Is your snow cleaner?

Without a “refresher” now and then, it doesn't take very long for spring snow to look dirty. I was observing this yesterday on Park City's closing day. We all know what soiled snow does; it doesn't reflect sun-rays as well and hastens snow melting. 

What causes all this it is a mixture of airborne pollution and soil particles that end up dropping on snow. If the polar caps are melting so fast, or if our snow-pack doesn't last as long as summer begins, it's simply because of the dirt that 7 billion consumers are projecting into the upper atmosphere and that's eventually falling back on the remainder of our snow and ice reserves.

Now that we know that, it's a good time to measure and compare how our respective snowfields stay clean or which ones are the cleanest. This might rekindle in our minds these detergent commercials from another era...