Pop quiz:

How can you tell if a photo is of the first snow of autumn or the last snow of spring?
As in all good questions in life, the answer is, “It depends.”

In this case, it depends on who is answering the question.

Teton Valley snowboard instructor: “My heart tells me, because my heart always breaks at spring snow, dude. No more shreddin’ the gnar for, like, forever, and time to start waiting tables at the Jackson Hole Rich Kids’ Summer Camp. The heart knows, dude.”

Winston: “Enter into the nowness of snow, my friend. Give up this illusion of time, and you will find peace and joy.”

Teton Valley naturalist/world-renowned National Geographic docu-photographer (as read by David Attenborough): “The heavy snows of Winter in the south end of the glorious Teton Valley crush all that would stand in the path of Her dominion. Thus, in the first image we recognize this as autumn by the earthy aroma of flora returning to the rich earth from whence it emerged mere months ago, and by the delicate autumnal shards of sweet summer grass yet standing, sentinels for the storms ahead that will bend their knees in submission, forcing them, too, to release their precious remaining life force in the compost circle of life.”

Canadian answer: “It just looks different, eh?”