It’s About Fun! by Joe Stevens

Hello Everyone –

It always takes the smiles of strangers to make you stop and realize why playing on a frozen surface we call snow is a whole lot of fun.  Before traveling to make some spring turns this past Saturday, I was more worried about the weather from the skies than the conditions of the snow.  I arrived Friday afternoon, with the posted temperature being over 60 degrees.  My thought process quickly turned from the next day’s weather to what type of snow I would be sliding on the next day, despite not seeing any bare spots from the resort’s main lodge.  Shame on me.

As I was taking my equipment and luggage to my room with doubts rolling in my head on what I was going to find on the slopes the next day, a group of young skiers were depositing their equipment in the lockers after a day on the slopes.  Other than sensing a case of exhaustion from all of them, there were smiles on the faces of the entire group. A sense of reality hit yours truly square between the eyes and it was something most of us forget this time of year, that at the end of the day, it’s all about fun.  The smiles on the faces I saw reminded me of that fact and I couldn’t wait to hit the slopes the next day. 

The day I hit the slopes was one of those days that only two days before was forecasted by weatherman as probably being a wet one.  Thank goodness, I took my own advice and said in the Mid-Atlantic Mountains just about anything can happen and don’t always depend on forecasters that sit in offices and push paper all day.  Sometimes I admit they get it right, but this time around, the good chance of rain turned out to be blue skies and frost on my windshield.  That’s important as the colder than expected temperatures allowed the groomers get most of the trails ready for Saturday’s skier and snowboarder traffic.  Those first turns of the day were crisp and fun.  Did I say fun, oh yes, it was and by the time we took our first break, smiles were seen across the board.  Yes it’s all about fun.

The conditions were true spring like and the snow softened up as the day went along, but everywhere you looked the same smiles that were early in the morning were still evident.  This reminded me again that spring skiing and riding is all about fun and those final turns of the season.  So the moral of this story is that there is still time to go and have some fun.  Tell them that Joe sent you.

Before signing off this week, I wanted to add a non-skiing or riding observation, but none the less a true proof of sportsmanship between professionals.  Besides this being spring skiing and riding time, it is March Madness, a time when college basketball fans are watching hours upon hours of college tournament basketball action.  During the second half of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game between Duke and Boston College , a pushing match occurred between players of both squads.  Playing major peace makers were coaches Al Skinner of BC and Mike Krweshiscyk of Duke.  After the smoke cleared and the referees made their decisions the two coaches stood at the scorers table, accepted the decision and shook hands and play resumed.  Now think about the message that sent to the players.  Duke went on to win by two points, I saw two professional winners come away from the contest and that was Coach Skinner and Coach K.  Have fun filling out your brackets.

Remember whether it be cold or whether it be hot, we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather will be.  Think about it!  See you on the slopes!