“What good is the warmth of summer,
without the cold of winter
to give it sweetness?”John Steinbeck
Haines, Alaska
Old man winter did show his teeth this week. It all began with a few innocent snow flakes. Floating gently from the sky they covered moss and trees with a fine sugar coating. Well, that gentle announcement did not last long and turned into one foot of snow in town, which cost me a call to the tow truck.
Then came gale force winds, and rain. Just cold enough to grow thousands of icicles hanging from the cliffs. I can hear the ice climbers sharpening their axes and crampons. Not so fast! Today, temperatures rose above freezing calling for extreme avalanche danger in the backcountry. What’s next?
Teens! That’s right. Turn all that slush into ice.
And snow in the mountains. So we can put in turns.
Gotta love winter.
Bearly 
Those icicles are verrrrry long. Amazing for the start of winter over your side of the world.
Love the sight of a forest when the first dusting of snow falls. Its that magical time to photograph the contrast between green, brown and white. Not that I don’t love a snow covered landscape, but you’ve usually got to have some contrast in shadows or shapes to make that really appealing in a photo.
Well said. I’ll get a second chance on that transition period, because the snow has melted off, revealing the still lush green forest floor. How do these mosses and ferns do that?
Very nice! Thanks for sharing! Here in Germany we had first snow as well last weekend!
Great pictures! Here is Southern California, it was in 80s last weekend. It’s lovely to see the snow in the pictures at least. It’s magical.
Thank you. There is snow now in the Sierra, too. And yes, it’s magical.