Bon Hiver Fort Collins

One of my favorite TV series from the 1990’s was a show called Northern Exposure. The show was set in the mythical town of Cicely, Alaska. The main character was Joel Fleishman, a young doctor from New York who comes to Cicely to pay back the cost of his medical school paid for by the state of Alaska by serving as the town doctor. The show explores what life in Alaska is like compared to what Joel was accustomed to back in New York.

As you might expect, the season of winter and its challenges are a part of the show. Joel’s female interest on the show is a bush pilot named Maggie O’Connell. Maggie helps Joel appreciate his new home by marveling at the natural world. One episode the two of them go for a walk at dusk and it begins to snow. Maggie turns to Joel and says “bon hiver Fleishman” and Joel says back “bon hiver O’Connell”. The scene fades with the falling snow and the onset of night.

This scene reminds me of how it felt to be excited at the prospect of snow as a kid back in Illinois. However, snow before Thanksgiving was almost unheard of and a white Christmas was extremely rare. Believe it or not, it rained more times than not back then. I think what was so appealing about the s word was the fun that could be had in it. Now as adults, we tend to only see the negative effects of snow. You have to shovel it, drive in it, walk in it, and put up with it until it melts.

Our recent early season snowstorms are a perfect example of this change in attitude. I was not a happy camper when 12” of wet snow turned my neighborhood into a war zone. The trees after the storm looked like we had had a tornado. It made me very sad. Sad to see such destruction and genuinely aggravated with the subsequent 9” storm a week later. This was a weird feeling. It may have been the first time I was not glad to see a snow event.

Back in the day, if we did get enough snow to play in, we had a pair of 1950’s wooden downhill skis that we got to navigate with. These strange inventions had coiled springs that you clamped your heals into along with some leather straps that secured your fate with. The skis were way too big for us, but they did work just like snowshoes in deep snow.

My winter adventures continued to expand as downhill skiing was explored in the tiny realms of Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin. Just getting on a chairlift back then was a supreme challenge that prompted thumb cramps for days due to the icy ramp up to the chair access for rolling back over other peoples skis was a faux pas that was to be avoided at all costs.

Now, early season skiing here in Colorado is a little bit of a tease as well. With very few open runs and spotty snow, the skiing is crowded at best and dangerous at worst. We wait patiently though for more of the white stuff to fall so that more runs will open.

So what does “bon hiver” mean? It is a French phrase that means "good winter" or "have a good winter" and I hope this year you have one. Bon hiver Fort Collins.