Highway to Harrachov
The city has had as much snow as I’ve seen in my 11 years here, but it’s been on the ground for almost a month now and it is looking somewhat less than pristine. That changed shortly after Cerny Most, as the snow lay in long white blankets over farm fields.
You don’t get much whiter than this, I thought. Then, as the ground started to rise after Turnov, it did. The snow adorned every branch of every palm tree, and the roofs of the houses were white. It can’t get much whiter than this, I thought.
As we got a bit higher, the snow on the rooftops got deeper, standing up stiff and straight like every house was wearing a bright, white hat, icicles hung from the eaves, and the snow on the branches was so thick the trees were more white than green. Can’t get much whiter than that, I thought, for sure, this time.
Then we got a bit higher and a wind kicked up and the snow was blowing from the rooftops in wispy waves and the snow was still coming down and it was not like sweetly falling flakes, it was like a cloud, a fog of white.
Then we were in Harrachov. This was a ski trip for my wife and kids. I don’t ski. I’ve tried. I suck. We double dated with my wife’s sister’s family and my job was to drag the 3 and unders around on a bobsled while the adults and Sam (7) skied. Without marijuana, I’d have surely gone insane.
I can understand, and respect, the thrill of skiing, and there is certainly an appreciation of the natural beauty that it exposes you to, but a town like Harrachov can pretty much kill that. Cars and pedestrians compete for space, the snow in town is ground into an unattractive slush and whether you are actually on the slopes or walking through the center of town, you cannot escape the masses of other people.
It’s ironic. Or maybe that’s not the right word, I know Alanis Morrissette got a lot of shit over that.
Anyway, it’s tragic. A place of beauty can relax you, can inspire you, can give you the peace of mind you need to find the answers to the problems in your life. So people flock to places of beauty. People mess it up.
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