The Snowy Day

Morning Snow Wrap 10.08.11

Snow conditions remain very good across the slopes, with fresh falls continuing to dust the cover.

Perisher

It's snowing lightly in the village! Cold overnight temps have kept the snow in good condition and it's expected to stay that way today. It's -3.5 degrees at the top of the Quad, a little warmer in the Valley, with low clouds and a light wind gusting moderate at times. We expect 47 LIFTS to be in operation across our four resort areas. A very light powder dusting sits on top of a varied cover. We have a very good base across the open trails, that's a mix of dry, firm packed and sugar snow, depending in what part of the resort you are in. The riding is excellent and the snow is in abundance, so get it together and make tracks! Four unique resort areas have so many options from novices right up to experts that you can't go wrong. Towers Run gets the nod from the grooming team for intermediate to advanced riders; with Snowy Trails the stand-out for beginners. Beginners and intermediates will be impressed with the clean lines of Blanchy's and Chair Run. It will all go pretty easily at Easy Rider today in Pleasant Valley; this is a wonderful place for beginners. The more advanced can be challenged by Zali's, who's out to test the best. Karl's and Dorfer will be rolled gold this morning for intermediate snow revellers.

Thredbo

Very good snow conditions across the mountain. The snow will start out crisp and soften quickly through the day. The higher trails will have a nice dry layer of manmade snow after more than 12 hours of snowmaking on High Noon, Upper Supertrail, Cruiser area, Alberts Amble Ego Alley. There will be pockets of wind blown powder on and off piste. A partly cloudy Wednesday with bursts of sunshine. The winds are moderate to strong and blowing snow. Visibility is good. The expected top temperature between 9am and 3pm is -2 degrees. A great day of riding ahead on all open trails. Groomed and off piste will be a treat after the strong winds last night created some nice pockets of powder. For the advanced the Bluff and Supertrail will be nice and fresh with grooming and wind drifts. The intermediates should test their sweet turns out in the wide open spaces in the Cruiser area High Noon. Friday Flat will have a nice soft cover for the beginners and kiddies. The Basin area is the groomers pick and will be a perfect step up for the first timers. If you are new to the mountain or haven't been here in a while how about you get a free mountain host tour. Meet at the top of the Gunbarrel Express at 11am. You must be an intermediate skier or boarder and have a valid lift pass.

The Snowy Day « Book-A-Day Almanac

In 1963 when Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery Award, an artist who had struggled a long time to find his voice received the Caldecott Medal. Born in Brooklyn, Ezra Jack Keats was the son of Polish immigrants. Although his mother encouraged him to create art, something he delighted in doing, his father admonished him against such a career. “Never be an artist; you’ll be a bum; you’ll starve; you’ll have a terrible life.” But Keats persisted in his dream.

With money given to him by his brother, Keats spent a year in Paris and came back ready to work as an illustrator. His career began inauspiciously enough—jackets for adult books, interior art for children’s books, all of it workmanlike. Keats himself always maintained that had he died before 1962 he would simply have been viewed as a hack illustrator, doing work for hire. Although this judgment is a bit harsh, it is true that until Keats had a chance to choose his own subject matter for a book, he remained emotionally unengaged from the process.

When Annis Duff asked Keats to write and illustrate his first solo book, he turned to a subject matter dear to him: the children who were playing on the streets of Brooklyn where he lived. In the “all white world of children’s books” their faces were not being reflected at all. Keats had saved a photograph of a black boy in his studio for years and used that picture as the model for Peter in The Snowy Day . A young boy, Peter dons a red snowsuit and explores his neighborhood during a magical snowfall. He makes snow angels, tracks his feet in the snow, and slides down a mountain of snow.