It’s Time to Wake Up - 197

 In my first 70 years I dreamed very little but lately I dream much of the night. Sometimes I am back on the outdoor ice-rink in Minneapolis playing hockey. All my buds and I are outside giving our all to push a black biscuit into the mouth of a makeshift goal. Sometimes I am back at the Air Force Academy where I was introduced to downhill skiing which fueled my dream of being a ski bum. Perhaps I am lucky the Air Force had other ideas for me as my friends, observing my skill vs speed, told me I would not live to see 30. Now, the knees won’t let me be a ski bum but that does not mean I can’t dream of skiing with my old buds and girlfriends.

My best dreams come from the UP. When I was stationed at K.I. Sawyer AFB my roommate introduced me to cross-country skiing. This was the pinnacle of pleasure. I could ski every evening. There was no driving to ski slopes, no lift lines, just the silence, splendor, and slide on snow. Cross-country ski dreams are very pleasant.

When I was in my forties the Minnesota Guard needed biathletes. By sheer luck I ended up on the team. My last race, after five years of joyful training, was up a mountain in Vermont. On the way up I was charging hard and my vision shrunk to pinpoints.  On the way down I could just hang on to my teammates as we tore down the trail. It was my last race and we won the national championship. A very nice snow dream.

In the UP we create “snow dreams” for others. We have great downhill ski areas, world-class cross-country tracks, and miles of snowmobile trails. People come here to live snow dreams today and then bring them home. Their snow experiences are savored and shared. Our self-image and our economy is based on snow and enabling the snow dreams of others. Snow is a gift to us from mother nature to share.

And that is why I am a little perplexed. We have clubs, trail authorities, businesses, and even foundations which exist to promote and market our winter. Knowing my love of skiing, one foundation approached me to contribute. I went to their website. One of the goals of the foundation is to sustain the area as a ski destination for generations to come. A noble aspiration.

Like all our regional downhill, cross-country, and snowmobile clubs, and now this winter foundation, none have come to the awareness they all depend on snow. And the snow season is going away rapidly here and around the world.

The iconic Aspen Ski Mountain in Colorado says they have lost 31 days of winter skiing since the 1950s. Thirty-one days is a lot and it would have been much more if the ski industry had not invested multiple millions of dollars in snow making equipment and technology.

And even the snowmaking is being challenged. Greenhouse gasses warm nights faster than days and you need cold nights to make snow.

Steamboat Colorado Ski Area annually puts in an average 200 hours of snowmaking by mid-November. This year they could put in only 8 by mid-November.

Denver, the mile high city, has gone 224 days without snow. When it does snow, it will be the latest snow recorded since 1882.

Ski areas in mountainous areas have an advantage. If the mountain is high you move your lifts up the mountain. We cannot.

When my Ironwood girlfriend talks about her restaurant business, she tells me about Thanksgiving, years ago. The snow covered hills would bring in loads of skiers. By Christmas the hills, and her restaurant, were packed solid.

Now the snow comes later, the nights are warmer, and ski area operators pray they can make enough snow to open at least one run by Christmas.

 Downhill areas can feasibly make snow and get an economic return on their investment, but it is doubtful cross-country ski resorts can do the same and inconceivable snowmobile trail associations can at all.

The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change is our best database on climate. Wisconsin is 2.1F degrees warmer since 1950 and winter is the fastest warming season. The Wisconsin Winter Tourist business, valued at over 650 million dollars, is the most at-risk business sector in Wisconsin.

What will save our winter snow business? While we cannot save winter by ourselves, we could join the rest of the world in the effort.

Colorado Ski areas like Aspen and Vail are moving ahead with plans. In Michigan, Boyne Resorts and Crystal Mountain are leading the way by not only putting their money into sustainable operations but joining climate organizations like Citizen’s Climate Lobby and Protect our Winters.

How can we get started? Every ski area, cross-country ski club, winter resort, snowmobile club, business and community needs to focus on what will save us. The number one priority must be fighting climate change. Winter is the pillar of our economy. More importantly, it is engrained in our self-image. There is no other event we can more proudly identify with than the SISU ski race. Without climate action this race will die, guaranteed. Has any volunteer, race director, board member or participant spoken up to save it?

Does Indianhead, Big Powderhorn, Wolverine, ABR, the Snowmobile Club, Whitecap, or the Gogebic Community College via Mt Zion advertise their commitment to solving the climate crisis? The crisis, which if not confronted, is guaranteed to kill their business, their hills, their trails and their events?

Have cities and counties committed themselves to meeting the crisis head on to save our winter businesses and the hotels and restaurants who, in turn, depend on the winter activities?

By advertising our ability to grasp reality we advertise to our visitors we are responsible. It is good business to promote our concern. Young urban skiers understand the science.

No climate action means, no snow, no business, no tax revenue, and a lost culture. It is pretty simple.

Philosopher Timothy Morton states, “There is no way to persuade people in a dream to wake up.” The only way you can wake them up, he says, “Is you have to blow their minds.” 

I enjoy my nighttime snow dreams. I even like to let them linger a bit in my consciousness before I climb out of bed and wake up.

It is time we wake up and get a grip. We must take on the mind-blowing task of grasping reality. We can take on climate change and win this battle of survival. We can save the climate, our snow, our businesses, and our winter sports. If you join   Protect Our Winters, you start the mind-blowing act of personal empowerment. You become a valued individual on a worldwide team of people who know the value of snow and a stable climate.

 

 

 

 

 

References: NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration). EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center). Rutgers University Snow Lab. WICCI (Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change). Denver Post Nov 29, 2021 “Climate Change is Shrinking Colorado’s Ski Season”. Traverse City Record Eagle, Nov 28, 2021 “Price on Carbon is key to Protecting Michigan Winters”. POW 2 minute You Tube Video, “Common Ground”. Wired Magazine DEC 2021 titled “The Future of Reality” article: “Travels in Hyperobjectivity”.