Cross Country Skiing

OK, I was humbled pretty quickly at Franconia this weekend. I challenged myself, though, and laughed through most of it. I feel as if I am a confident intermediate level skier for groomed trails. I can climb anything and my descending skills have greatly improved. I've skied down a couple of black trails, too.
Basically, Franconia has narrow trails that are tracked. So, for someone like me, who gets out of the tracks to descend/climb, the challenge was there. Not so much the climbing, as I learned pretty quickly how to herringbone in a narrower stance after one face plant, going up. Serious, serious climbs here.
The issue was descending. I am not skilled enough to descend and turn and keep my speed regulated in the tracks, as there was not enough room to snowplow or turn if you were in the very small area that was groomed next to the tracks. Some of these descents were definitely black diamond rated. We finally found one yesterday where the steepest part was untracked, but the groomer had left a huge ridge of snow in the middle of the trail, which caused even my expert skier friend to go down. Friday was hell for me, but I improved a little yesterday. I was able to do 2 descents without falling, very slowly, but I had 2 falls that have my arms and wrists aching today. I think this would have been easier if they had left it ungroomed (with the right skis). We actually climbed one of Cannon's black alpine trails that is a shared nordic trail. That was fun.
Today, after we left the b and b, we drove to Bretton Woods, where it was quiet, because of Super Bowl. We skied 10.5 great miles, over to the AMC Highland Center for lunch, and back. At least I left with my confidence restored.
Pictures coming.

Pictures from Franconia, NH

A friend gave us some children's xc skis. I took DD out this weekend. We just went around the backyard and around the block. She's a natural! I can't wait to take her out on some groomed trails!

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Originally Posted by DebW

3-pin bindings install with screws. If they come predrilled, it takes alot of the work (positioning and alignment) out of it. You need elmer's glue or slow-cure epoxy on the screws/in the holes to seal out water. You also may need a special posidrive phillips screwdriver. I did a set from scratch recently with a friend's help.

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Good news-and more food for thought. I heard back from Akers Ski first thing today. They will install the bindings for $15 per pair if I decide to buy a ski package such as this one-which features Alpina Lite Terrains. A no-brainer for me; I'm happy to have someone else install them- if this package is what I decide to go with ultimately.

I had been leaning slightly more toward Rossignol BC 90s or Madshus Epochs. But...I was also researching the Alpina Lite Terrains-which do not seem as readily available as the other two. I'm torn between sitting it out (and risk missing the boat due to size availability) in hopes of a better deal...or just waiting until next year. We shall see...

Anyone ever been to the nordic center at Beaver Creek? I'll be there on Sunday for a concert and thought I'd try it out, but there are plenty of other places on the way.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

DH has the back country boots, but I still have the softer Rossignol ones, because when I tried the bc ones, my feet just got chopped up... serious blisters, cuts, and bloody feet.

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Crankin,
Are the they BCX 2 or 3s? Everyone I know who has these boots hates them. I think they give anyone who wears them blisters, and mine, literally, kept falling apart at the seams, and I had to keep sewing them back up. I suffered with a pair for 3 seasons, and I finally went down to the ski shop earlier this winter and bought a pair of Fischer BCX3s. Oh my gosh, WHAT a difference!!!

Now, I have some friends who have the top-of-the-line Rossi BC boots who are very happy with them, so I think it's just their bottom-of-the-line boots that are like this. But, there are other boots out there for the same price that are much, MUCH better.

I have no idea what brand of boots chopped my feet up. It was five years ago; DH and I both had a terrible experience. We got new skis at the end of last winter. He was able to find a pair of bc/stiff boots (I think they are either Fischer or Alpina) that are fine and I decided to stay with the softer Rossignol touring boots, as I have a bunion that seems to get annoyed with harder boots, especially when I wear my hiking shoes to go snow shoeing. Since I have touring skis with edges, it's fine.
Though, I am not opposed to buying a second pair of bc skis and boots as others here have done.

