SNOW STORM

     This weekend we had some major snow fall...about 24 cm ( 8 in) . For us that's a lot of snow. There was no wind and it was about minus 5 C.

    I had the great honor and pleasure of shoveling my driveway and walk three times. It was dry light powdery snow so was very easy to shovel. 

    I couldn't wait to go out cross country skiing. Skiing was a challenge. I had to make a trail My skies were under the snow. My intention was to make a few rounds and set the track. Somehow with the deep snow I became fatigued very quickly. It was very dull. (You know I'm leading up to an excuse , don't you.) On top of that my glasses got fogged up and I didn't notice it. When you make your own trail everything is uneven so balance is key.

    Well that's right . I fell. But I did get up by myself. I continued but had decided I'd skied enough. I stopped. I lost my balance and fell. Yes, I got up again and then immediately fell. The third time I had to take my skies off.

    The beauty of the falls was that we had the deep soft snow.

    These photos were taken about 11:30 AM and you can see by the shadows how low the sun is in the sky.

    I like the way snow piles up on stuff.

A Post That Didn't Pan Out

     I live near the Canadian Rockies and this is a great time of the year to ski , snow board, snow shoe, snowmobile and just be out in the mountains. It's also peak avalanche time. We hear about avalanches everyday as highways are blocked or people who are caught and killed in and avalanche.

    I taught outdoor education and took my students on field trips to the Rockies.We had to be very careful about avalanches. Avalanche science has come a long way since I taught. The first thing we would show the kids is the different layers of snow and how there were weak layers that would allow snow over top to start sliding down a slope.  With differences in temperature , wind and snowfall, conditions could change in the snow pack and avalanche risk could rapidly change. We always had a student or two who would protest when we gave an avalanche area a wide berth. They wanted to take a short cut and cross an avalanche field.

You can see barely see snow layers

     So how did my post not pan out. I was going to take a  picture of the snow on my snow table. I knew there were different layers of snow. I thought I could take a sharp shovel and expose the different layers of snow. This is where the plan fell apart. The snow layers did not show prominently  and my photography skill was not going to get me to where I could show the layers. 

     So with all the snow here people have been shoveling snow off the house roofs. So, okay I'll throw that in to my challenged post. Now if you look at the snow on the house you can see distinct layers of snow. By the time I got the pictures of snow on the house I had given up on the idea of showing snow conditions for avalanche hazard.

You get some idea of the amount of snow on my roof.

So the guy who fell down the stairs is on his roof shoveling snow?

    So by now I'm going around in circles and some readers have probably given up on this post. 

    So all I can do is wish myself better luck on my next post.