Back in the day, people used to joke about skiing with snorkels. And then one time I was deep in the backcountry somewhere in B.C. with a crew who had actually packed snorkels. They pulled them out, they put them on, and — you know what — they needed them. I was about to make some snarky little comment, but choked on both my own words and the snow blowing up in my mouth. Silly? Of course. But danged if they didn’t make a difference.

Photo: Stacy Rachdorf at Alta, Utah, by Lee Cohen.