Went to Windblown today, for what looks to be the last time until we get more snow. It's supposed to get up to nearly 60 between Wed. and Friday, so there is going to be significant melting, even with a 30 inch base. Hopefully, it will snow again, after it cools down. Conditions were slick, and a little icy in a few spots, but still, I have been there when it's worse. And they had a dusting last night, so there was powder in the open fields.
Didn't get there until noon, skied until 1:30, had some awesome butternut squash/apple soup in the lodge and went back out until about 3:30. DH had issues climbing after lunch; the ball of his foot and knee were hurting and he couldn't turn his ankle in to herringbone on one steep hill. We figured out he had hurt it snow shoeing yesterday, when the conditions were kind of difficult because of the icy layer on top the deep snow.
While I am looking forward to riding at the end of the week, it better snow more. We have tentative pans to go to Stowe, the first weekend in March and I am hoping to get out to western MA in between. After that, it's cycling season...

I got out to White Grass in West VA to cross country ski a couple days this weekend.

I was pleasantly surprised by the snow for this area of the country and had a lot of fun. Lots of climbing and descending. I was fairly pleased with my ski/boot setup. The technician guy told me what a good pair of skis they were when he was waxing them for me. He also told me that REI had mounted the heel plate on my 3 pin bindings upside down and that REI stood for "really expensive injury"

I seem to have the rossignol bcx boots that were being complained about above. I don't find them terribly comfortable, but I spent $20 on them, so I'm not complaining. I haven't gotten any blisters or anything like that, they're just small in the toe box and a narrow boot in general.


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Wow, what nice trails! We have huge inviting fields like that in town here, but they are privately owned. :(

What is the purpose of the colored banners in the hut? Are they put there to make it more visible from a distance? (As you can probably guess-I don't get out much.)

I think they're prayer flags:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag

Yep, prayer flags.

I waited until it warmed up yesterday and went over to the XC center with my track skis. Perfect. The folks on skaters were struggling because it had gotten so sloppy but I was a happy chickie. My little waxless skis just grabbed onto the slush and up I went.

I was out for an hour and then packed it up for home.

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Here's what Frisco looked like yesterday! 29 degrees out and ridiculously sunny.

I think I did every non-black trail they had...I'm feeling it today.

This week has been a period of melt and refreeze. So, either slush, or ice crust for skiing. I hadn't taken my new backcountry skis (Madshus Epochs) and boots out for their maiden voyage yet and I've had them a week. Yesterday I had the stitches taken out of my mouth and, feeling somewhat human again, decided to take the skis out regardless of conditions. Yesterday, was a slush day as the temperature rose to (a glorious) 55 degrees. My intention was to do some lift-service telemarking half day at Wachusett Mountain with the new skis. After the dental appt I drove to a nearby state park since I had an hour or so before the afternoon time slot. It was pretty slushy and not a good way to determine the performance of the skis. I went and did a quick jaunt up to a small ridge and was pleased at how they gripped. (This is my first pair of waxless skis - all I own are waxable). Along the way, and on the way down I was pleased that I was able to get some decent kick and glide. There was more slippage than usual, since there was a water layer under the snowslush but at the same time I was glad I had a wider ski. And the ski tips wanted to stay near the top of the snow. All together, conditions were too poor to understand how they'd really perform in the deeper powder that I bought them for. I might get clobbered for this but I'm hoping for a couple of more substantial storms. At any rate, the angle of the sun now is such that anything we get won't last too long. If no powder snow here then I might have to seek it elsewhere.

Because of poor local conditions for xc, I wanted to use the time to go to Wachusett for some lift-service telemarking, to get many practice runs in and to really see what the boots were capable of. I bought the Alpina 1575s which is not intensive telemarking material at all, but merely a comfortable 3-pin boot made for longer backcountry ungroomed touring which is mostly what I'll be doing. The boots are extremely comfortable and I like them a lot. But I just wanted to see, and practice.

I learned to downhill ski 15 years after I started xc. I still marvel at the concept of metal edges and being lifted up the mountain and not having to work for it. Going to Wachusett reminds me why I avoid the whole downhill scene pretty much but I went on a Friday afternoon and it really wasn't too busy, relatively speaking for Wachusett. The weather was glorious and warm and I needed only a vest. It felt so good to bask in the warmth of the sun while being lifted up the mountain. It felt good not to be shivering.

