Driving in the snow can be an adventure you, as a driver, would not want to miss. As an example, your car is very quiet except for the motor and people talking. If you roll down your window, you will feel the cold air and the quietness of the area. If you are looking around you may see footprints of animals out looking for food. 

This serenity can be shattered if your car breaks down because of your negligence to keep it maintained, and you can be in a lot of trouble—nature doesn’t care; she will punish you for not taking good care of your car. 

One of the things that we learned as a ski patrolmen is to make a reasonable weather prediction when you are working. You have to know what to wear, what kind of skis to use, what to carry as snacks, emergency first aid items that can be used in the snow that is falling, and survival equipment in case you are having trouble. 

By working often in one ski area, you can usually predict the weather by looking around your environment: if the snow doesn’t melt quickly after a storm, it hasn’t finishing storming; when you're outside and it is cloudy with a white ring around the sun or moon, it tells you how soon it’s going to storm and sometimes how long it’s going to last. 

When we were in avalanche country we would always carry a 100Ft-cord, and if we got caught in one, we would toss out the cord, it would float to the top of the avalanche, and we were trained to follow it to the end of the cord. In an avalanche you can’t tell which way is up, and that’s the reason you have to trust the avalanche cord. 

It’s fun to go into snow country to ski, to go snow boarding, to go cross country skiing, to go and play in the snow, and to sit and watch it snow.

But don’t do anything that would put your life into jeopardy—nature does not feel remorse.