Unlike last year, when there was so little snow in the Cascade Mountains that several ski areas nearly went out of business, snow has fallen early this year and many of Washington's ski areas are opening earlier than usual. Thanks be to God.

Among the subculture which rides upon snowboards, the term shredding is used to describe what it is that they do on their boards. It is part of the patois, and thus imperfectly intelligible to those outside of their group.