A year ago today I was snowboarding on Mt. Mansfield. It’s a different story today with warmish temperatures and rain. I’m ready for the start of winter.
A friend emailed me asking if I’m around in two weekends. He wants to visit me in Stowe and do a little riding together. I haven’t seen this friend in years, and it will be great to catch up ago. The problem is, I discovered I’m busy every weekend through the end of March. Turns out, when you live in a ski town, lots of people want to come for a visit.
I started organizing developer related meetups in 2001 starting with a weekly happy hour for dev friends and co-workers. Over the years I ended up organizing different types of events, from monthly meetings that included speakers to parties and happy hours to annual snowboarding trips. I even started NSHappyHour for Mac and iOS developers, which is still going on each month in Salem, MA.
Seeing “temperature inversion” in the Stowe snow report this morning is music to my ears. It’s -20°F in town but a balmy 2°F at the summit. Time to ride.
I bought a new Burton snowboard the other day. I ordered it online from a mom and pop shop in the Oregon. I wanted to buy locally here in Stowe but the price I paid was 10% cheaper than the price listed on the websites of local shops. Combined with the fact that I didn’t have to pay sales tax and shipping was free, I felt I was getting a great deal. Still, I would have preferred to support a local shop here in Vermont, but at least I supported a local shop in Oregon.
The Northeast has been getting slammed with a major snow storm, but unfortunately Stowe, Vermont, is too far northwest to get the full force of the storm. I had hoped for a bit of new snow overnight, but it didn’t happen. So I waited before hitting the slopes this morning in hopes the edge of the storm would inch its way into the Stowe, but it didn’t happen. So Melanie and I hit the slopes anyways, braving the -26 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill. We got in two runs before deciding today would be a good day for a lunch date. So we left the hill, and headed for lunch in town. And then the snow finally came…guess I’ll be hitting the hill first thing tomorrow morning.
Despite a rainy start this morning, I was able to get in a few snowboard runs on the hill before crowd arrived. And I had great visibility top to bottom on the last two runs. I think that might be the first time this season I’ve had great visibility top to bottom.
I refuse to accept that winter is over. For instance, today I hiked up Mt. Mansfields to do a snowboard run on Nosedive. And based on the crowd, I wasn’t the only one who thought today was a good day for a hike.
When I lived in NYC I organized and ran events for computer geeks like me. It was a lot of fun, and a great way to meet new people. Then I moved to Salem, Mass, a suburb of Boston, and again I organized and ran events in Salem and Boston. And again it was a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people.
Today marks my 25th day snowboarding this season. While this might sound awesome, it’s fewer days than I was hoping to have by mid-January. I snowboarded 21 days up through Christmas. That means I have only snowboarded 4 days since Christmas, which is why I thought I would have more days by now.
I refuse to accept that winter is over. For instance, today I hiked up Mt. Mansfields to do a snowboard run on Nosedive. And based on the crowd, I wasn’t the only one who thought today was a good day for a hike.