the snow for what it is, especially when it’s clogging the roads and loading down their roofs.

I appreciate it for the chance to shovel off my home, the only kind of shoveling I like. I appreciate it for the way it lines the branches so they look like white coral standing straight above water, and for how the alpenglow reflects off the flanks. I appreciate it for how it lets me test the gear I have to write about, like last weekend when I did a lap on Teton Pass through great mounds of fluffy white and then later explored just off Teton Canyon for a couple hundred foot run down untracked hero pow, the world a great untouched canvas. I appreciate it for how happy it makes me, and my son, and my stepson.

It’s finally winter.