Winter

This is when it gets tough.  

The 3rd week of February, when you are walking the dog yet again in the teeth of a stiff wind and single-digit temps.

Or when you embark on a cross-country ski, only to discover the community trail is not groomed, leaving you to traverse 1-2 inches of powder atop several layers of hard pack snow and ice.  

Or when you grab the snowboard and descend a community hill, only to find a 20-25 mile wind rattling your helmet and teeth as you descend a bullet-proof hill, daring not leave the trail that is groomed for the glades that resemble a skating rink.  

A person can begin to wonder, will Winter ever end?  Certainly this is what I began to hear in my own family a few weeks ago, when there were loads of fresh powder on the ground and sweet temps in the teens to accompany it.  

Winter, end?  

Two weeks ago was the height of the 2011 season.  At the time, I cross-country skied for more than two hours each weekend day.  I hit each of my favorite trails on the Dartmouth Skiway until I thought my knees and leg muscles would fall apart.  Each weekend, I kept a regular regime of snowboarding in the morning, followed by a brief nap and then a long cross-country ski.  Dinner was a messy, confused affair, as I struggled to find the energy to prepare and cook food for five people.  All I wanted to do was fall into bed and sleep so I could repeat these activities next day.

But this was the week things began to shift.  Temperatures suddenly soared, leaving the solid world of single and below-zero temps for new territory above freezing.  In Boston on Thursday, the temperature rose as high as 62 degrees.  The same the next day in Lyme, NH.  On the heels of that rapid thaw came a hard cold, and while it might seem like Winter is here forever, the trend ahead is unmistakeable.  As we prepare to exit February, this part of the Earth tips ever closer to the Sun.  By next week, there is not a day forecast ahead that will be below freezing.  The mounds of snow that tower above my head on the road where I walk my dog will surely and slowly begin to melt.  The powder snow -- so present and welcome over the last six weeks -- will go away unless an sudden, welcome March storm should appear.  It might take another 4-6 weeks, but Winter is closing fast.

This is too bad.  We've had a glorious Winter in 2011.  Certainly better than the last two years, and perhaps one of the very best since we moved to Lyme in 2000.  After a slow start, snow fell by the bucket in January and early February.  Sure, it meant tons of work around the house, but it also brought ungodly adventures on the snowboard and cross-country skis.  Thanks to the generosity of Peoples United Bank, I got to play hooky in early February for a ski-and-ride day at Okemo after we had gotten more than 12 inches of fresh powder.  The result was one of the finest days I've ever had on the slopes.  

It capped a glorious season of cold.  And what I've learned is that the cold season of Winter, which can seem so inhospitable, might in fact be the best season of the year.  Better even than Summer.  

How so?

First, the caveats.

1) Get the right clothes.  After ten years of living in northern New England, I've learned that having six jackets, six vests, six hats, six pairs of gloves and mittens, and three outer pants is just barely enough to handle the conditions which come with Winter.  Add leggings (also six pairs), socks (12-15 pairs), special Winter pants (three pairs), and special underwear (four pairs), and you are on the way to being ready anything Winter can throw at you.

2) Don't overdress.  Sure, you got all of these clothes, but only wear what is absolutely necessary.  Learn to accommodate the cold, to adjust and cover what is essential.  For me, it's critical to cover my bald head and my skinny hands.  Get my core (chest and legs), and the rest is nice but not critical.

3) Lotion, lotion, lotion.  Cold means your skin suffers, so use lip balm everyday and cover rough spots with good moisturizers before they get rough.

4) Find two outdoor activities to embrace in the Winter.  This is the most important and hardest caveat to realize, but once mastered, it unlocks the key to a heavenly season.  Between snowboarding and cross-country skiing, I could spend almost all day, every day outside in Winter if the conditions are good.  In fact, I find myself outside as much or more in Winter than I do in Summer because I have so many activities to do.  Add in the housework of shoveling and roof-raking and ice-dam breaking, and it's not unusual to find me outside 6-9 hours every weekend day during the Winter. 

5) Go to sleep early.  I think the hardest part of Winter, the piece which does not bend, involves the loss of light from mid-November to the end of January.  It's two-and-a-half months of darkness that cannot be improved by clothing or exercise.  Sure, buying a lamp helps a lot, but there is no getting around the strength which comes from sunlight.  And during that time, well, it helps to crash in time so that you can wake at or before the sunlight.  Some of my favorite memories of Winter rest with driving thru New Hampshire before 6am, watching the sun rise over the White Mountains. 

One month from now, Spring will officially begin on March 21st.  I expect our lawn will remain largely covered in snow by then, and that there won't be a hint of flowers or new grass for at least another month.  But Winter will be over nonetheless.  Over the next month, the temperatures will no doubt fluctuate from -10 to 50 degrees.  The ground will harden and soften.  I will move from heavy jackets and multiple layers to light jackets and one layer.  The light will grow and grow, until I find myself cooking dinner once again in the warmth of twilight. 

And in that moment, when I serve dinner at 7pm and see light outside, I will cast into the past for that time just a few months ago, in the Winter of 2011, when it was cold and dark outside, and I was tired from having covered each end of the Earth I knew with my skis and snowboard.