Winter has returned — cold and snowy — and I have just one gripe: my “winter” wiper blades were frozen for the whole trip home tonight.

But that’s all I can come up with, boys and girls — you all know from past posts that I don’t mind this stuff a bit, especially when it turns cold in time for our nearby ski areas to lay down some snow for my regular day off
on Friday.

Here’s an illustration. Seven Springs last night, as the storm was still approaching:

Ew. Not looking so good. I’m not even sure you could finish a top-to-bottom run here without taking your skis off and slogging through some mud. But here’s what the same run looked like tonight, about 24 hours later:

Ahh, that’s much better. It’s not ready yet, but another 24 hours of solid snowmaking coming up — and consecutive nights when it will be cold enough to do the same — Friday should be pretty solid.

So while TV bitches and moans about the fact that it’s cold — in, uh, January — I pick up my waxed and sharpened skis after work tomorrow. Yes.

*Update: Um, HOLY FUCKING SHIT. When I pulled these screen caps yesterday, I did so with the notion that it would be fun to compare images that were taken about a day apart.

I’m pretty good. Check out the time stamps.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go buy some lottery tickets.