Did you make 100?

True ski addicts know. We say things like, “How many days?” starting in February. We look at the beep tally on the RFID gate. We often have a quiver of skis for all the conditions of the northeast: rock skis, ice skis, groomer skis, and skins for days that are too windy for lifts.

We recognize each other and nod. It’s an informal club, but there are members of a sort. Women and men who boot up even on bad weather days, sometimes wrapping cold fingers around warm coffee or cocoa cups between runs. Women and men who are sometimes in their 80s, their cars parked in the front row in spots of pride. Men and women who ski in packs of pairs, triplets, and quads. Devotees of Ullr.

Yes, we are a crazy crowd. But we are blessed. So many things need to go right to make 100 days of skiing in a single winter season. Sure, there has to be snow, an increasing worry during climate change. You also need to stay healthy and keep the knees and back bending. You need to fall with style instead of bone-breaking impact. And, you must have a job, remote job, or a lifestyle that enables at least a few runs of freedom on most days.

There are crazier skiers, sure. The documentary 2.5 Million, shown at the Waitsfield Mountain Film Festival a few years ago, is about a young man, Aaron Rice, who skied 2.5 million vertical in a single year, all by skinning uphill and skiing down. He followed the snow from the northern hemisphere to the southern one and back again. He skied for 332 days out of 365, setting a hard-to-break world record.

So, see, for those of us aiming at a mere 100 days, we seem pretty sane. Now that the snow is almost gone, we have to switch to walking, running, biking, or paddle boarding for the summer. But, you can bet, most of us are already wondering when in November we can ski opening day.