The boots and skis performed pretty well on a longer steeper angled slope (steeper and longer than what I'll typically be using them for) and I never felt out of control - the boots held well even though they're somewhat flexy compared to a real telemark boot. I was cautious at first because I didn't know if I'd over extend their function. The first few runs were more like edge carving until I understood the limits of the boots. The skis themselves were fine for this kind of thing. I know - from using more hardcore telemark boots before- that I'd probably be able to punch out better turns if I had a stiffer boot. But if I was going to consistently do lift-service telemarking, or off-piste deep bowl runs (not), well then I'd get the proper more hard core equipment. Finally after a few runs I was performing a semblance of a telemark turn based on what I remember. It was not pretty though I presume, but I began to get a feel for it. At any rate, I am happy with the way the boots and skis performed but I definately need much more practice with the tele turns. If conditions continue to be poor, I just may do a few more afternoons for practice. I'm still aching to get them in deeper powder though.

Nope, you are not alone. I am hoping for at least one more storm, too. And now, I can't go to Stowe in 2 weeks, as I have to go to AZ for a family thing (and it's too short of a trip to take my bike). I am hoping to get out next weekend, maybe to do a quick trip to Notchview on Sat. and to Northfield Mt. on the way home Sunday.
Your experience sounds fun, Mudmucker. I also am amazed that people pay to be brought up a lift, to ski down, but then, I have only gone alpine skiing once: a lesson and 2 hours going up and down the green slope at the Dartmouth Skiway. When I was in Franconia, we climbed one of the black trails at Cannon (it's a shared trail) and saw 3 alpine people coming down. Our friends, who are "expert" x country skiers said they had skied down this run on their touring skis, which amazed me. But, they also said they both fell going down.
We are supposed to get 2-4 inches Monday, of course right when I have to go to my internship. Since my clients will all probably cancel, maybe I can get to Great Brook.

So, we lost all our lovely snow and I got to go for 2 bike rides this week:)
However, I just got my order for dog skijor equipment in the mail and I can"t wait to try it out with my dog. Hopefully, we"ll get some more snow and I won't break every bone in my body!

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Nope, you are not alone. I am hoping for at least one more storm, too.

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Never thought I would be echoing this sentiment-but I too am hoping for more snow in the next few weeks. My wider skis are finally due to arrive today. (Note to self: going forward, opt for expedited delivery of seasonal equipment when ordering from an unfamiliar source.)

In contrast-the boots were here in 2 days, via regular delivery. While I expected the skis to take a bit longer, the 11-day wait has been a lesson in patience. We have more new powder this morning and-if it doesn't rain on top of it this afternoon-are going to Borderland State Park in Easton tomorrow.

We got over 5 feet of snow over the weekend. Yesterday I took the dogs out for a short ski down one of the local roads that is dirt in the summer. Luckily other people had been out snowshoeing and skiing before me. There was a knee deep trench that we were able to follow. If the trench hadn't been there it would have been too deep for my (fairly large) dogs to walk in. As it was, we went for about 3 miles. They seemed to have a good time. I know I did.

These are pictures from our ski today. We had just finished skiing down the Old Farm Trail at Windblown and were about to take our skis off and walk across the parking lot.. we were done. Conditions were perfect; I skied down the Open Slope from the top of the blue part of it (sorry, the Black trails at Windblown are like Alpine trails) for the first time. Did about 7 miles. This might be my last ski of the year :mad:, since I will be away next weekend.

