By Merisa Sherman Let the rain kiss you.   Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.  - Langston Hughes The rain would announce its arrival by the pitter patter of drops on the roof. A random drop here and there until they would find their…

By Merisa Sherman It has been cold. Not that wonderful “let’s go skiing” kind of cold but the kind of cold that gets you way down deep in your spine. A spine-chilling cold that you never seem to get away from. My mom would tell me to turn the heat up, but I’m the kind…

By Merisa Sherman My internal alarm clock woke up a little bit extra that morning and I could feel the change in the air even from inside our house. Instead of pulling the blankets back around me, I quietly snuck out of bed and down the stairs. The curtains were down in the main room,…

By Merisa Sherman I have a nook in my house where there’s a chair there, just out of the morning sun, where I can see the tree tops. They descend in a steepish yet skiable pitch down toward the valley on the right, kind of like Highline. There’s a second bit of dull greenish-brown peeking…

By Merisa Sherman When I was young, my mom used to feed us breakfast and send us out the door with instructions not to return home until 5 p.m. to get ready for dinner. I didn’t have a backpack or money or anything except the complete and utter feeling of freedom to create and imagine and…

By Merisa Sherman There’s a bench on Kent Pond, where I like to go and sit. It’s not the world’s most comfortable or beautiful bench, just some old 2x4s bolted together and cemented into the ground. But it’s there just the same, beckoning one to come and sit and stare out across the water and out toward…

by Merisa Sherman Like all of you, this past weekend threw my life into turmoil. Two of my four jobs have disappeared in the blink of an email and our beloved ski resort has turned off the lifts. As the threat of COVID-19 virus grows stronger, increasing numbers of our community are withdrawing to the safety of…

Living the Dream by Merisa Sherman Megan was 4 when I took her up the K-1 Gondola for the first time. She was absolutely bursting at the seams. She wanted to show me everything that she knew, where this was, where that was. She wanted me to know that she knew what I knew about skiing and…

By Merisa Sherman I get off the lift and look to the left. It’s there. A bright beacon for all to see marking the new summit of Skye Peak: the Superstar Glacier. You can’t see around the mound anymore, almost getting a crick in your neck as you look upward. There are people on the side of…

By Merisa Sherman The morning started with freshies. Road crew was working so hard, but had yet to plow my road. It was just gorgeous — an untouched ribbon of white, so inviting as the snow reached from treeline to a not-quite-hidden guard rail. The lights from the condos were glowing through the  5 a.m. darkness…

By Merisa Sherman Some trails just seem to possess a surreal quantity, taking you away to another world completely. Just like stepping through a magical wardrobe, these trails become worlds of their own, places that can cleanse your soul and remind you who you truly are. Like a siren, these trails call to you, luring you in…

By Merisa Sherman May your days be filled with powder, and mountains, and snow. May you find joy and happiness wherever it is your skis may go. May you make warmth for each other when you are stuck on the lift. May you always give and receive skis, as a time treasured gift. May you…

by Merisa Sherman We fell in love skiing together, our turns interlacing as we got caught up in the rhythmic pattern.  Dancing together down the mountain, we wove in and out of each other’s turns like skiers through the trees. Our souls intertwined, our ski souls forever merged as our hearts beat a sacred rhythm, joined…

by Merisa Sherman They met at the bottom of the lift. There were two of them, leaning on their brand new snowboards with such glee that anyone sliding by couldn’t help but feel the joy radiating from them. Friends for quite some time, it was a new treat that they were able to ride together. After…

By Merisa Sherman It was still dark as we left the parking lot, and my beloved golden retreiver, Vespi, and I made our way toward our own little piece of heaven. As the sun ascended, so did we. It was a stunning morning, with the sky crisp and clear as it slowly turned from black…