Late January Days Buried in the Snow

The snow in Truckee has gotten past absurd. The drifts at the house are up to the deck railing now, and the pile off the back roof came down onto the porch, burying the railing under a slab of it. There's a shovel standing by the steps that has been in near-constant use. Icicles the length of my arm off the eaves. Across the street a whole house has more or less disappeared — you can see one dark strip of wall between the snow on its roof and the berm the plows left.

When the sun finally came out we drove over to Squaw. The road there is a trench, walls of snow taller than the car on both sides, and you just hope nothing is coming around the bend. The parking lot was packed, which figures — first blue sky in a while and everyone had the same idea. The mountain looked completely filled in, chutes and all, more coverage than I can remember seeing there.

Back at the house, more shoveling. There is always more shoveling.