Today I went out with my new backcountry skis for the second time under more favorable conditions. I got 4 inches of fresh new snow last night. However in ungroomed areas, underneath was classic New England crud from melting and refreezing as well as an existing crust from the last sleet storm. So I went out to land behind my house where no one else goes so that I had to break trail. No travel, car stays in yard. If I tried to use my touring skis or even my skinnier backcountry's in this kind of stuff I know from experience I would have a miserable time, since the crud underneath gives unevenly, the skis would twist in or out, and the skis would tunnel under the crud getting caught. So I tested out the fat bc's with metal edges.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! I had SO MUCH FUN. I didn't think I would have so much fun. Take it down a notch for speed and it was just this lovely uninterrupted rhythm of kick and glide through untrodden quiet woods. One concern was that I thought the width would be overkill for what I want to do. But no, the width worked out great. I had great float, the ski can cut through anything and I was able to maintain control (while cutting through submerged ice crud buried lower) and able to carve out a couple of turns without the ski hanging up. The wide ski underfoot gave a really nice stable platform. Secondly, I thought maybe because the skis are on the verge of being more tele-like I'd get more drag than glide. Again, not so. They glided so beautifully and I could feel some of the camber working underneath. So glad I got the longer skis. Plus the tip stayed near the top which of course is great for float but also I could always see it - would not be good to hook a ski under an unseen buried log beneath the snow. I was unexpectedly surprised at how nice of a glide I got. These being my first waxless skis I was skeptical of the grip. They climb great with little slippage. Boy, these are keepers! I'm confident these skis can go through anything, and the beauty is that I bet my xc ski season will be greatly extended since these skis will be able to get through all the spring crap.

It was really fun today, just going where no one else was. So quiet. No people, no snowmobiles. Right outside my house, 2 miles into the woods. (Just gotta make sure keep checking cell reception since I go out alone). XC skiing is soul-saving for me but these skis will make it doubly so. I've been wanting to get backcountry skis for 12 years now - finally glad I did.

Untrodden, inviting and all mine
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Pond and ridge
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Other side of pond
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My wide skis (Rossignol BC 90s) finally arrived late last Monday afternoon. There was only a half hour of daylight remaining but I was able to take them out back for a short test run. They seem to glide well and I'm looking forward to one last big storm in the next few weeks.

Tuesday we brought the 'skinny' skis to Borderland State Park for 3 hours and almost had the place to ourselves. The trails had seen foot traffic and were not ideal-lumpy ice covered by a thin layer of snow-but the scenery and quiet made up for it.

The heavy rain we got Friday did not melt all the snow but left crust and ice behind, now topped with 2 inches of snow received earlier today. The footing was tacky, but I went out for an hour just to get some exercise. Rain is predicted for tomorrow, so any "trails" I made today will disappear.

Anyone following the Nordic Ski World Championships? Marit Bjørgen is such an AMAZING athlete, I'm speechless! :D Maybe I'll even go jostle for the pleasure of seeing her live on the womens 30 K on Saturday.

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Originally Posted by lph

Anyone following the Nordic Ski World Championships?

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I guess not. :D Oslo is going a bit insane here now so I tend to forget that nordic skiing barely exists outside of Northern Europe, at least as a spectator sport.

New question: anyone try the Kuzmin steel scraper on their skis, instead of glider? You basically scrape away all the worn surface until you get to fresh, "new" sole - and leave it that way. Just refresh with a light scrape-over once in a while. The afficionados say it's at least as good as glide-waxing, and a lot less mess. We've bought one and tried, but so far I've just played around with it on other peoples skis ;). Mine are that new still that the original sole is pretty good. Curious to see how the treatment holds up over time.

www.kuzmin.se if anyone is interested. The guy has written a whole thesis on the subject...

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Originally Posted by lph

Anyone following the Nordic Ski World Championships? Marit Bjørgen is such an AMAZING athlete, I'm speechless! :D Maybe I'll even go jostle for the pleasure of seeing her live on the womens 30 K on Saturday.

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I do, whenever I can. However they tend to show only the mens runs and not the womens, sadly. Unless, like in the Ski World Championships, the men don't win anything and the girls do, then they hype them for 2 weeks and forget about womens sports afterwards :mad:

It's rare that I break off a ski trip because of bad radio reception. But today my plan was to ski about 15K listening to the mens relay (they were doing 4x10 K :D) for inspiration. Once I got over the hill though the reception was so bad I had to go for plan B - turn around, zip home, and plonk myself in front of the tv. So I got to see Northug do the winning leg... hushing the audience and braking over the finish line.... Men. I much prefer Bjørgens way of celebrating a clear win - a flag in her hand and a huge smile.

