Not a fan of snow or injurious winter sports

Published by admin on Wed, 12/04/2019 - 11:43am
By: 
Steve Lyon
Well, we had a white Thanksgiving
last week following
that potent storm that blew
through the area. It remains
to be seen if we will have a
white Christmas.
Frankly, the snow we’ve
had over the past week is
enough for me. It’s fine if
it all melts tomorrow and
doesn’t return. I’ll have the
memories to last all winter.
The city and county snowplow
crews got after it pretty
quick. The city guys gave
up their afternoon of NFL
games and turkey leftovers
on Sunday to start plowing.
The kids got out their
sleds and had fun swooshing down the
hill at Memorial Park. School was canceled
on Monday, adding a day to the
long Thanksgiving weekend.
The snow reminded me of the winter
sports I no longer participate in. You hit
a certain age and the reasons not to do
it seem the most sound and reasonable.
It’s too cold and dangerous,
for starters. One wrong
move and you’ll be sitting in
the waiting room of the ER.
The thrill of zipping down
a hill on an innertube at high
speeds, hitting a jump at the
bottom and face-planting
into the snow doesn’t hold
the appeal it once did.
My little brother was
a great skier, a pro on the
slopes. He would catch a
bus in Idaho Falls every
Saturday to Kelly Canyon
and ski all day long. He also
skied at the Grand Targhee resort right
across the border in Wyoming.
I never did learn how to ski. I figured
I had little aptitude for the sport
and didn’t want to spend hours on the
mountain. Or maybe it was the example
set by my high school friend Lester
English, who broke his leg his first time
out skiing.
We skated a lot at the city maintained
rink right across the street from where
we lived on Skyline Drive. Once a week
a water truck would spray the rink and
a city backhoe with a buffer on one end
would smooth out the surface until it
was like a pane of glass.
We were daredevils jumping over
trash cans. Plus, we had some additional
padding with the layers of clothes we
wore when we took a fall.
It was great entertainment and exercise
for kids in the neighborhood.
It didn’t lead to an interest in hockey.
I’ve never cared for the sport. I really
do think you have to be Canadian to
like it.
Steve Lyon is the editor of the Weiser
Signal American. Contact him at

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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