What started out as a mild winter quickly became a formidable opponent that was challenging on many fronts. A few weeks ago multiple storms hit Seattle paralyzing the city. Grocery stores were running out of everything, the roads were awful, and some were dealing with power outages. People living in North Bend were snowed in and had no way to leave their homes. Yikes.
This has not been a problem isolated to the Seattle and Western Washington. Other parts of the west have also been experiencing a similar situation. This week a massive storm has hit Northern California and Nevada. In the past few days, the Lake Tahoe area has received between 48 and 96 inches of snow. This current storm had a ripple effect closing I-80 and the Donner Pass. It has also caused a number of flight delays and cancelations in and out of Reno. Over the past few days, I had 3 flights that were all canceled.
However, winter has also had its good moments. One that stands out in my mind is the Rails and Ales events that recently took place a few weeks ago in Wenatchee. Every February a part of Orondo Street is closed and converted into a terrain park. Nearly 4,000 attended the event to watch some of the best skiers and snowboarders in North Central Washington, enjoy some of the best local beers and listen to some amazing live music. It was also awesome to connect with friends and share a few laughs.
In many ways, shooting this event was a return to my roots as a Content Creator and Filmmaker. During my childhood, I was deeply inspired by ski movies like The Blizzard of Ahhh's, Propaganda, 1242 and countless others. Every winter I would dream about making my own movie. I never thought that someday I could accomplish that goal. It is awesome to reflect on this and realize that one of my childhood dreams has come true.
Enjoy the rest of the winter while you can. It will be summer and 90 degrees before we know it and we will be patiently waiting for winter so we can play in the snow again.