With over 30 inches of snow accumulation in the past week, the winter wonderland known as Bethesda has turned into a proclaimed “snowmaggedon.” With neighborhood streets unplowed until late last weekend, and power outages all over the community, students and parents took matters into their own hands to avoid remaining stranded and hungry in their homes.

Freshman Taylor Sheldon, along with many others, did not succumb to the weather and unplowed streets, but instead cross country skied wherever she needed to go.

“I went to my friends house, Starbucks, the grocery store; I pretty much skied all around the neighborhood with my friends and family,” Sheldon says. “It was extremely useful and a great way to get around, My step mom wasn’t going to drive me anywhere, and I definitely wasn’t going to walk!”

Similarly, freshman Valerie Acker found cross country skiing much more appealing than walking or risking her safety by driving on the icy roads.

“I live at the bottom of a hill, so my street is always the last to get plowed. My neighbors all went a little crazy trying to get out, I even saw some man try to bike up the hill through the snow,” she says.

Instead of resorting to the antics of such neighbors, Acker strapped on her cross country skis and made her way to the nearest convenience store- a 7-11- to restock on snacks and drinks.

Junior Caroline Kingscott and her family also used skiing as a way to replenish their quickly diminishing food supplies.

“My dad and I started skiing to the Captains Market to get food, but after we brought it back to the house we were having too much fun to stop,” she says. “We continued skiing along the canal; it was quite the bonding experience.”

Though surrounded by two-feet-and-counting of heavy snow, Whitman students did not let the wintry conditions prohibit them from enjoying their impromptu second winter break and instead followed the trend their parents had set before them of cross country skiing.