Weathering the Sunshine

The economy can be cruel to retailers, but Mother Nature can be straight up nasty to those of us offering gear designed for weather-dependent activities. Especially when it comes to activities that involve snow. Even in a thriving economy, where everyone has so much extra cash they can afford to buy groceries and heating oil, few people get excited about cross-country skiing or free sledding (sledding… but for adults!) when there’s fresh green grass growing with vigor in December. Or in January. If the sunshine doesn’t illuminate a single flake of snow, hardly a soul has a desire to purchase snowshoes, or for that matter, snowshoe accessories. It’s hard work standing in front of a giant wall of shiny new snowshoes, explaining to customers that sure, snowshoes are designed for snow, but they also provide excellent grip on frozen mud. And these snowshoe gaiters over here have many uses, like keeping your shins dry when walking through dew-soaked grass and stuff… or something.

One particular year, Mother Nature was especially cruel. In late November, during our annual Preseason Ski and Snowshoe Sale, which we count on to kick-start the winter selling season as well as pay a few bills, it was 67 degrees and sunny. Birds were chirping, grills were grilling, and in the distance, you could hear the sound of people washing their cars. At the shop, however, all you could hear was the sound of people not buying cross-country skis, which sounds a lot like hair standing on the back of our shop owner’s neck. The following April, during our annual Preseason Bike Sale, which we were counting on to jump-start the summer buying season as well as help dig us out of a hole by paying a mountain of bills, Mother Nature, in truly sardonic fashion, gave us a snow storm. If you wanted to test ride a bike, you had to first wait for the plow to come by. If the weather from each weekend had been flipped, both sales would have been gangbusters. Instead, both sales were just plain busts.

The main difference between these two important sales is that if in the spring our Preseason Bike Sale is snowed out, we will still sell bikes, because people trust that eventually, dirt will come. It may be snowing in April, but soon, very soon, inevitably, like in mid-August, we will see some summery bike-riding weather. That mindset doesn’t apply in the early winter however, when you’re looking at the weather map for that beautiful blue blob and it just isn’t there. The shabby consolation we cling to, that eventually it will snow because it has to, starts to wear thin. And when January rolls around and it still hasn’t snowed, and we’re all waiting for that big snowfall like a transplant patient waiting for an organ donor, we start to wonder, will it ever snow? Is this the winter we’ve been dreading, where it won’t snow at all? No, but it might be one of those winters where Mother Nature decides to give us all the snow we would ever need in March, when at that point, all that snow is the last thing we would ever need.

For some, the lack of significant snowfall doesn’t faze them in the least. Two of my favorite fellow coworkers, Bart and Jesus H., are always among the first people each year to make turns. They don’t worry about blue blobs on the weather map. They will hike on the notion that there will be snow at the top of the mountain. I asked Bart how the first day of hiking went.

“So Bart, how did Jesus H. hurt his shoulder? And why does his board look like it wound up on the wrong side of a cheese grater?”

“Well, he was flying down the trail and all of a sudden the snow just sort of ended.”

“What do you mean ended?”

“Dude, there were so many rocks.”

“Guess you guys should’ve waited a bit longer before heading up there, huh?”

“No way, it was awesome!”

That is optimism. That is inspiration. If Mother Nature gives you rocks, make Rock and Roll. And when you tune in to the Mad River Live Web Cam to see how things are going, and what you see in that surveillance camera is a creeping marauder in the form of unseasonably warm weather, don’t fret. Snow will come. It has to. In the meantime, strap on your showshoes and take a walk. After all, snowshoes provide excellent traction on frozen mud. And don’t forget your gaiters.