Yesterday I went to Wachusett for some lift-service telemark skiing again. This time I went with a friend who is a more experienced tele skier than me. We knew it was going to warm up and rain so we wanted to get out there before the weather got here. The season is getting short. It was a beautiful sunny day with very good conditions. Got there nice and early and basically had the slopes to ourselves till about 11am or so. It was really nice to have someone watch my form and be able to critique it and give good pointers. It really is awful hard to see yourself. We came across another tele skier, an older fellow, who was just art in motion and beautiful to watch. We three ended up hanging out together for quite a spell and I was able to get excellent tips and advice from the other guy too ( I've never come across other women doing this). Tele Man gave my friend a helpful hint also, where he felt a great improvement after making one adjustment.

Both these guys had the hard core tele equipment. I was using my more flexy type boots so in order to speed up my learning curve I decided to go over to the ski shop and demo some beefier boots. I tried out some Garmont Veloce's (only $15 for the day). Went back out to the slopes and met up with the guys again. Sure enough the boots helped and by end of day my form was getting a lot prettier. Always room for improvement but even Tele Man said I was was "pretty much there". Just need to keep practicing.

I'm not going to want to do lift-service telemarking often but maybe once in a while. So the day was loads of fun but boy are my legs feeling it today. This weekend I'll probably get out to do a little more gentle backcountry - I still have over 2 feet of snow.

It was doing the rain/snow thing yesterday so the snow was really sticky. We took the dogs out for a ski out our back door in the morning. Poor Toby, our rough collie, he had HUGE snowballs in his ruff and between his legs. We had to keep stopping to pull them off of him. I had sprayed his paws with Pam so they were OK, but his poor belly and chest...

In the afternoon I got a little housebound, so I went over to the cross country center for a short ski. The lodge was right at the transition zone. It was raining at the bottom, but snowing after just a short climb. The conditions were weird, but at least I got out of the house.

Finished up a week in Colorado today - downhill at Breckenridge. Texas is on Spring Break this week, and I think the entire state decided to ski Breck today. Good grief, what lift lines!!! :eek:

But on Saturday, we broke up our week of downhill with some xc skiing at the Keystone Nordic Center. My friends from Boulder drove up for the day to join us. It was pleasantly warm....loads of sunshine, but not too mushy. It was my first time on xc skis in several years - the first time on (paid) groomed trails in an eon! It was DH's first time ever on xc skis. As predictable...he did great. We stuck to the green "easy" trail, as it was only the second time on skis for our friend's 8-y.o. daughter.

Nice way to spend a day.

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Jealous.
Ski season is over here, unless I want to go up north.

Going to the XC center for probably the last time this season today. The center closes next Sunday and we'll be going away for a few days this week. This has been my best season. I got out there 47 times! That's at least double what I've been able to do before. Yay!

My God, Can Cross Country Skiing is a cool action, I'm so envy you!:eek:

It is almost that time of year again!!! Snow storm heading to CO tomorrow!!:D

Oh... I was just about to dig up this thread and someone else did it for me!
We got our Vermont Ski Magazine yesterday and there's a pair of skis in there I am interested in. Anyone have or know about the Fischer Silent Spider 62s? The ad says they are skinny enough for tracks, but have an "off track"pattern on the bottom, good for back country, full metal edges, and are shorter, for control. Sounds exactly what I want....

I can just hear DH now. "What a custom bike isn't good enough?"

I think this is going to be the year I finally try it...there's a place a couple towns over that sounds like a good one to start out at.
http://www.harrisfarm.com/skiing.html

Snow is on its way!! Up to 12inches in the Front Range!!:D

We bought our XC passes last week. Ready and waiting now...

I am also looking forward to XC ski season. DH and I have dreams of going to Yellowstone NP and doing some backcountry XC skiing there. How cool would it be to ski around some Bison and thermal features in winter.

Trek-chick, that sounds fabulous. I'm here in Michigan too, wonder when we'll get our first snow. Where do you ski in Michigan?

Might be skiing tomorrow. Already 2 inches on the ground. I'll have to go to conservation land trails, but, hey better than nothing.

We're still getting rain in this part of the state, but maybe there will be a blanket of white in the morning...skis are waiting, and ski boots have been brought to the front of the closet.