STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO- Winter in Colorado is different from anything I’ve ever experienced, most of all because there is no time to hibernate. Back on the East Coast, winter was a time to pull back to the keep. It gets darker earlier, and it's unpleasant to be outside any more than you have to. Sure, there will be those bright shining days where the sky is unnaturally blue, and you feel like going for a walk, but for the most part winter means more time to read, catch up on movies & TV series, and spend time inside recharging your batteries.
In Colorado, the complete opposite is true. Winter is a time to be outside and embrace the elements. It’s a time to strap on your ski boots, and hit the hill for a few runs. It’s a time to embrace being alive, to be in your element, which now, is snow. It’s a time when you can come home and make soup for dinner, for sure, and your choice of drink certainly changes. Porters over lagers, whiskeys over tequilas…anything to warm your bones at the end of a long, hard day.
Yet what binds everyone here in a ski town is the almost incestuous bond of riding up and down a snow-covered mountain all day. It’s a difficult thing to put a finger on, why this is so much fun, but it’s true. Joy comes from being outside in the snow, not inside, hiding away from it. There is literally no condition in which it’s acceptable to be inside…if it’s nice out, it’s a bluebird day, and you’ve got to seize the sun. If it’s snowing out, well, you better get to bed early, because that means there’s a powder day in the morning. And you don’t want to miss that.
Rain is quite literally the only element that makes it undesirable to be out of doors, and in the winter months rain is nonexistent. Snow means that you’ll go outside more than you usually would, and the cold is not a deterrent. I’ve got to point out here that it’s not the same kind of cold you’ll deal with back on the east coast—it’s dry cold, and there is a difference. Wet cold is bone chilling, and cuts to the core of your soul. We’ve had a few days where the cold is distinctly wet—it’s usually borderline freezing, with precipitation in the air, and it’s pure horror, the worst kind of element imaginable. I don’t mind the cold anymore, but I do mind the wet cold. There is a difference.
Just make sure you dress warmly, and you’ll be A-OK in Colorado, because it's time to embrace winter.