Old Man Winter visited Flagstaff a couple days ago and the town is covered in a mantle of white.  Drought over the past three years makes even the most violent snow-hater appreciate the moisture.  The foot of snow that we received in town equals only a few inches of rain but it’s a good start for the season.  Hopefully, there will be much more before spring arrives.

The NAU students and folks traveling up the mountain from Phoenix are anxious to try out the slopes up at the Flagstaff Snow Bowl.  I’m not a skier myself.  I tried it once when Ron and I were first married.  We went to one of the resorts in the California Sierras where we rented skis.  Ron must have thought the ideal way to learn was to “throw her in and let her learn as she goes.”  As a newcomer from Florida, where snow was as rare as a volcanic eruption, I had no idea what you did with skis.  We put them on and Ron helped me onto the ski lift where he sat beside me.  As we reached the top of the mountain, he yelled, “Jump off!”

“Are you crazy?”  I yelled back.

“No! Jump! Now!!!”

” No way,” I said, really getting worried as we reached the end of the lift.

The kindly operator stopped the lift and I climbed off, feeling a bit embaressed.  He helped me back on and I rode the lift back down the mountain where I took the skis off.  That was my ski experience and not one I care to repeat.

One of the secrets of Flagstaff, that not too many people know about, is the ice cave located at the base of Mount Elden.  When it gets cold enough and wet enough, melting snow flowing down the mountain forms an ice flow in one of the caves in the rocks.  It’s always fun to hike back to the ice cave each winter and see how much ice has formed this year.