Skiing in the Rain

Jim, Adam, Jacob, and I thought that we would be clever this year, so we scheduled a ski trip up north during the less expensive “early season.” A few weeks ago, we reserved a room at the ski lodge for this Sunday through Tuesday. We were excited to hear about the unusually heavy amounts of snow that have been falling in northern Michigan. They have had more snow in the first ten days of December this year than they did the entire month last year. We looked forward to enjoying fresh powder on uncrowded runs. We dusted off our skis, dug out our thermal gloves, and even bought Adam a new snowboard for his birthday. Then we checked the weather forecast.

Rain. It is supposed to become warm and rain up there on Sunday! Normally, temperatures in the upper 30s or lower 40s are uncommonly wonderful for skiing. But, combined with precipitation, the rare, warm day on the slopes turns disastrous. And very slushy. Then, icy when everything eventually refreezes. Geez, it snows almost every single day of the month until we choose to venture to the ski resort, then it decides to rain. And, if a downpour does materialize, the ski area will actually just close, although they have informed us that we may reschedule to Monday through Wednesday if necessary. Rain – way to put a damper on a ski trip!