Cross Country Skiing

I'm just getting back into skiing after a 15 year absence from it. (Car accident knee injuries) So far it's just been a short 2.5k circuit on a golf course, when the wind chill isn't into the -30ºC and lower range. The brilliant sunshine makes up for the sketchy conditions that have resulted from wind drift and a brief thaw a few weeks back. Got a blister and a bruised toenail yesterday - my old boots didn't fit and the new ones don't fit as well as they seemed to when I was just walking around the house in them.
Hard to believe I used to go out to the mountains west of Calgary and do 20 to 30k skis, then go back the next day and do 10 to 15k the next day. My whole body is tired from 5k right now. At least I can ski in the city here. Calgary rarely had enough snow for that. Now that the sun sets later than 5:30, I'll be able to go right after work in the evenings.

Skied at Bretton Woods today, 15k. It was a balmy 9F when we started and about 12 when we finished. There was brilliant sunshine though. We were going to ski a loop right to the restaurant at the Mt. Washington Hotel, but we missed the trail and had to backtrack. By that time my friend was getting frostbite on her hands, so we headed back to the Nordic center and drove up the road to eat.
Conditions were good in the beginning, but the trail on the way back was more heavily used and had lots of twigs and grass on the tracks. Then, the wind picked up in the open field and that was not fun. Tomorrow we are going to ski at Waterville Valley Nordic on the way home. They all want to take a skate ski lesson and I do not. It looks way too hard and I generally hate trying new things that may make me look like an azzhole.

Well, our trip to Waterville Valley was interesting. We decided against the skate ski lesson, due to the temperature, although it turned out to be quite a bit warmer (+10 degrees) than yesterday. So, there's 2 very separate areas for skiing and out friends had been to one of them a few times, but not in a couple of years. We went to the center and asked if a route we had planned to do a short ski before lunch, was OK. They told us a couple of the trails were closed, but we were able to plan a 5k route. OK, the trails started out fine, although it definitely was not what our friends described, which was wide and rated easier than most places we ski. We climbed up, up, and up, conditions getting worse by the second. Icy, with twigs and rocks sticking out. We went down a twisty downhill, which under good conditions would have been great, but it was scary. I managed to stay up, though. Then we climbed even more; my edge on my left ski skid out on the ice, and I did go down in what I call a "stupid fall." We got to the trail we were supposed to take to get back and it was closed. Our only other option was to ski down a black trail with the word "chute" in the name. Given the conditions, that was not something any of us wanted to do, so we took our skis off and walked down the closed trail, about 1.5 km or a little more. There were bare rocks where water bars had formed, and lots of twigs, and ice. Thankfully, it was not too hard and we got to the trail to get back to the nordic center. On a small downhill, our friend, who is a really excellent skier (the one who broke his hip cycling a couple of years ago) fell, which scared us, but he was OK. There was a pile of snow in the middle of the trail, with ice on the side. When we were almost back, there was (no kidding) a guy with his shirt off :eek:, standing on the side of the trail, getting some sun. His hands were raised to the sky and it was very weird. I averted my eyes, so as not to make any contact. Not sure what the deal was, but it was a good laugh after a hard ski.
After lunch, we drove to the other (which were the trails our friends described) side, but by this time it was 2:00 and I was getting chilled for some reason. We skied just about 2K, around a loop, the conditions were great, but we had lost our mojo. Since we had a 2 hour drive home, we called it quits.
I will go back here, but under better snow conditions next time. Overall, a great weekend, especially the eating.

Glad to hear you had a great weekend Crankin! I would dare say that there's a good chance that manya reas have such conditions.... the week of warm temps simply killed us and then the cold this past week. It sounds as though we could get a bit of snow over the next couple of days, but again, the temps are going to warm this week ARGH!!! Hopefully we'll receive a good snow fall here at some point.

I got out yesterday(and will go today as well) and like you, there were lots of pine cones/needles on the trail, although I was happy not to see bare ground anywhere... although it was pretty hard. But here's to hoping that the snow gods look down on us again here soon!

We haven't had any snow for weeks. The conditions are going to start to get sketchy soon.

I went for a skate ski today. I concentrated on technique and going slow with a good glide. I tend to just blow up skating, but this worked well. I was able to go for over an hour and made it up a long, not too steep hill without stopping. Yay.

Well, we survived all the rain and wind, and although the trails are scratchy...we still have snow. I did get out today, although probably the worse conditions I have seen in quite some time... even beats last year! Although there was still snow coverage on the trails, they were 'boiler plate' and covered with branches, pine cones and twigs. Although the conditions beat me twice today by throwing me to the ground a couple of times, it was a beautiful day and interesting to see all the huge ice chunks that got washed downstream. I'm thankful that we still have coverage, but truly hope that the snow gods will bless us with some more of the white stuff.

Got out at dawn this morning. The trails were drifted over, but another skier had been out even earlier, so it was possible to follow those tracks at least. The colour of the snow changed from peach to pale gold as the sun got higher, with violet-grey shadow. Will definitely go out at this time of day next week.
Tomorrow I'm volunteering for the local loppet. It will be interesting to see if they can set the tracks close enough to start time to overcome the wind drift - it's amazing how fast the tracks get buried in this gusty place.

Praying it snows in the Northeast Kingdom, before we leave on 2/14.

I hope so .... I know right now that most of their trails are either closed or VERY scratchy!! Although, I don't believe that we have seen the last of the snow. Perhaps we should all get out on our road bikes for a couple of rides, that's a sure way of getting more snow LOL!!

Sigh, the Kingdom Trails are closed. There's predicted highs of 35 down here next weekend, so I probably will be out on my bike. Maybe that will work. Not much else to do up there, maybe hike, as I doubt there's enough snow even for snow shoeing. None of us are downhillers, so that's out. We are bringing our passports, so perhaps there's snow north of there?? Somehow, I doubt it.

There seems to be some sort of pocket that has some snow, while others have very little. In my area, I know that Bethel is very scarce, and so is the area near Twin Mtn, Gorham NH etc... It seems so strange this year, as these areas generally have lots of snow and have the ability to recover when warm weather makes an appearance. I keep telling myself that we aren't out of the woods yet with snow, so hopefully it's in the near future!!

Have fun on your bike today!! The roads here are pretty dry here as well, although a bit of ice on the edges. I've been saying all winter that I need to put the studded tires on my mtn bike, and it's time that I did! It would be tremendous riding today :)

So little snow here this winter we finally made the trip north into Canada. Four days of outstanding skiing and a bit of snowshoe time as well. Trails at Stokely Creek are outstanding.

Fresh fluffy snow falling today but we're going to need it to keep this up for a day or two to make a base. For now, it's back to gravel road running and the trainer.

Snow and lots of it, coming Friday. It will be great skiing around here. Can't wait.
Of course, I am going to Vermont next Thursday, and they are getting like 3 inches.

Ok, totally missed skiing in the perfect powder last Sunday, and I've been sick all week, but heading off to the Northeast Kingdom tomorrow. Hoping for some new adventures and decent snow. Will hopefully post with pictures.

Sounds like a great trip Crankin... definitely let us know how it is!

We didn't receive as much snow as you, but what we did receive was extremely dry... so absolutely no glide at all. But I'm excited that we did get some to cover of the spots that were very thin. Got out Sunday, Monday and today.. todays conditionds were better. The temps have been a bit warmer, so the melting/freezing action is helping to put moisture back in the snow.

Hope you have a great trip and are feeling better:)