Find comfort where you can.
Tendrils of snow snake down the front side of Rumsey Mountain, interrupted here and there by large brown patches of dirt. Discovery s summit lift looms above, its chairs motionless below a brilliant bluebird sky. A rowdy pack of college students clusters at the base of the lower triple the only option spinning this early in the season as Mike leans down to unclip his snowboard binding. We tug our buffs higher over our noses, skate forward and thank the masked liftie as we take our seats. Over the past few hours, between rock-dodging runs and parking lot brats, Mike and I have caught up on a lot of things. Work, politics, the pandemic, our personal lives. Now, as we gaze at the walls of conifers flanking us, the talk steers to more intimate ground. The past year has worn on everyone in strange ways, and neither of us is an exception. Friends for over a decade, we find comfort and reassurance in opening