Althouse: Snow on July 3rd.

July 4, 2014

Snow on July 3rd.

21 comments:

traditionalguy said...: Autumn weather is coming early this year. This weekends Outer Banks of NC and on up the eastern sea coast hurricane is traditional Autumn weather.; 7/4/14, 1:14 AM
HG said...: well it is winter in argentina; 7/4/14, 1:29 AM
Anonymous said...: Babe, if you keep taking pictures of where we bury the bodies somebody's eventually gonna figure it out.

You worry too much, Pops.

And you're getting sun-burned.

Pale skin. That and a desire to kill are what I was born with.

Do you think we still need to keep cutting the hands and feet off?

Don't get lazy on me, Pops.

Lazy? I'm the one digging a six-foot hole in the dirt out here. It's gotta be ninety degrees.

It's good you have such strong hands.

Uh huh. Strong hands, and also a desire to kill -- that's what I got.

Peas in a pod.

Minestrone.; 7/4/14, 1:48 AM
rcommal said...: There's always snow at the start of July. It's a feature, bugs notwithstanding. This has been true from the start.; 7/4/14, 2:27 AM
rcommal said...: FTR, I never think of Patrick Henry (that thoughtless anarchist) in connection with the Fourth of July. Hell, I try not to think of Thomas Jefferson (that overweening narcissist) in connection with the Fourth of July.

I'm more a Ben Franklin, John Adams and George Washington gal. Note that I said "more," and not "all" much less "entirely."

Still.

I'm more a Ben Franklin, John Adams and George Washington kinda sorta type, if obvious typing akin to the most famous [as opposed to all of those not famous] of our founding fathers is necessary.

---

Anyways: Happy Fourth of July to you all (so long as none of you wish me a happy July 4th, which abomination is beyond the pale, just sayin').; 7/4/14, 2:44 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Looks to me like Trail Ridge Road, in RM Nat. Park. I love that trip. The great thing about getting a bit older is that at 62 you can get a lifetime pass for the National Parks, Forest Service, BLM, etc. Otherwise, the cost is a bit steep. In any case, one of my favorite drives, but wouldn't want to do it this weekend with the traffic. Remember one trip where we were driving my old RX7, bought a six pack of Guiness in Estes Park, and the beer was about perfect by the time we got to Grand Lake.

First picture is definitely Long's Peak. My memory is that some guy has already died there this year. You can do it relatively safely, but he wasn't. And, then they have some routes that are pretty bad. Haven't been up it in decades. We were talking about it on Father's day with my kid. They have never been up it. We all went to camp near Estes Park, and most of us climbed it then. I then did it later with my father. But, now, the senior camps do it in one day, throwing in a couple of other peaks - maybe 18 miles or so, up and down, up and down. So, my kid hasn't done it yet, and my next brother was telling them about routes, etc. The brother is/was trying for all the 14ers (mostly solo - which is not too swift, since some are a bit technical).

Snow does exist all year, but mostly, in Aug. and Sept. you need to hike a bit to get to it. Not bad this year - yet. I have hung up my skis for the year (a month before A Basin closed less than a month ago), but that brother is still skiing every weekend. I think that there is more snow this year than many (the lake right below me here was drained a bit for the run off, and hasn't filled completely yet). But, there have been years with more.; 7/4/14, 5:31 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: The middle picture actually shows Trail Ridge - right above a long horizontal snowbank and a bunch of small ones. Follow that around the curve of the hill a bit to get to the visitor center.

My kid and their significant other were up there last weekend or so, but didn't get much beyond where this photo was taken, due to time. Later in the season, Fall River road opens one way from up the other side of that ridge to the visitor center. Last I knew though, it was till closed for the snow.

I have been up Trail Ridge right after they opened it, which they do with those big rotary plows. Because it is so open, last time I was over, there were tall poles along the road for the plows.

Always wanted to ski it. Used to be, you could get a good start with the ski lift for the ski area on the east side, but I don't think it is still in operation. Do know people who have done it (including the guy who skis with my brother on the weekends right now), and it is apparently a long slog. Nowhere really to camp, once you get on top there above timber line.

