I’ve got the fever. I flew out last night with a few other Birkie skiers and the fever was palpable on the plane. Waxing my skis the night before? Fever. Light snow in the Cities? Fever. Seeing the forecast for Hayward coming in a little cooler than predicted (and thus justifying my “hey let’s not bring a warmer wax” decision)? Fever.

Oh, and I’m only responsible for about half the #Birkiefever tweets on Twitter.

The only cure? More cowbell—and some skiing.

Oh, also, how lucky are we? If you look at the snow depth histories for Minnesota, there was more snow on the ground in 2007 (shortened), 2002 (ended shy of the lake) and 2000 (canceled). And yet, it sounds like conditions should be pretty close to perfect. I won’t call it a miracle Birkie. But it’s damn close.