The Seasons are Running Backwards!

After a week of blue skies and T-shirt temperatures, just when summer seemed around the corner, we woke up to a replay of winter this morning! And to look outside, with everything covered by 2+ inches of snow --- it could be a photograph from last December! But how perfect is this, considering that the infamous Tuckerman Inferno is this weekend? They are expecting up to 8" of snow by tonight!! We have a bunch of guests checking in this afternoon who will be participating in this always-awesome event! The Inferno Pentathlon race consists of 5 legs: an 8.3 mile run; 6 mile kayak, 18 mile bike ride a 3 mile hike and a 1-mile ski. Competitions include the Tuckerman and Tuckerwoman events where 1 racer does all 5 events; The Inferno Team Competition which is limited to 30 male and 30 female teams of 5 people each, one of whom must be of the opposite sex; and the Dynamic Duo: a 2-person team where each member must do at least 1 event but the team competes in all 5 areas. Media attention covering this annual ‘rite of spring’ in the Mount Washington Valley is huge, with TV networks and major newspaper & magazine coverage. It is most definitely a community event, with up to 420 competitors, 60 volunteers and up to 2000 spectators along the way! Now that may sound big to you and me, but on Easter weekend a few weeks ago, the weather was almost summer-like, and as I drove past Pinkham Notch and the base of Mount Washington, I witnessed a sight I haven’t seen in all my time living here! I called it “Winter Woodstock”. For 5 miles solid up either side of Route 16 and in every pull-off and National Forest parking lot, it was solid cars! The Visitors Center estimated that there were over 800 cars, and 3000 people making the sacred pilgrimage up the mountain on foot, and the descent on snowboards and skis. It was definitely a sight to behold. The warm weather ever since has been delightful --- until this morning! Hard to believe that just last night I was out exploring vernal pools in a light shirt, discovering masses of salamander and wood frog eggs, and seeing trailing arbutus! But as they say in the mountains, if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few hours! Unfortunately, it sometimes works the other way too, but in today’s case, it couldn’t be better timing for all those Inferno fans!