As I said, one of my favorite drives, and this is a reminder that I need to do it this summer - esp. now that it is free.; 7/4/14, 5:48 AM
Rusty said...: Clouds, rocks, an mountain. Grass. Some snow. Wait for it. Mountains with snow!!!
It's like I'm actually fucking there.; 7/4/14, 6:10 AM
tim maguire said...: I notice you're not waking up at 4 in the morning so often anymore.; 7/4/14, 6:13 AM
Big Mike said...: Happy July 4th wishes to you and Meade.; 7/4/14, 6:41 AM
MathMom said...: I grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. WE had a snowstorm on the 4th once when I was a kid.; 7/4/14, 7:39 AM
Rusty said...: judging from the amount of snow it doesn't look like that global warming shit is working out to well.
It was 54 deg F here in the Fox Valley @ 6:00 AM.; 7/4/14, 8:04 AM
Saint Croix said...: I'm more a Ben Franklin, John Adams and George Washington gal.

When I was in law school, I was a Madison man. I think Madison is awesome and so underrated. I think politicians keep Madison off our money because he screwed them with his separation of powers. Obama's like, :"Fuck Madison, I hate Madison, I can't do anything."

Have you seen John Adams? I have never been a John Adams man. I'm like, who? But he was so key to the revolution. It was a Boston revolution. But Adams was so smart to draft Washington and Jefferson. I love all the actors in that mini-series, but the guys who play Washington and Jefferson are particularly amazing.

I think Adams was a very disagreeable man. The only one who really liked him was his wife! But he was so important to our founding. He was the fire that led to a revolution. And giving up power to Washington and Jefferson? It was a brilliant political move.

Anyway, if you haven't seen it, you ought to get a kick out of it.; 7/4/14, 8:05 AM
Paco Wové said...: "Snow on July 3rd."

They don't call it the "Never Summer Range" for nothing.; 7/4/14, 8:34 AM
Tom said...: When I lived in Switzerland I could ski in the middle of July. Granted the snow wasn't very good, but it was deep enough to ski on nonetheless.; 7/4/14, 2:18 PM
gadfly said...: Ann, there is snow on the highest peaks in Rocky Mountain National Park all year around. And it is freakin' cold up there when you are wearing (or wearing very little) summer-weight clothing.

The Park Rangers would not have been happy about the boy on the rock (anymore than Wisconsinites are happy with the house-on-the-rocks).; 7/4/14, 2:44 PM
Ann Althouse said...: It was cold. Had to put on a sweatshirt.; 7/4/14, 3:45 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: When I lived in Switzerland I could ski in the middle of July. Granted the snow wasn't very good, but it was deep enough to ski on nonetheless.

You can ski year round in Colorado too - but August and September are typically a bit problematic. For one thing, you need to hike/climb to get to the snow.

In high school, we would go summers to Saint Mary's Glacier right above Idaho Springs, west of Denver. And, I would put that snow as being as bad, if not worse, than anything that you experienced in Switzerland. By the end of September, it would be horrendous - with vary hard snow with grooves running down it for water running off it, or some such.

My next brother does try to stay on his skis year round, skiing at least once a month year round in Colorado for at least the last maybe two decades. This is still early enough that they don't have to hike that far, and so ski most weekends still. Not a lot, and it does take hiking up - earning their turns.; 7/4/14, 10:04 PM
MDIJim said...: Planning to go to RMNP next summer and cannot wait. The only downside would be leaving Maine in the summer. Thank you for the photographs.

By the way, I took a picture of someone skiing on Mt. Washington, NH in late July many years ago. Snowfields do persist until mid-summer on New England's highest mountain.; 7/5/14, 12:32 PM
rcommal said...: The honest truth is that I've always taken Madison for granted. As well ought be so, that grounded man.

; ); 7/6/14, 1:03 AM
rcommal said...: Saint Croix:

I read, therefore I am. I don't **have** to watch in order to know what was said.; 7/6/14, 2:33 AM