Spring skiing in December in Minnesota?

As I walk around Duluth and our cabin in Brimson, I'm amazed at the wet snow on the ground.  Hey, this is December; we're supposed to have white fluffy stuff at least six inches deep.  This snow is like March snow.

This is bad for the tourism industry because fewer people will come to Duluth to ski.  In fact, Spirit Mt. will not be open for a full daily schedule until Dec. 8.  It used to be that ski hills in Minnesota began full-time operation at Thanksgiving, even south of Minneapolis.  Forget "over the hill and through the woods to Grandmother's house…"

It's also bad for all the snowplow operators, public and private.  They will be called out less often.

Almost any change has winners and losers.  The big winners are those who get to spew lots of CO2 and other pollution in the air.  The losers are all those who depend on seasonal shifts, but they're little folk and I guess they don't count.

Am I getting to the age where the disappointment of fewer opportunities to ski are offset by the joy of shoveling less?

For some, spring is a sad time

The snow is melting, the closing of Spirit Mountain is nearer, what will we skiers do when the snow is all gone?

My wife thinks the season is over. Rain is predicted for Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the mid-40s and lows above freezing all week. What will the snow be like on Friday?

Should we head north for Lutsen? Head back west for more Rocky Mountain skiing? Knowing us, we'll probably stay put.

Time to start at the fitness center with a full program to be ready for next season.

Temperature: It's all relative!

When we went skiing today at Bridger Bowl, many people were complaining that it was cold. I think it was in the low twenties; I hardly noticed. As of 5:00 p.m. this afternoon, the snow report said it was 20 at the base and 15 mid-mountain. Since the slopes are east-facing, I would imagine that the temperature dropped quite a bit as the sun sank over the mountains.

My gosh! Temperatures in the 20s at Spirit Mountain in Duluth would be a warm winter day.

How cold is it in Duluth?

Temperature range according to AccuWeather.com: -21 to 1. Other sources: lower at higher elevations.

That's not so bad on the high side. We went skiing this morning at Spirit Mountain. However, instead of six runs then coffee then six more runs, it was 3-coffee-3.

We were also up to heading to our cabin in Brimson to split some more wood. But when we got there it was so cold that our electricity didn't work. Well, we don't know why the electricity didn't work and every neighbor we called didn't answer the phone. But since it would be -20 or lower, we didn't want to stay overnight if we couldn't keep our truck plugged in.

Meanwhile, among our supplies in the back of the truck were two bottles of beer and a bottle of wine. When we got back to Duluth, I opened one of the bottles of beer. It wouldn't pour! The beer was so slushy that it wouldn't come out very fast.

Talk about having a cold one! This really was ice-cold beer. The head was a half a glass of slush.