Snowfall Guessers, the Palm Spring Tram's Contest Is Here

PREDICTIONS? They fill our days and nights. We're forever making guesstimates, big, small, and absolutely tiny, the sort of necessary forecasts that help us decide which path we'll take next. Will the kids want to eat early? Will lunch with your friends be on the dressier side? These hunches are in no way ho-hum, but rather the stuff upon which we build our daily schedules. But if your hunch-having talents are especially solid, you may want to put them to use now, as October starts, if you're a fan of a certain sky-soaring attraction. It's the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway we're talking about here, that mid-century gem that regularly whisks riders from the hot-hot expanse of the desert below to the fir-filled wonderland near the top of Mt. San Jacinto. And, as they do each year at the start of October, the good people at the tram are inviting fans to...

MAKE A GUESS: When will the first inch of snow accumulate at Mountain Station? It's the upper destination of the tram, a handsome structure that sits, with a true woodsy regalness, at over 8,500 feet. It does snow each winter at this spectacular spot, but you'll want to ponder when that first significant snow might touch the ground, so an inch can be measured. If you have a perfect prediction, be it Nov. 4, Dec. 14, or even a day in early January, jot it on a postcard in lickety-split fashion and mail it to Snow Guessing Contest, 1 Tram Way, Palm Springs, CA 92262. The tram's team will go by earlier postmarks to pick winners when multiple cards with the same date are submitted. The prize for the first ten correct entries? Four tram admissions, sweet, and a tram-themed gift, also sweet.

THE RULES, must-knows, and all the info? Ride by this page now and get to guessing, soon, for snowy times are on the not-so-distant horizon.