Even Ashland Gets Excited Over Snow

Issue 62

by Edward Stevens
Ashland Summit

One would think that a city like Ashland, Oregon would consider snow no big deal. Ashland  a town located at MP 16 on Interstate 5, with a vibrant eco-firendly culture and overarching Shakespearean theme, is located around 1800 feet, which is low enough to avoid most snow showers, but high enough to be more prone to them. So one would expect people to look outside on a snow day and consider it with the same enthusiasm as someone noticing that their garden gnome got tipped over. It would seem that this viewpoint is wrong.
The weather report had been calling for snow, so it was no surprise when the flakes began to fall on Friday. Of ourse, being from Portland, the snow was an exitement to behold, and I immidiately hopped onto my bike to see all of my favorite landmarks  covered in snow. I dsicovered that the snow hadn't actually stuck, that the scenery looked perfetly normal, and I finally turned around when a man wiht a german aent stoped to warn me about a storm in the mountains and 'did I need a ride.' I politely declined, and went back. The actual snowstorm began about two hours later.

Snow-Covered cars in the parking lot near McGlouglin andShasta Halls. University Avenue is in the foreground, also snow-covered

A nearly-snowbound Interstate 5 seen from the E Main St. overpass. Traffi was slowed to a crawl during the storm making the aprox. 20 mile trip to medford take hours (src. word of mouth)

The snow fell rapidly and in only a few hours had built up to almost five inches. The main courtyard between McLoughlin and Shasta Halls, known internally as 'the quad' was dangerous to walk through due the ongoing snowball fight put on by hundreds of college students bored to tears with their studies and the pressures of impending finals. As the snowfall continued, mysterious messages were left on cellular phones telling everyone the campus was closed, and the school day ended then and there. But for the rest of us, life went on. It would seem that intuition about a mountain town getting bored wiht snow is incorrect: College kids are still children at heart, many of us are anyway, and the oppurtunity for a snowball fight is just too good to turn down.
Meanwhile, transportation was also not as well prepared as I would have expected. Snow covered roads and sidewalks, and while graters and snowplows patrolled streets, the freeway conneting Oregon and California slowed to a crawl.
And so the snow days continue. No new snow has fallen, but what with the frighteningly low temperatures, it will likely stay for at least a few days to come. There will definitely be a few more snowball fights to get into before white gives way to green, and life resumes.