[at-l] More Winter Weather

[Art Cloutman]

After 2 hours of shoveling snow and ice I've come in for a break. 
I'm hoping to finish in time to make it to Gunstock where I am 
scheduled to teach a ski lesson at 1:30 PM.  Last week we had five 
days of snow varying from 10 inches to a dusting.  Skiing has been 
incredibly good with all trails at Gunstock open and covered with 
powder.  I have never been able to ski the glades because they are 
apt to be open for only one or two days at a time and that is usually 
when I have a full teaching load.  But the conditions have been so 
good that I was even able to bring some classes through the glades. 
 From the top of the mountain Mount Washington and the Whites 
practically glow with snow.  Concord, NH has reported an all time 
record snow fall and the winter is not over yet.  86.4 inches of snow 
have fallen in the capitol area.  We have over 100 inches at Crystal 
Lake.  Just a bit north of here they are reporting a total snow fall 
of 120 inches.  But yesterday we got blasted with 8 inches of snow 
followed by 2 inches of freezing rain and rain.  In order to remove 
the snow first you must crack the ice.  Then you can get your shovel 
under the snow and lift it.  Now the problem is how to toss it over 
the huge snow banks.  The snow on either side of my walkway is over 5 
feet high.  The snow banks beside the driveway after the plow came 
through are well over 6 feet.  I can no longer see the lake from my 
easy chair in the living room, but I can see the mountains thank 
goodness.

I've been trying to shovel out my truck.  Last night while it was 
still raining I went out and brushed the snow off of my truck and my 
wife's car so that it would not freeze the doors closed.  I did not 
try to shovel around the vehicles.  Big Mistake!  I compacted the 
snow into the water on the ground and now there are huge mounds of 
frozen footprints and slabs of ice that I brushed off of the vehicles 
as snow but are now frozen to the ground.  I hope I can get the truck 
moving on time to teach my ski lesson.

Guess I better get back to it.  I am looking forward to a few more 
hours on the slopes.  Hope the groomers are able to soften the ice a 
bit on the mountain.

Art
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Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman