Poets have always loved winter.
William Blake wrote that summer is a time for learning and fall is a time for teaching, winter is simply to “enjoy.” Robert Frost likewise found that winter made him insatiable, writing, “You can’t get too much winter in the winter.”
Most Durangoans share the poets’ effusive view of winter, describing it in rapturous terms: The season transforms the city into a chilly Eden, encrusting its trees in a fragile crystal casing.
And, of course, there’s skiing.
But to a downtrodden minority of Durangoans, winter holds no charms.
They side with American author George Byrne, who wrote, “Winter is nature’s way of saying ‘up yours.’”
Winter of our discontent
“I hate winter. It’s horrible, horrible,” said Kierstin Godson, a Colorado native who works in Durango as an analyst for NIA Consulting.
“It’s dark and cold and awful. I’ve always hated it,” she said.
Like many Durangoans who detest winter, which officially will begin with the solstice at 10:11 a.m. today, Godson said just surviving could be a struggle.
“I basically just hibernate. Last year, I really got seasonal affective disorder, and just sat inside, ate junk food and watched TV till it was over,” she said.
Godson said one major problem with winter is that it tends to ravage the city for months, uncontained.
“The cold is everywhere, on the way to work, crossing the street. It just – it sucks. I hate winter. Literally, every time October rolls around, people are like, ‘I love fall! Fall is awesome!’ But I don’t like fall, because the next season is winter, and winter is the worst,” she said.
Godson noted that hating winter in Durango could be maddening in part because other residents find it an unremitting wonderland, particularly those attached to winter sports.
In this heresy, Godson is not alone.
Bryant Liggett, station manager for KDUR-FM, the radio station at Fort Lewis College, was careful to say he does not “hate” winter. “If I hated winter in Durango that much, I wouldn’t live here. I’d move to Tucson.”
But he said he hated many things about winter.
“The same stuff that everybody hates: like, idiots that are incapable of driving in the snow,” he said.
“I just dislike a whole lot of winter activities. I think skiing is an elitist sport. It’s really overrated. Not everyone can ski because it’s so expensive. I’m a working dad, and I can’t afford a ski pass for me and my daughter – that’s kind of frustrating, and anyone who says anything else is a liar,” he said.
Like Godson, Liggett said winter leaves him with few avenues of recreation.
“I can’t ride my mountain bike. I do not drink whiskey in dark rooms and rarely watch movies. It’s not like I’m completely shut off, except for the fact that I’m indoors more, and I read and sleep more,” he said.
Liggett said he usually relies on “autobiographies of musicians and oddball characters” to get him through the dreary winter months.
“But I’m not reading anything right now, so I’m due for a trip to the library,” he said.
Escape from Siberia
Kay Rottenberg, of the Durango Welcome Center, said she personally cherishes winter in Durango, and couldn’t “think of anything there is that’s not to like.”
But she said for locals who despise the season, the city still has options.
“There’s lots of galleries, museums and events – Fort Lewis College has concerts. If they do dislike snow, and it’s not snowing, there’s the river trail. That’s always a nice walk,” she said.
But in interviews with winter-haters and local retailers, other strategies for surviving winter emerged as more prominent: eating, boozing, sleeping, popping anti-depressants and getting out of town.
Karen Barger, owner of Seasons Rotisserie & Grill, a downtown Durango restaurant, said she hadn’t “noticed any customers who are sitting at the bar about to slit their wrists, but they’re probably there.”
While Barger acknowledged that self-medication could be tempting for winter-haters, she herself prescribes “hearty dishes – like French onion soup or pork shank – something people recognize as warm and gooey comfort food,” to combat the winter doldrums.
The literate’s guide to hibernation
Jason Greg, sales clerk at Wagon Wheel Liquors, said in winter, customers tend to abandon beer and turn to the more alcohol-rich sustenance of spirits and wine.
But for winter-weary Durangoans, books offer more salvation than drunken oblivion.
Sandy Irwin, assistant director of Durango Public Library, said that for the past three years, January has been the library’s biggest month for book checkouts.
“So we know people like buckling down and reading books in winter. March and February are also high,” she said.
“Otherwise, it’s summer – but that’s kids busy doing their summer reading,” she said.
Irwin said the content readers tend to check out in the winter months also changes.
“In fiction, people shift toward things that are darker and longer. People really like epics, big series and sci-fi, especially post-apocalyptic dystopias – as well as those longer books that they may have been avoiding,” she said.
She said in January, nonfiction also experiences a boom.
“People start checking out books for resolutions: how to quit smoking, lose weight, improve the clutter in your house – stuff like that,” she said.
Andrea Avantaggio, co-owner of Maria’s Bookshop, likewise said the store sees an influx in winter, including tourists whose families are here to ski.
“While their family is on the slopes, they’re here, buying guidebooks, so by the time their family gets back from the mountain, they’ve planned the next trip to Tahiti, or someplace else that’s warm, with a spa,” she said.
She also said many locals who don’t like winter come in more.
“Not everybody can afford skis, for sure, so then they have that much more money to spend on books,” she said.
Longtime La Plata County resident Carol Gordon said she sympathizes with winter-haters in Durango, but gives them simple advice.
“Learn to read, build a fire and don’t feel sorry for yourself,” she said in a phone interview.
“Sorry for all the noise – I’m at the Bellagio, in Las Vegas. As I was saying, I’m 84, and I enjoy life in all seasons. I love the snow. However, I don’t have to go to work and drive in it.”
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
Solstice facts
The winter solstice will occur today at 10:11 a.m. Mountain Standard Time. It means that the amount of daylight will begin to increase. But if you’re hoping for sudden changes and a quick break from winter darkness, you’re about to be disappointed.
In fact, sunrise will continue to get later until Jan. 11. Sunrise today was 7:22 a.m. On Jan. 11 it will be 7:26 a.m. and then gradually get earlier.
However, there is a bright side. Sunsets will be later, and actually they have been getting later, incrementally, since Dec. 13 when the sun set at 4:54 p.m. Today’s sunset will be 4:57 p.m., and by Jan. 11 it won’t drop over the horizon until 5:13 p.m.
