Snow! Snow! Snow! (And music too.)

The cover of the coming Train holiday album—is that snow on those mountains? (Courtesy of Universal Music Group)

From my inbox this week, two hopeful portents for this winter. The first, which arrived yesterday, was a press release touting the imminent release of a holiday album by the San Francisco roots rock band Train: Christmas in Tahoe. A combination of original songs and covers of modern classics (think Stevie Wonder’s “What Christmas Means to Me” and John Lennon’s “The War is Over”), the album will be available for download from Amazon the day after tomorrow for $7.99. (Prime members get it for free.)

Getting ready for the crowds at Heavenly. (Courtesy of the resort)

The second was an email this morning from the PR people at Northstar and Heavenly, announcing that—thanks to the recent storms—the Tahoe resorts’ chairlifts will be operating as of this Saturday. (That’s a week early, for those eager skiers keeping score.) They might be a little premature in attributing nature’s largesse to El Niño, but hey, after the last couple of miserable seasons, who can blame them for being excited?

After the storms, the sun comes out at Northstar. (Courtesy of the resort)

So—this sudden flurry (sorry!) of snowy Tahoe news…coincidence? I think not. Dig out your snow boots and puffy coats.