Stay for the Corn

There is a reason that a lot of slopes at ski resorts in the Northern Hemisphere are north facing. During winters in the northern hemisphere, the sun is in the southern sky, so the angle of inclination of the sun is lower in general, and particularly lower for N-facing slopes. These N-facing slopes receive less heat from the sun, and hence the snow pack lasts longer and remains fresher.

A lot of folks living up in the Sierra Nevada recall that the reason they moved up to the sierras was their love for snow and their passion for skiing, but they invariably concede that they have stayed on in the high alpine because of summer. "Come for the winter, stay for the summer" is their refrain. When it comes to skiing in Tahoe, there is a similar sentiment -- come for those epic dumps, but stay for the joy of spring skiing. To me, my favorite ski month is not December (usually hit-and-miss), not January or February (when the resorts are crowded), but it is actually March and early April. If you time it right, corn or spring snow is some of the most delicious you can experience. 

As spring arrives and sun's angle of inclination increases, temperatures rises and the top layer of snow melts. But during the night, temperatures up in the mountains are below freezing, so the top layer refreezes forming a hard icy surface. So to enjoy spring conditions, we need to patiently wait for the sun to do it's magic and adopt a simple rule: "Follow the sun".

Ideally, you start on E-facing slopes in the morning (snow softens on E-facing slopes first as the sun rises), move to S-facing ones mid-morning (as the day warms up, sun in the southern sky has shined longer on the S-facing slopes thus softening it up) and then move onto N- and W-facing ones as they soften up by lunchtime (sun shines on the western slopes in the afternoon, and N-facing slopes soften up in the afternoon heat).

Understanding the slope aspect and effects of the sun is important in order to have a good day on the snow because believe it or not most resort days are non-powder ones.

"sticks-and-stones" School

When Jim Harbaugh was hired out of Stanford to be the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2011, people drew parallels to the time when Bill Walsh, the legendary 49ers coach, was hired out of Stanford. Niner nation was convinced that Harbaugh will bring back the famed West Coast offense system into the 49ers playbook.

In a Traditional offense, the focus is on establishing a run game first, draw in the defense and possibly open up passing lanes downfield. In contrast,The 49ers' West Coast offense -- as developed by former San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh -- relies on short passes that stretch the defense horizontally using a quick, horizontal passing attack which then sets up the running game. The legendary 49ers QB Joe Montana mentioned that in the Bill Walsh system he was never forced to throw down the field unless he liked it. He said the emphasis was to give the ball to the play makers and let them make big plays.

But Jim Harbaugh is not a West Coast practitioner. Looking at how the 49ers have played under Harbaugh, it is clear that the emphasis is on a strong defense and a powerful running game. The great Jerry Rice called for the diapers to be taken off Alex Smith so that he can play more freely, perhaps throw passes more frequently, but that does not look like it will happen. The reason is: 49ers under Harbaugh play old school football.

Harbaugh said this after winning the NFL Coach of the year in 2011: "I consider myself from the Woody Hayes coaching tree, Bo Schembechler is also part of that tree. Woody has the biggest tree in coaching". In this Woody Hayes/Schembechler coaching style the emphasis is on a fundamentally sound ground game and a physical and strong defense. 

Reading about Harbaugh's life, Bo's influence on him is clear. Harbaugh was around Bo when Jack, Jim Harbaugh's dad, worked as a defensive coach under Bo Schembechler. It continued when Schembechler picked Harbaugh to be Michigan's QB and the duo went onto win many bowl games. It seems like it was here that Jim picked up on Bo's coaching style which traditionally featured strong defense, dominating offensive lines, and a power-running attack. In the words of one commentator, Schembechler coached a "remorseless and punishing" brand of football. Bo's mentor in turn was Woody Hayes who has been described to profess the conservative style of predominantly running the ball at the opponent. Woody, they said, believed that the pass should be used as an element of surprise.

In an increasingly QB driven pass happy league, the 49ers, a proud and regal franchise, are bringing back an old style of playing football. Looks like other teams are going nuts trying to make sense of all this.

P.S - I actually wonder but don't know enough about football yet to determine if Harbaugh is creating a hybrid approach. San Francisco seems to utilize complex formations and personnel packages which is probably west coast style. Mind going crazy now.