Phattie Snowcabulary

I always wondered about the legitimacy of the old adage that eskimos had 100 different words for snow...after spending a little more time in the white stuff, I am starting to understand the feasibility of that seemingly outlandish old wives' tale....

Being in the backcountry makes you start to pay attention to the snow and its personalities...and yes ohh yes it seems to suffer from many 'Faces of Snow'.

As a snow biker, I have come up with some snow types and my own personal lingo...

• light n fluffy - all good as long as it is less than 7 inches on hard pack
• Hail and Marbles - hard to ride in due to getting pelted - 
• NW cement - heavy, soft, wet and hard to ride through
• Ice-capades - sudden turns can put a bike and rider on their path to a yard sale
• Hard n' Crispy - nice and fast!  Ideal conditions for fast rolling bikes...sometimes from a warm up and then a freeze overnight.  
• El Slushee - warm, wet, and slow....painful to ride in...avoid the flailing....
• Corduroy Bliss - groomed and packed, Thank you Groomers!
• Faux Corduroy - it looks like it has been groomed but it is just the tope layer and it is thin and not sturdy enough to support snow tires
• Snowshoe Pack - a good start for additional pack by fat tires
• Fatty Pack - ahhh - just perfect...when trail has been packed down by bikers - nice n smooth eh - follow the 4 inch wide tread patterns
• Singletrack Bliss - Packed by all user groups...usually about 18 inches or so wide of pack and then deep and soft as soon as you head off the packed goods
• SnoMo - snow that looks like it should be packed from the SnoMo's but it is actually loose and hard to ride on
• AutoPack - follow the auto tire tracks - nice and packed down!
• Critter Pack - follow the critter postholes
• Fresh Tracks - ahhh, looking back to see your first tracks on the white stuff'
• Dry Tracks - yup yup, you can ride these bad boys on the dirt too!