The crisp early-October morning weather is heightening my eagerness for some snow, so I was excited to hear Mark Seeley, a U of Minnesota climatologist and state celebrity, say last Friday on Minnesota Public Radio that the Twin Cities have received measurable snowfall in forty Octobers since 1884, most recently in 2002. October snow is actually pretty late for some parts of the continent, of course. On August 31, the Canadian cross-country skier Devon Kershaw blogged about significant snowfall in the Rockies, and a couple of ski teams in Alaska actually did a bit of snow skiing in September. And this weekend, the forecast for Spearfish, South Dakota, is nicely white:
As my post last weekend showed, here in southern Minnesota it’s still rollerski season. My workout hardly compared, in topographical or physical demands, to the incredible-sounding (and amazing-looking) “Climb to the Castle” uphill race on Monday in northern New York. Then again, it was still better than using this cool but pretty weird cool invention: a synthetic surface so much like snow that you can ski on it.
When I get rich figuring out how to profit on the Wall Street collapse, I’ll use my third million dollars to install this on my woodland estate in northern Minnesota. (The first million will go in the bank, the second to buy the property and build a modest 9 BR, 8 bath shack in one corner of the lot.)
Mmmmm snow….I’m ecstatic just thinking about my Thanksgiving trip to ski in Quebec…But for now, same is out there, its 3.5 hours of skating on my rollerskis tomorrow morning
Take a few gels or at least a damn Snickers with you!
Cliffbar and a lot of gatorade and I still was on the very last of my energy reserves by the end.