And above all of us, night and day, in weather fair or foul, with its plume of driven snow streaming tremendously from its summit, the great mountain itself looked down on us benignly – for not a soul was lost, nor a reputation sullied, on that happiest of adventures.
Until recently, when computers became better able to monitor and adjust snow-making machines, changes in temperature and humidity caused extra-wet or extra-fluffy snow to stream from the machines.
Small gullies etch the summit, formed by rain- and snow-fed streams that flow only during winter melt and rain showers.
As the climate has warmed over recent decades, high temperatures have arrived earlier on average, and a symphony of seasonal events along with them, from plant blooming dates to animal migrations to peak flow levels in snow-fed streams.
After it snowed, water streamed down the inside of the living room window.
A combination of lower precipitation and high temperatures over the last three years, coupled with relatively little snow, has reduced stream flows in the region to well below normal.
House hunting seven years ago, Ms. Muñoz said, "we walked in and saw the snow and the stream running through it, the trees all covered in ice and dripping with icicles, and we fell in love".
But is this not what early spring tends to look like: dead grasses bent back from snow; ice-scarred stream banks; and everything with those dead to reborn colors?
These changes will alter snow pack, seasonal stream flows and temperatures, and water quality: all factors that affect locally adapted species including populations of Pacific salmon.
Mr. Tsanos explained to me that Epirus offers freestone streams (rain and snow fed) and limestone streams (spring fed).
