A Luminous Mountain Morning

Chapter One: Compulsory Comment on the Weather
Today was a warm day. The high was 28˚F and I cannot impress upon you enough that this is in no way a joke. When it's 28 above, you can throw on your warm clothes and be warm. You can leave your face exposed. You don't even have to wear gloves. 28 above is a godsend.

The high was zero a few days ago. That night, it got down to 15 below, and if you factor in windchill, it was 30 below. At 11:30pm, right before I went to sleep, I walked a lap around part of my building without my jacket on (just two layers of cotton and a pair of jeans) to see what it felt like. Research shows that if you're properly covered, you can last up to twenty minutes outside at that temp before frostbite gets you, but I didn't have anything over my nose, and I have a feeling that would have cut down my safe zone.

If I had walked the whole way, it would have taken me about 60 seconds. After about 15, my legs started sprinting without consulting my brain first, and I was inside ten seconds later.

28 above is a godsend.

Chapter Two: Academics (Is a Short Chapter Because J-Term)

I'm now a week into J-term. A reminder: I take one class for four weeks, and life is good. This year, I'm taking Nonfiction Creative Writing. I've written a couple little things so far, and I will write some more little things before the month is up. We've read some great stuff by the likes of Joan Didion, Jo Ann Beard, and a couple others whose names aren't currently on the tips of my fingers.

Chapter Three: I'm Really Just Still On Vacation

I'm not doing track, because I always kinda did track in order to stay in shape for XC, and now that I don't have an XC season coming up for the first time in eight years, I'm not doing track. Which leaves plenty of time for skiing and intramural hockey. We had our first IM game last week, and our team is essentially composed of the cross country runners who have a passing interest in hockey. What people seem to find amusing is that everyone on the team is from the northeast (i.e. hockey territory) except for two kids from Southern California (i.e. not so much), and those two kids each scored hat tricks while the rest of the team combined for zero goals. We lost 7-6.

Skiing is different because the amount of fun it is depends so much on the conditions. This year, I bought a season pass that works for three local mountains (Mad River Glen, Sugarbush North, and Sugarbush South) instead of skiing at the crappy Middlebury Snow Bowl, and so far the decision has paid off. A really good powder day has yet to arrive, but I will be there when it does.

Chapter Four: Probability, Plus Waffles

Half the people in my suite (Chuck, Kevin, and me out of six total) got The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen for Christmas. I find that very strange. The book is good so far, but I'm only 38 pages in.

I have played four games of Catan since I got here. I have not won any of them. In one of the games, 2 was rolled four times in the first twenty minutes, giving Wilder a 10-4-4-4 win. Disgusting.

I have eaten a waffle with peanut butter and maple syrup every day of J-term so far. The fruit on top varies based on what's available.

Chapter Five: A Game

This is a bad game that nobody should win. I know it's a dumb game, but sometimes I'm a dumb person, so I can sympathize with it. None of you will win, except maybe Rachael, and she might need some luck. Unless Jason uses Cole. Cole will probably do alright.

When I flew from LA to Boston a little over a week ago, I was chaperoned by clear weather over CA, NV, AZ, and UT. An impenetrable layer of cloud hung over the entire country east of the Utah-Colorado border. I was fortunate enough to see seven national parks before that happened. Three of them were far enough away to make photography futile, but four of them were not. Seeing all of them covered in snow was strange.

So here is the game: Guess the park! (They're not in chronological order, so you can't just go from west to east.)