Sorry to have to post this for all of those non-snow people out there. Despite everything else these days I am already highly in the holiday spirit. Me and my girlfriend woke up this morning to find a nice little layer of white stuff on the ground and we hopped out of bed in high spirits!

Damn, I jealous!

Hey, that shed would make a perfect sauna.

- trs

That's funny. I have the exact OPPOSITE reaction. Well, maybe the first day of snow would be cool... but after that i'm depressed. A nice sunny Northern California morning is what shoots me out of bed in good spirits... Winter cold and snow would depress the hell out of me. The only good thing about snow is that it's about 3 hours from me and can be visited for snowboarding at my liesure. =]

Hmm... waverunner/jetski and snow... Not something you usually see in the same picture.

Well, last weekend all my friends up in Finland were busy changing to winter (studded) tires on their cars...

Thinking of Finland, I purchased my Nokian Hakkapellita 2 studded snows three weeks ago. We had a 5" storm in New Hampshire on Oct. 22nd which spurred the purchase. I usually have them on by Thanksgiving. I can't wait to get skiing!

-Zeke

We had a 5" storm...

That gives a whole new meaning to the term "microclimate."

I know what you meant though.

I purchased my Nokian Hakkapellita 2 studded snows three weeks ago

And yes, they used to be produced by Nokia, the mobile phone company (that was the merger of a papermill company, a rubber company and a cable company), but the tyre part (and the rubber boots) got divested in a management buyout, so now they use the "Nokian" ("from Nokia" - Nokia is actually a small town in Finland).

Well thats news to me!

a 5" storm

LOL!

[scottish_accent]Thaht's a wee stohrm yeh got der laddie![/scottish_accent]

-Zeke

I can't wait to try them, they're supposed to be some of the best studded snows available. I've never had Nokians before, I hope I'm not disappointed. I drive about 600 miles/week and have a good deal of time to consider tread noise. It's worth it when the ice storms come and I'm tooting down the road as everyone else slides off to the sides.

-Zeke

I'm definitely a winter person. If you lived in the mid-Atlantic region, you probably wouldn't like the summers as much as you do in CA. The humidity would have you wishing for some cold fall weather.

Then again, I dislike temps over 80 degrees, so I'm not fond of any kind of heat.

Anyway, I'm really jealous of your snow. Of course, you live in Canada, so I imagine you might get sick of it after a while

If you lived in the mid-Atlantic region, you probably wouldn't like the summers as much as you do in CA

I lived 18 of my 25 years in Louisiana. Summers were almost unbearable. Then there were a few weeks of Fall, then BAM, freezing ass Winter. That's why i no longer live there. =]

I've been getting snow here (Utah) every day since October 30th. So far there is 8-12" on my brothers Camaro. I should go measure it. Snow is good! My local favorite resort has 42" since Thursday. Park City is about 46". Again, snow is good!

Favorite local resort, hmmmm.

Skier: Alta.
Snowboarder: Brighton.

Yes?

-Zeke

Hehe, You're right. Here in Louisiana our four seasons are :
Almost Summer, Summer, Still Summer, and Christmas.

Yeah, I didn't have too much of a problem visiting that state, but I wouldn't have been able to bear living there.

I'm getting the feeling that the whole country is feeling the same effect I am. Is it just my area, or have there been two seasons for the past couple years? Summer, then winter. Summer, then winter. I think that last "spring" it was breezey and 72 for about 3 days, and the rest was 90 and humid with lots of showers. This evening I stepped outside anticipating the colder nights we've been having, just to find it was about 72 degrees out. It's November 5th for crying out loud! When am I going to see some fall weather?? I love the fall!

I Ski, but I have never skied Alta. I live at the mouth of the canyon, but usually have never skied it. Everyone tells me I need to. I usually ski Solitude, and hate Brighton. But let me say, Snowbasin, where the 2002 Olympic Downhill & Super G events were held is a fun mountain. Very fast!

Speaking of strange weather... (summer, summer, Christmas)
Last Thursday it was 21-22 degrees celsius. The following Monday morning we had snow on the ground!

I've also got a pic of my del Sol with a layer of snow on her. She's waiting for me to get my old 4wd Pick-up back from the garage so I can park her for the winter.

I was also going to put the studded tires back on my CR-V last weekend but I was too busy... time to get cracking though. My truck has had studded tires on her all summer... I found it helped at times while 4 wheeling! Studs grip slippery logs better then rubber.

they used to be produced by Nokia, the mobile phone company

Isn't it that Nokia's ex-employee's have some sort of equitable fund, housing for life in the village and that sort of thing, I seem to remember reading about it, and that they were the leading Wellington manufacturer in Europe - however, you must know more than I?

Yeah, I've heard great things about the new Snowbasin. I skied there before it was rebuilt and it was OK, but nothing special. I took a winter off and lived by the U, worked minimal hours at the (then brand new) Chart House and skied as much as possible.

I agree, you must ski Alta. Get your Sandy-ass up there!

-Zeke

Here's my brothers car covered while he is in Iraq. In the background you would normally see the mountains. But again it was snowing lightly.

Aww man! You're killing me!

...stumbles off to leaf through back issues of Powder...

-Zeke

You really want it! It looks like Brighton is opening tomorrow, er today(In the news section).. Gotta check the time. Only 2 lifts, but still.... Tomorrow is my day off! So the question is how bad have you got it?

...stumbles off to leaf through back issues of Powder...

Time to get my board sharpened and waxed, methinks...

I've got it bad enough to consider getting fitted for a new set of boots this weekend, not bad enough to fly out to catch the 1st chair at Brighton! Take some fast ones for me. I've only been to Brighton a few times, but I certainly remember the glades skier's right of the upper chair and those nice rock drops under the upper part of the lower chair! Mmmmmm.

I'm catching the new Warren Miller flick next week, that'll be exquisite torture. Hopefully it'll be a big snow winter everywhere. My buddy recently got a book outlining the best backcountry ski routes in NH/VT. I can't wait to try a few of them.

-Zeke

In reply to:

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Isn't it that Nokia's ex-employee's have some sort of equitable fund, housing for life in the village and that sort of thing, I seem to remember reading about it, and that they were the leading Wellington manufacturer in Europe - however, you must know more than I?

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Well, I worked with them when it was still a very small "nokia telecommunications" division within the big Nokia company. And I still have a pair of Nokia wellies. Don't know about ever being leading, but everyone in Finland had them. Too bad I didn't save any Nokia toilet tissue

But yes, the town of Nokia got a fair bit of Nokia shares, the proceed of which can only be used to improve quality of life of elderly people in the town. So they have the fanciest retirement home in Europe...