Silent and soft and slow descends the snow. . . . . . . Arthur Benjamin (1893-1960)
Auf stillem Waldespfad (In Silent Woods) . . . . . . . . . .Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Des pas sur la neige (Footsteps in the Snow) . . . . . .Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Troika, Op.37 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Childrenís Corner Suite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claude Debussy
Waltz "Les Patineurs" (The Skaters) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Emile Waldteufel (1837-1915)

Snow is in the mountains and so we shall have snow in the music today. Speaking of snow is a slippery slope, for it leads to thoughts about skiing. If nature didn't intend us to ski on the stuff, why is it laid down on the mountains so close to those ski-lifts, and why were we born with feet that fit into those weird boots? In what some skiers regard as Gresham's Law (copper coins drive silver and gold out of circulation) making its unwelcome seasonal visit, the upstart snowboarders now exploit gravity in the mountains as enthusiastically as rap performers exploit the transistor, pointing out, quite correctly, that "we don't need no steenking poles, dude". A snowboarder of course puts both feet on the same (and only) board. Adaptive evolutionary forces drive this architecture, since if you're wearing pants that have a crotch at knee level, your feet are never going to be very far apart, and no good can come of wearing skis that are even momentarily farther apart than your feet. At least not at the high speeds favored by snowboarders, who (surprise) are on average younger than skiers. Leading to the disagreeable conclusion that time is on their side. Taking the charitably larger view of an established skier used to a pointy end and a square end so there is never serious doubt about which goes downhill first, I concede that snowboarders at least serve as sniffees for us sniffish sniffers to sniff at. Sínuff said.