Fresh Snow and Holiday Music in Truckee

Skied the morning above a fog inversion — clear and cold on the ridge, the whole valley below filled in white so the far peaks looked like islands. The trees were still carrying most of the week's snow. By late morning the sun went milky through a cloud layer coming over the top, and the last runs were flat-light and gray, tracks everywhere on the groomers.

Then down into town for the holiday music. The school band had set up along Commercial Row near the Welcome Center, flutes and clarinets in front, a row of trombones in back where a few adults had been drafted in. The conductor wore a Santa hat and at one point put down the baton and joined in on flute. Between songs some of the kids sang. An open instrument case sat on the pavers with a few bills in it.

Snow was piled shoulder-high against the storefronts and icicles hung off the awning above The Treehouse, long enough that people stepped wide around them. Hard to hold a clarinet with gloves on, apparently — a lot of bare hands out there in the cold, playing carols anyway.