Creation Care Mom

I grew up in Montana/Wyoming so I have seen my fair share of snowy winters. I’ve seen the natural variability each year. Some years have more and some less. Most years there would be snow on the ground for weeks, if not months, at a time.

I happen to really enjoy winter when we have a good snow. I love the way the white sheet covers up the brown lifeless ground. It is so fresh and clean. Good snow allows me to participate in one of my favorite winter activities too! Cross-country skiing.

I learned to cross-country ski at a very young age, shortly after learning how to walk. Living inside Yellowstone National Park in the winter, over-snow travel is the only option. Snowmobiles and snowcoaches are loud while skiing is quiet, allowing you to hear the birds and rabbits in the woods. Cross-country skiing is a way to “hike” in the winter (the other is snowshoe). Taking you back into the woods and away from civilization. It’s a great workout as you travel up and glide down hills. Even more of a workout if you are breaking trail instead of using groomed tracks! One of the best gifts my parents gave me in high school was an annual pass to the local cross-country ski resort. I’d go up there most Saturdays and ski anywhere from 5 to 12 miles in a couple hours.

During the first year my husband and I were married, we worked inside Yellowstone for the winter season together. He had only been on skies a couple of times, but he learned fast! We skied to work, around the geyser basin, and other Old Faithful area trails. It was a good winter for snow and we mostly didn’t have to worry about thin spots wrecking our skies. Those are very fond memories.

Since we now live in Kansas our opportunities to ski are few and far between. Snow doesn’t last long around here, it usually melts in a couple of days, and snow frequency is lower too. The first winter we were here we had an exceptionally snowy winter and I went skiing in the park about once a week, but since then, it’s been only once or twice a year.

This post takes it’s title for the New York Times Climate Forward newsletter I received on Thursday. It was a great piece talking about all the ways snow pack is important, especially in the Western US. But I want to take a more emotional take on missing snow because I know I am not the only winter athlete who is concerned about the loss of snow in all the places I’ve lived.

Little kid me learn to ski by playing silly games with my friends. Competing in such events as the 3-legged ski. As a teen, skiing was a way for me to unwind and de-stress from high school. It was a place I could go to let my introvert recharge. Newlyweds, we explored for three months on skies, laughing at crashing, and bonding together.

The emotions go beyond skiing of course. Building snow forts, ice skating outside, and sledding are all winter only activities because they require cold and snowy conditions. Ice fishing requires enough cold days in a row to establish a safe layer of ice on the lake. It’s the one winter activity I didn’t understand with my only memory of being cold and miserable all day long. Just sit a moment and think of the joyful memories you might have from participating in some winter activity.

What do we lose when children, couples, and families cannot participate in the memory making moments of a snowy winter? Do we lose the laughter of crashing on a sled, the smiles of tunneling through a huge pile of snow, the balance required for standing on blades of metal?

I know not everyone lives where they see snow regularly, but its an obvious draw for winter vacations. Some families move specifically for the snow.

Winters are changing because the climate is changing. Winters are drier and warmer. This winter many alpine ski resorts have to make snow in order to open, an energy intensive and laborious process. Few had a white Christmas. For us, it was 60 degrees (well above average) and pouring rain. Addressing the cause of global climate change is the only way to attempt preserve our winter lifestyles.

Please join me in taking action. If this has struck a chord with you, go check out Protect Our Winters at https://protectourwinters.org/. And as always, speak out, consider your climate impact, and become part of the solution.